LETTER | Please, spare some thoughts for senior citizens in Budget 2023

LETTER | There is an urgent need to address the plight of senior citizens in Budget 2023 which will be tabled in Parliament on Feb 24. It is hoped that it will be a People's Budget and will reflect the political manifestos of the parties now in the unity government as well as retain the salient points of the pre-election budget introduced last year by the previous government.

It is a well-known fact that the B40 and the M40 are facing severe difficulties due to the spike in the cost of living and other factors brought about by the Covid-19 pandemic, inflation and the unfavourable ringgit exchange rates. All these continue to weigh down heavily on the vulnerable sections of society such as the poor, the senior citizens and the disabled.

The senior citizens are the most affected as they do not get any specific allowances or assistance, unlike the B40 who get some from the BSH (Sumbangan Rahmah), or the disabled who get help from the Social Welfare Departments. Senior citizens are now living longer and the older they get the more vulnerable they become.

Unlike civil servants who get a monthly pension and those from the private sector whose retirement benefits are large enough, most of the B40 and an increasing number of the M40 are in a pitiful state. Low-salaried jobs do not allow for bigger contributions to the EPF or for other savings. What little they had saved would have been spent on the education and weddings of their children, medical expenses, paying off loans and others. As such, they are almost bankrupt in their golden years unless their offspring are able to help them.

Life-time debt

With the current hike in the cost of living all around, even their working children are unable to provide much for their parents due to their own family needs.

This is where the government needs to help as is being done in numerous countries that have a safety net for the vulnerable in society. Billions of ringgit in Malaysia go to waste through a number of ways - too long to enumerate here - and these billions could be used to help the vulnerable.

By tightly controlling the finances and plugging the leaks, a lot of government revenue can be diverted to more useful and beneficial purposes. It must be remembered that the nation owes a life-time debt to the senior citizens who, during their working years, have done their best for the development and progress of the country.

Even stingy Singapore has shown much gratitude for its senior citizens who worked hard for the well-being of the republic, especially from 1965 onwards when they had to make so many sacrifices.

Malaysia is one of the few countries that continues to ignore the plight of senior citizens from the lower-income group. Just last week, the Indian government announced that Air India will offer tickets at half price for all domestic travel to its senior citizens.

Malaysia, on the other hand, offers only some token gestures: some nominal discounts for bus/train fares, and special lanes for senior citizens queueing up at government departments and that's all. Nothing substantial is given to the senior citizens. It all boils down to a lack of political will to help those in the twilight years of their existence.

Totally useless

The government can, if it wants, set up a special wing in all major hospitals for the medical needs of senior citizens. Malaysia has a surplus of doctors now. Even a simple cataract operation now takes a few months and a lot of unnecessary consultations in government hospitals, unlike private doctors who do the surgery immediately.

A medical fund for senior citizens can be set up to pay for treatment, surgery and other medical expenses of senior citizens. The MySalam Insurance scheme is totally useless for senior citizens and should be replaced with a better one without age or other restrictions.

The main reason why the government cannot do more for senior citizens is due to wasteful and extravagant expenses and costly procurement at inflated prices by the government and its civil servants.

Additionally, billions of ringgit had been given away as compensation to contractors to prevent legal action for the abrogation of their contracts. The national debt now stands at almost RM1.5 trillion. The large allocations for the public sector by way of salaries, bonuses, perks, pensions, increments from time to time also amount to about 40 percent of the budget.

A lot of government employees including politicians receive multiple pensions and this should be stopped. Only one pension, whichever is the highest, should be given. This will save the government a large amount of money. It is all right for government pensioners to be given all these benefits, but it should not be at the expense of the poorer section of senior citizens who worked in the private sector and it should not be seen as discriminatory.

The government needs to allocate a few hundred million ringgit for senior citizens in the budget annually for a social pension scheme for the B40 senior citizens to enable them to be paid about RM100-200 monthly. It must be noted that the B40 senior citizens are not vocal nor do they have a strong lobby to make known their plight.

Very wide gulf

It is often stated that Malaysia is aspiring to become a high-income nation in the future. High income for whom and for what purpose?

Even now the gulf between the rich and the poor is very wide and what will be the result when the so-called high-income target is met? What have the poor B40 who now number in the millions, and the pitiful senior citizens in their hundreds of thousands, deprived by lack of money or income, disease and infirmity in their old age, and neglected by society got to gain from this?

Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim, who started his political career campaigning for the poor in the 1970s, needs to re-visit his mission and vision of helping the vulnerable in society. One of the most important groups that need assistance is the senior citizens of the country.

The views expressed here are those of the author/contributor and do not necessarily represent the views of Malaysiakini.