"Early retirement means less income and a waste of knowledge," said Hj Kassim, 58, a former civil servant.With Singapore recently raising its retirement age to 65, following the footsteps of US and other European countries, should Brunei follow suit? The Brunei Times interviewed the public to find out their opinion of whether Brunei should extend their retirement age for civil servants beyond the current 55 and discovered that a majority of them welcomed the idea.
Haikal Ibrahim, 38, a real estate agent said that senior citizens are have a lot to contribute to the public sector with their wealth of knowledge and experience, not only that, looking at the current situation, there is a dire need to raise the retirement age. "A person usually reaches their peak position in their 50s; it would be a waste to let them hold that position for only a few years before he can contribute more," he said. "Everyone might have the same qualification, but what differentiates them is experience.
Even an excellent graduate can't do a perfect job without experience and productive senior citizens with many years of value left would have to seek employment elsewhere and their experience that should be use to educate younger employees would just be lost."
"As our standards of living increases, so will the life expectancy, people are getting more capable to work well into their seventies even," he added. He also referred to the increasing fact that people nowadays tend to be absorbed with their careers that they tend to marry late and would find themselves still having young dependants at 55 years of age.
"Who will feed their children when they have to retire? Especially if the only retirement funds they have is TAP (Tabung Amanah Pekerja)."
Sharing the same thought, Hjh Adina, 28, a civil servant, said that if Brunei does raise the retirement age, she suggested a smooth coordinated transition in terms of transfer of knowledge be put in place. "They have certain advantages over fresh employees, by raising the age limit; there will be more time for them to impart their valuable knowledge. This would be better for an organisation in the long run."
Zuraidah, 31, said that raising the retirement age to 60 would be better to try to maximise whatever resources the government has now. But she also said that if it was to increase, it cannot stop there because it needs to be supplemented with a retirement fund. "If we move the age limit, it would interfere with people's choice of wanting to retire earlier, therefore what we should have is an option to retire at 55 but the mandatory age should be 60."
Her colleague Azim, 27 agreed with her. "Retirement age of 60 is reasonable, considering the average health of a Bruneian and the vast unemployed youths in our country. Those who feel that great experience and knowledge would be lost by not further increasing the age limit, making them consultants would suffice," he said.
The Brunei Times sought comments from the Prime Minister's Office. A source there commented that they "are looking at the issue at the moment, but cannot reveal anything." Off the record, the source admitted "maybe 60 would be good."
By Nurkhayrul Salam
The Brunei Times
Copyright © 2006.
