September 21, 2010,Tuesday
KUCHING: State Secretary Datuk Amar Mohd Morshidi Abdul Ghani said yesterday it was up to the government whether the current retirement age should be raised or not.Morshidi said personally he was not against the idea of extending the retirement age of the 1.2 million civil servants in the country from 58 to 60 as long as there was a necessity for such a move.
“If there is a need for the retirement age to be raised, and if the situation warrants, why not? But of course the government has to consider the pros and cons before making any decision on the matter,” he added.
He said this to reporters during a news conference at Wisma Bapa Malaysia here yesterday when asked to comment on the recent call made by Cuepacs, the umbrella union for civil servants in the country, that the government should raise the retirement age of civil servants from 58 to 60.
Morshidi said the government should not simply extend the retirement age without first studying the implications to the country.
“There may be a need to increase the retirement age from 58 to 60 as a measure to meet the future workforce demand, especially for experienced and highly skilled workers.
“However, we have to look at the other aspects as well, such as whether our civil servants are still healthy to continue to serve at that age. I believe these are among the things that the government will surely consider before making any decision on the matter,” he added.
On views that raising the retirement age would deprive employment opportunities among job seekers and increase unemployment, Morshidi said it should not be the case.
He said as the country progressed it would certainly require not only a bigger workforce, but also those who possessed vast experience in their respective fields, adding that this would apply to both the public and private sectors.
Cuepacs president Omar Osman suggested that the government raise the retirement age of the civil servants to keep up with countries in the region.
He said Malaysia was still lagging behind the neighbouring countries where the retirement age ranged from 60 to 62.
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