DR Mahathir Mohamad should have come up with other suggestions to the proposed revision of the mandatory retirement age to 65 instead of rejecting it outright, said J. Solomon.

The Malaysian Trades Union Congress (MTUC) secretary-general said the government should have conducted a study on the matter or listen to what workers had to say before making its decision.

“We regret that Dr Mahathir chose to reject (the proposal) outright without offering any other suggestions to tackle related problems, like low wages, the rising cost of living and low Employees Provident Fund (EPF) savings,” he said in a statement today.

He said MTUC rejects the prime minister’s view that if the retirement age is increased to 65, it could hurt youth’s employment opportunities and create deadwood in the workforce.

“This reasoning confounds logic, as in actual fact, many older workers have great experience and are hardworking, despite their age.

“Of course, there are the lazy ones, but these also exist among young workers. Laziness is an attitude, and transcends age.”

On Saturday, MTUC called on Putrajaya to increase the mandatory retirement age from the current 60 to 65, as practised in several developed countries like Singapore.

The proposal was met with disapproval by Youth and Sports Minister Syed Saddiq Syed Abdul Rahman, who said the government should focus on creating more jobs for the younger generation.

Solomon said Syed Saddiq’s statement makes no sense as many Malaysians are unemployed not because of a lack of jobs in the country, but due to the “very low” wages offered by the private sector.

“This has resulted in many youth grabbing job opportunities abroad because of the better wages, which are commensurate with their qualifications.”

Given this, he said, the minister should realise that there is no strong link between youth unemployment and MTUC’s proposal to increase the retirement age.

“Syed Saddiq should be sensitive to the real problems faced by the younger generation when it comes to jobs, and not reject our proposal without any study being carried out or listening to us.

“He wants to be seen as youth’s champion. But do not do this at the expense of workers in the B40 and M40 groups, who are grappling daily with the problems of low pay, high cost of living and insufficient EPF savings.”

Solomon added that in the private sector, vacancies created by retired workers are not being filled due to efforts to slash operational costs and trim the workforce.

It is regrettable that despite youth making up a large number of private sector workers, Syed Saddiq chose to remain silent when MTUC pushed Putrajaya to raise the minimum wage to RM1,800 per month, he said.

He invited Dr Mahathir and Syed Saddiq to participate in a “genuine dialogue” so that they can better understand the real situation.

“MTUC is ready to meet them at any time… to present to them the real situation, supported by facts and figures.” – September 4, 2019.