OLD, LONELY AND FORGOTTEN

Last Wednesday (10 July), I was a guest on Capital fm88.9 Morning Show. I had been invited to give my views on recent headline news about adult children abandoning their elderly parents. This interest was prompted by the new “Elderly Rights Law” introduced in China last month to deal with the growing problem of lonely elderly people who are neglected by their adult children. With the enforcement of the law, it is now mandatory for adult children to visit their elderly parents.

A similar law, the Maintenance of Parents Act, exists in countries like Singapore, India and the Philippines. In Singapore, for example, parents may seek legal assistance from the Tribunal for Maintenance of Parents to compel their adult children to provide financial support.

A law requiring children to visit their elderly parents is difficult to enforce. How many visits are children required to make? Who would regulate these visits? What if the children have settled overseas? There is also the question of 'quality' of visits over quantity. Would parents be happy to receive visits from children who are there only because it is an offence, a crime not to do so? Such visits would certainly lack warmth and real bonding.

Source: The Star July 6

The traditional family structure has changed. Adult children move out of the family home as soon as they are financially independent, leaving their parents to age on their own or in a retirement home. With more young people working in other cities or countries, it has become a norm for them to see their parents only during festive occasions. Burdened with multiple loans to pay off and with the high cost of living, young families are already struggling to take care of their little ones, let alone their elderly parents.

Abandoned old folks waiting out their final years. Where are their family members?

While we can understand why some adult children fail to visit their parents regularly or do not provide adequate financial support for them, we cannot condone the act of abandoning their parents. That is absolutely despicable and unforgivable. For many elderly parents, often all they want is just to be remembered with an occasional visit or phone call. Is that too much to ask? Is it any wonder that depression and thoughts of suicide is on the rise among senior citizens living in the cities.

Source: Department of Statistics, Singapore

Worldwide, a rise in the ageing population and a decline in fertility means fewer working people to support an ever growing number of elderly people. In Singapore, the number of elderly citizens will triple to 900,000 by 2030. Malaysia will become an aging nation by 2030 when the population above 60 years is expected to reach 15 per cent or 4.9 million. In China, there were more than 178 million people aged 60 years or older in 2010. By 2030, that figure will double.

With 2030 only 16 years away, financial support and care of elderly parents will continue to be a huge challenge for adult children and for the government.

My advice? Take care of yourself, your health, your money. Save enough for your sunset years. Adopt an active lifestyle so that hefty medical expenses don't swallow up your savings. Don't expect your children to take care of you in your old age. They may not be able to, even if they want to. Filial piety is dying, no thanks to the harsh realities of living in a rapidly changing world that has no place for the elderly.

HOW MANY WORKING ADULTS DOES IT TAKE TO SUPPORT ONE ELDERLY CITIZEN IN SINGAPORE?

From Straits Times 25 April

In yesterday's Straits Times report titled "Population will shrink from 2025 without new citizens", the government argues that the island nation needs 20,000 to 25,000 new citizens each year to arrest the decline in the population. Singapore's fertility rate of 1.2% is one of the lowest in the world.

What does a shrinking population mean? At one end, the fertility rate is going down, but at the other end, the mortality rate is also declining. The net result is an increasingly smaller pool of working adults having to support a growing number of older people.

The scenario in 2030 - a ratio of two working adults to one elderly citizen. A heavy burden indeed. Think of this as  two adult children shouldering the responsibility of supporting their elderly parent, instead of five or more sharing the costs.

This is one of the reasons why the government has been encouraging the intake of permanent residents over the years. It is from this pool that new citizens will emerge. The number of Singapore permanent residents almost doubled from 287,500 in 2000 to 541,000 in 2010.

In recent years, Singaporeans have been more vocal about their unhappiness over the large influx of foreign workers and expats, and the relative ease of obtaining PR status and benefits. In response, the government has made it tougher for foreigners to obtain PR status.

Malaysians account for the largest number of PRs.

However, the government continues to express concern over the growing ageing population. According to the report, from now to 2030, over 900,000 baby boomers will retire from the workforce. Hence, the need to push for at least 20,000 new citizens each year to sustain labour force productivity. But many Singaporeans remain unconvinced that the solution lies in raising the number of PRs in their country.

Note: For more information on population data, go to http://sg.sg/Ik5mKs. 

IMAGINE A WORLD THAT'S AGEING, IT ISN'T HARD TO DO

Note the shrinking 0-19 age group and the growing 65+ age group.
(Source: UN World Population Prospects)

Would John Lennon have imagined a world that is rapidly ageing? Given the statistics, it's not that difficult to picture a world where one in every four people is 60 and above. We can expect that to happen as early as 2050. Everyone grows old. That is a fact. With the longer life span now enjoyed by the elderly, and with young people delaying marriage and opting for smaller families, the net result is a world population that is increasingly turning gray. What are the repercussions? How prepared are countries to face the challenges posed by an ageing population?

This video posted by the International Monetary Fund gives a forewarning of the crisis ahead and offers some solutions on what can be done to reduce the adverse impact of global ageing.



Here is another video with the same urgent message. Lifestar Institute believes that the solution lies in biomedical technologies that can "retard, arrest, even reverse the damage of ageing' and at the same time 'make a big difference to the health of the elderly'.

The vision and mission as stated on Lifestar Institute website: "We are dedicated to averting the pending global ageing crisis in the pursuit of personnel, sciences and processes to develop therapies that restore knowledge and productivity. We invoke solutions to the human, social and economic burdens of our ageing population... and advocate open, informed discussion about the challenges and opportunities ahead." (Click here to read more.)

Some countries like Singapore are scrambling to get ready for the rising number of elderly people. Some are blissfully ignorant of the coming silver tsunami. Some are aware but choose to be complacent about it, preferring to give priority to other concerns.

Which category does Malaysia fall into? Which countries are most prepared to meet the challenge? And which countries are least prepared? The Centre for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS) has published the Global Aging Preparedness Index (or GAP Index) that provides the first comprehensive quantitative assessment of the progress that countries worldwide are making in preparing for global aging, and particularly the old-age dependency dimension of the challenge.

You can download all 76 pages of the full report here.

Of the 20 countries covered in the Index, four are in Asia: India, China, Japan and Korea.

WHO'S LOOKING INTO THE NEEDS OF THE ELDERLY IN MALAYSIA??

Consider these statistics:

By 2050,
~ The number of persons in the world aged 60 years or older is expected to almost triple.
~ In developed countries, there will be two elderly persons for every child.
~ In developing countries, the proportion of the older population is expected to rise to about 20%.
~ The number of 'oldest-old' people, those who are 80 years old or over, will increase from 86 million in 2005 to 402million. Most of them will live in the developing world.
(Source: UN Population Division)

The UN categorizes any nation with 10% of its population aged 60 and above as an ageing nation. Going by this definition, Malaysia will reach ageing nation status by 2035 when a projected 15% of the population will be aged 60 and above. That's less than 25 years away. How is the country preparing to cope with the increase in this demographic group? Do we have the necessary systems and structures in place to meet the needs and demands of an ageing society?

Lifelong learning programme of activities for senior citizens.

A look at our neighbouring country Singapore tells us that we are, as usual, lagging far behind. The island nation has a Minister in charge of Ageing Issues in the Prime Minister's Department. There's the Council for Third Age that promotes healthy and active ageing. It organizes the annual 50plus Expo and Active Ageing Carnival. There are dedicated NGOs that are looking after the concerns of the elderly, like the Tsao Foundation and the Centre for Seniors.

Clementi Community Centre, Singapore

The Ministry of Health's website shows a comprehensive list of hospitals, as well as residential and community healthcare services available to the elderly.  The Ministry of Community Development, Youth and Sports offers financial assistance to those unable to support themselves, including the aged. The Ministry of Manpower has a special portal just to address the issue of re-employment of older employees.

There are policies in place to help the elderly like the Maintenance of Parents Act. The >60 Design Centre is Singapore's National Design Centre for Ageing. It was set up in 2008 to generate products and services to improve the lifestyle of older adults. The Housing and Development Board is committed to providing suitable and affordable housing for Singaporeans aged 55 and above. Every community centre in the republic has a programme of activities for senior citizens. The facilities at these centres are well maintained.

Former Singapore PMs Goh Chock Tong (left) and Lee Kuan Yew.

There is no lack of excellent role models of successful ageing in the country, and this includes former PMs Lee Kuan Yew, 87, and Goh Chock Tong, 69. LKY is well-known for his tips on how to live a long and healthy life.

The point of highlighting Singapore's initiatives in meeting the needs of the elderly is to provide a blueprint for our government to get started on preparing for Malaysia's ageing population. What has it done so far? Almost nothing that comes close to the Singapore government's all-out efforts.

Community Centre in Petaling Jaya in the suburbs of Kuala Lumpur

From what I've seen, the majority of our community centres are run-down with barely any decent facilities to speak of. The senior citizens' associations offer little more than line dance, karaoke and taichi classes. The National Council of Senior Citizens' Association (NACSCOM) has a website that has not been updated since 2008 as far as membership is concerned. There's hardly any content worth reading on the site.

An old folks home in KL - counting the days.

The same applies to most of the government websites. The Ministry of Health's official website is an embarrassment, while that of the Ministry of Housing and Local Government is a joke. Why do government websites require visitors to sign in? Elderly concerns come under the Ministry of Women, Family and Community Development. The page devoted to 'senior citizens' on their website can do with more informative content.

As for role models, I don't recall any of our former PMs taking the lead in implementing policies to raise the quality of life for senior citizens. During his 32-year tenure as PM, Dr Mahathir, 86, could have easily been the perfect inspiration of successful ageing, but he preferred to devote his energies to other areas of more importance than old people who are considered unproductive and contribute little to the economy.

There are people who will come to the defence of  Malaysia. They say it's not fair to compare Singapore, a tiny nation of 5 million people with Malaysia which has a population of 28 million. Ok then, let's compare Singapore and the Greater Klang Valley, or only the greying population of the two countries. Whichever yardstick we choose, Malaysia still comes up short.

Senior citizens queuing up to register for the special discount card for travel on RapidKL buses.

There's so much that needs to be done to prepare the country before it reaches ageing status. The clock is ticking away. In the meantime, the elderly continues to be neglected. There's no sustainable policy, plan or programme to cater to the physical, financial and emotional needs of the aged. Whenever the Budget is announced, there's is only token allocation for the elderly. We have token visits to old folks homes, token donations, token ceremonies and token assistance. Mostly for publicity purposes, to give a token impression of the work being done for the warga emas of this country.

What can we do to make the government take notice of us? Take to the streets in a peaceful demonstration?