There should be no retirement age: MM Lee

[BlueCat]

SINGAPORE: Minister Mentor Lee Kuan Yew has said that there should be no retirement age for workers.

He made the point at a dialogue session with over 900 senior managers, government officials and unionists on Wednesday.

The session was held in conjunction with the 30th anniversary of the Singapore National Employers Federation (SNEF).

Minister Mentor Lee got the audience in stitches when he made the bold suggestion - no retirement age for Singapore.

He said: "You work as long as you can work and you will be healthier and happier for it. If you ask me to stop working all of a sudden, I think I'll just shrivel up, face the wall and just that."

The 86-year-old said old people should be more productive.

Mr Lee was responding to a question on challenges Singapore may face with an aging population.

He said that at his age, he may have aches and pains but he can keep going.

He said: "Many of our workers have a preferred retirement, and then they die early! It won't be long before the message sinks home that if you keep doing what you're doing for almost the whole of your life, the chances are you will stay interested and engaged in life, there's something to do tomorrow and you keep going. If you start saying,'oh! I'm old!' And you start reading novels and playing golf or playing chess, well, you're on the way down."

From 2012, employers in Singapore will have to offer workers re-employment when they hit the retirement age of 62.

Mr Lee said older workers will need to come to terms with the psychological switch - that is, working for less pay and very likely for a younger boss.

He said: "That's life! You know American Generals - they don't do well, they get fired and they give them a medal, they send a new general! I think we have to develop that approach to life. (When) you have reached the maximum you can do at your age in that position, you move sideways and you take less pay and you move gradually, (getting) less and less pay because you are moving slower and slower, especially when you're doing physical work."

Mr Lee stressed the need to continue learning even as one gets older, adding "I'm still learning."

Attracting talents was another hot topic at the dialogue session. Mr Lee said foreign talents come to Singapore because of the opportunities it offers.

Their numbers will add to what Mr Lee called a growing "intellectual class".

Mr Lee said: "We are going to have an intellectual class, about maybe three times as big as what you have now and that will give us the dynamism, the powerful engine to carry us forward faster."

Mr Lee added that Singapore's attraction as a liveable, safe city with good infrastructure will support its push to enhance productivity.

The 45-minute dialogue was engaging and peppered with personal anecdotes. For example, Mr Lee shared how many of his ideas were gleaned from his travels.

He noted how a lot of policies in Singapore were the result of his experiences overseas. For example, deciding on having an underground train system over a network of tunnels for buses.

- CNA/ir

i guess he is really old liao. time should be up soon. work till you "kick the bucket".

 

[neilgoose]

I fully agree w MM Lee lei.

I am strongly in the camp that one shld and must continue to work as long as you are able to. And take light chores, dun expect a 70+ yr old to do door-to-door sales or.... stand for hours as McDonald's cashier.

If you do not work or keep the mind occupied, you can grow old rather quickly (at least mentally). If the body cannot be active, keep the mind active.

 

[jacobsgoh]

.................And they should carry on working and contributing to CPF until they die. Singaporeans are humans to an extend, age does not mean they can relax [ dogs don't get to sleep indoor when older, their jobs in life is to watch the doors and owner's properties].
lky should decree it soonest.

 

[eQuipment]

knn, he think everybody same as him, getting paid 5-6 figure salary monthly to talk cock. given that kind of salary, nobody will ever want to retire!!

look at him, so old, 1½ leg in the coffin liao... still on tax payer's pay-roll. *chey

 

[kingrant]

I agree with him! One should not retire but remain active. But there's no reason why he should stay in a govt job and soak up tax dollars by the millions every year by making wrong and inaccurate forecasts. He could remain active but outside the govt service -like running his own fortune telling company, or breeding and training running dogs. Like that, we wont care a hoot what he does, just dont waste our time and money. He is already slurring badly, walking unsteadily, and looking like papier mache. He is mostly repeating outmoded ideas, lording over his prejudices, knowing that the media is hopelessly enthralled and awed by him and will publish whatever shit he utters and make him come out looking and sounding good and wise.

 

[wahlaneh]

wahlaneh...
he is 86 still working u know?
talk about retirement?
maybe when he's no more lah.

 

[HongKanSeng]

No retirement for himself or us?

KNN old foolish pig!

Tell him to go fuck spider, get fucked by spider actually!:oIo:

 

[krafty]

knn, your fuck spider comment very ticklish, especially when you ask old fart to fuck spider,very amusing....

No retirement for himself or us?

KNN old foolish pig!

Tell him to go fuck spider, get fucked by spider actually!:oIo:

 

[gbomega]

We are more interested in iPad and iPhone launch rather than him.

 

[streetsmart73]

I agree with him! One should not retire but remain active. But there's no reason why he should stay in a govt job and soak up tax dollars by the millions every year by making wrong and inaccurate forecasts. He could remain active but outside the govt service -like running his own fortune telling company, or breeding and training running dogs. Like that, we wont care a hoot what he does, just dont waste our time and money. He is already slurring badly, walking unsteadily, and looking like papier mache. He is mostly repeating outmoded ideas, lording over his prejudices, knowing that the media is hopelessly enthralled and awed by him and will publish whatever shit he utters and make him come out looking and sounding good and wise.

hi there

1. aiyoh! why should anyone retire?
2. is it better to start working once an individual is born?
3. and work till the same drop dead.
4. from the cradle to the grave, right!
5. in this case, fully productive till the end.

 

[metalslug]

老不死!!

http://news.asiaone.com/News/AsiaOne+News/Singapore/Story/A1Story20100729-229339.html

Thu, Jul 29, 2010
my paper

MM: Work as long as you can

By Kenny Chee

SINGAPOREANS should work and learn for as long they can, even in old age, Minister Mentor Lee Kuan Yew said yesterday.

Besides ameliorating the problem of a smaller workforce as the birth rate drops, it will also help Singaporeans lead healthy lives in their later years, he said.


"We got to make old people productive. And I don't think there should be a retirement age," he said at a dialogue on productivity and leadership at the Singapore National Employers Federation 30th Anniversary CEO and Employers Summit at Resorts World Sentosa.

Singapore's current retirement age is 62, but it will be extended to 65 in 2012 as the workforce ages.

Responding to a question on the challenges of a greyer workforce to the country, Mr Lee said older Singaporeans at the workplace might find it difficult to accept pay cuts or have younger colleagues succeed them. He noted that many would prefer to retire.

But Mr Lee believed Singaporeans would soon realise the benefits of working into old age.

"If you keep doing what you've been doing for almost the whole of your life, chances are you will stay interested and engaged in life," he said, adding that thoughts of feeling old could negatively impact a person's longevity.

He joked that if he was suddenly asked to stop working, "I think I will just shrivel up, face the wall and just die".

Mr Lee also spoke on other issues at the dialogue attended by 900 people, including chief executives of firms.

He said Singapore is unlikely to become as productive as Japan because the Republic lacks the engaged work culture that Japan has, in which an employee works his way up and sees his future tied to his employer.

Such a culture is difficult to re-create here, but Mr Lee said Singapore can compensate in other ways by having good infrastructure and an environment that can support productivity.

He added that Singapore is more accessible to foreign firms because the country has an English- speaking population, a more Westernised outlook and is open to foreigners.

Mr Lee also said that Singapore's amenities, liveable environment and opportunities have attracted global talent, a resource that is highly sought after by other nations.

He said he could foresee that, in 15 to 20 years, the bright young foreigners that Singapore has already attracted will grow up to form "an intellectual class of maybe three times as big as what we have now".

"And that will give us the dynamism...to carry us forward faster," he said.

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