There should
be no retirement age: MM Lee
By Imelda
Saad | Posted: 28 July 2010 2230 hrs 
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
If my kang lui like him, cho bo lan, i'll make myself live till
200 yrs old and also work till then........
