KOTA KINABALU: Sabah pensioners are seeking more financial protection as they are badly affected by rising cost of living as well as mounting health costs.
Sabah Government Pensioners Association president Datuk Wilfred Lingham said that nearly 80% of their 5,900 over members were earning pensions bordering close to the national poverty line.
"The stress of coping with their financial needs impacts their health," he told a press conference here Monday (Sept 29).
He said many of their pensioners were receiving less or close to the official government poverty line income of RM2,200 and could not make ends meet due to the growing cost of living.
"If they retired with a last drawn salary of RM4,000, they will get a pension of 60% but it is not enough as upon retirement they have commitments like loans or children’s education.
"We feel they should be financially protected," said Lingham, a retired state civil servant.
He said the ageing population is projected to make up 20% of the population and it was important for those retiring at 60 years, to continue working or getting involved in activities.
As such, he said that the association is shifting its programmes from a welfare approach to a developmental type that get senior citizens into programmes to help improve their standard of living.
"More importantly, there is a need to adopt a human rights approach in addressing the issues faced by senior citizens to ensure their needs and dignity are protected," he said.
Among the rights they plan to advocate was for social security and income support, decent employment, the choice to work or retire and enjoy their pensions, the right to housing and healthcare, equal protection under the law, he said.
He also called on the government to clamp down on people leaking personal details of pensioners to scam syndicates.
"There is a need to protect senior citizens from scams by ensuring their financial details were not leaked to scam syndicates," said Lingham, who himself successfully ignored amid personal threats from scammers demanding him to transfer money.
The association would be organising the Suara Emas Pesara event here on Sept 28 for its members as part of its activities for members.
