KUALA LUMPUR: The couple sips their tea early morning here at the Kuala Lumpur Hibiscus Garden in the center of the city. The famous Petronas Towers are in view in the distance as Mahammad and Sahar relax together, as they do every Saturday morning. “For us, this is just a little peace in this crazy city,” the husband told Bikyamasr.com. “We come here every Saturday morning as part of our walk, but we hope that next year, when we retire, we can start to do this more and more, even every day.” But the couple, both school teachers in the Malaysia capital, is uncertain if they will be financially secure enough to retire. “We have been looking closely at our money situation and our retirement and it is really not clear if we will be able to do it,” added Sahar. The reason is simple: as they continue to live and are in good health, financially, they would run out of money in 20 years, when both are 81-years-old. “We hope to live a bit longer than that, so it may mean we need to work a few more years to get really safe into our 90s,” argued Mahammad. They are not the only Malaysians struggling with finances and looking at retirement. A new study on retirement in Asia showed that Malaysians are becoming vulnerable to early retirement and a low rate of pension under the Employees' Provident Fund. The study report, “Balancing Tradition and Modernity: The Future of Retirement in East Asia,” is the continuation of a survey done by the Center for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS) in Malaysia, China, Hong Kong, Singapore, South Korea and Taiwan. According to the survey, the CSIS East Asia Retirement Survey revealed that as many as 92 percent of current retirees in Malaysia report that “they had already left the workforce by age 60 and suggests that Malaysia's pattern of premature retirement will likely persist.” There is a positive lining in the report and social services. Malaysia is the only country in the region that is seeing population growth, which means social projects, including a “social security” endeavor would have more and more people giving in the future, which could allay the affects of early retirees. “In China, the elderly share of the population will be approaching 30 percent by 2040 — and in Hong Kong, Singapore, South Korea and Taiwan it will be approaching 40 per cent. In Malaysia, it will still be under 20 percent,” it said. For Mahammad and Sahar, the idea of early retirement was something they were extremely hopeful of, but now want to make certain their financial situation is secure before putting up the pens and papers. “We aren't sad and we know that if we exercise and stay healthy, it will all pay off as the years go by,” added Sahar.
