KUALA LUMPUR: The government has been urged to formulate a legislation that emphasises the rights and protection of the elderly, including a re-employment policy, as well as the elimination of age discrimination.

“We must also come out with ways to encourage them (retired workers) to return to work, without having them to sacrifice the family structure they have developed,” said Employees Provident Fund (EPF) deputy chief executive officer Tunku Alizakri Alias.

Speaking at the Internatonal Social Security Conference yesterday, Tunku Alizakri called on the public and private sectors to come up with ways to unleash the potential of an ageing population in terms of employment and economic activity.

“The private sector must create the infrastructure to support business opportunities related to an ageing population, such as elderly housing, wellness and healthcare programmes, and home care services,” he said.

He said the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation’s (Apec) “silver economy”, a project focused on developing, promoting and disseminating strategies to face new challenges related to an ageing population, estimated the industry related to it to be worth US$3 trillion by next year. Some 52% of business leaders in the Apec countries also anticipated that industries related to the ageing population will boom from 2020 to 2025.

EPF chairman Tan Sri Samsuddin Osman, in his keynote address, stressed the need for Malaysia to plan and act now given that a median projection by the United Nations showed that by 2030, Malaysia will be an aged country with 14% of the population or 5.2 million people aged 60 and above.

Samsuddin said the 14 years from now till 2030 is a very narrow window of opportunity to tackle complex issues such as social protection.

He said the EPF had been actively raising awareness among its members and the general public of the importance of financial planning for retirement.

“Together with all other agencies like the ministry of health, ministry of finance, [the] social security organisation and others, we try to create awareness of the ageing society and how people survive the period after retirement.

“We also have the retirement advisory service, which is a free service offered in all the major branches in the states. It is becoming very popular,” he said.

Samsuddin added that there are many successful policies and initiatives for the elderly that the country could emulate to achieve the same successes of other countries, such as Australia, Singapore and the European Union (EU).