Old is not gold to young people

I HAVE often been praised for being a filial child to my late parents as I looked after them in my home when they became too frail to live on their own. That was in the early 2000s. My father passed away in 2016 and my mother in August this year.

But such praise actually made me feel uncomfortable, simply because my parents were not a burden, especially in the financial sense. My father had good savings, and as a retired police officer, he enjoyed a decent pension that was passed on to my mother after his demise.

I make this point because, in all honesty, if it were not for their own financial capability, I would have been hard pressed to manage their long-term care. Another extremely important factor was that they enjoyed free medical care as government pensioners, which made a huge difference, and for which I will always be grateful.

Now it is my turn to live as a senior citizen with limited means, hoping I do not become a burden to my children. I have a fairly decent amount of savings – mostly in EPF, my favourite and trusted agency – but I really do not know how far this will stretch.

I do not enjoy free medical care, so I depend on my health insurance to cover me for major issues, like when I needed meniscus root repair surgery earlier this year. But that has a finite amount and, as we all know, insurance companies keep increasing the premiums.

I have tried hard to stay healthy; I exercise, take supplements and need only low doses of blood pressure and cholesterol medici­nes. Even then, my latest health screening results show I have developed osteoporosis and other health issues. I can go to a government hospital to cut costs, but there will be no escaping the increase in my own healthcare spending.

In the event my savings do run out, I believe my children would not abandon me. That’s my hope.

But my hopeful scenario is apparently not shared by many others, and that is why the idea has been mooted that Malaysia needs a law for parental maintenance. That’s because we are a rapidly greying society that is expected to reach aged country status by 2030. That’s just a hop and skip away, with statistics showing that by then, 15.3% of the population will be 60 years old.

Then there is also the alarming trend of elderly parents being abandoned in private nursing homes and government-run hospitals.

According to medicalchannel­asia.com, nationwide, over 2,100 senior citizens were abandoned in hospitals from 2018 to June 2022. Recent data showed that in Hospital Kuala Lumpur, cases of abandoned elderly patients rose by 50% over three years, from 239 in 2020 to 358 in 2023.

What’s more, the Women, Fami­ly and Community Development Ministry reported 39 cases of elderly abandonment in government welfare homes as of May 2024.

Why do people abandon their aged parents? In almost all cases, financial strain is the main cause. So, would making a law that for­ces children to financially aid their aged parents really help?

Such a law exists in many countries, including India, Bangladesh, China and Singapore. As the World Health Organisation (WHO) noted, in many Asian communities, filial piety and respect for elders created strong family-support mechanisms in the past. So much so that governments never felt the need to institute comprehensive welfare program­mes for old people.

I do believe most people would want to look after their aged parents, but times have changed, making it very hard for many to do so. People are living longer and often with chronic diseases, and escalating costs of living and hiring maids or caregivers compound the problem of sheltering aged, needy parents.

Such legislation goes by diffe­rent names. In India, it’s called the Maintenance and Welfare of Parents and Senior Citizens Act; and in China, it’s the Law for the Protection of the Rights and Inte­rests of the Elderly. Bangladesh and Singapore have similar-soun­ding laws. In the latter, it’s called the Maintenance of Parents Act (MPA).

Interestingly, filial care is not a new phenomenon. According to a study published in the Public Administration and Policy journal, it goes back to 1601 with the Elizabethan Poor Relief Act in Eng­land that imposed the responsibility of caring for indigent parents on their children.

In the United States, many states have laws that allow civil legal proceedings against child­ren who fail to support their parents.

Canada, Poland, Ukraine, Spain, Italy, Slovenia and Portugal all have legal mechanisms that obligate children to support their parents.

So, there are many existing models that Malaysian lawma­kers can learn from if they are really serious about formulating a filial care law. It is undoubtedly a complex and layered issue, requiring clear definitions, workable mechanisms and effective enfor­cement, as well as taking into consideration societal attitudes and awareness.

As the WHO study observed, the success of parental maintenance laws varies significantly – with effective enforcement often depending on public attitudes towards filial piety, the strength of the national welfare system and legal mechanisms for implementation.

Singapore’s MPA is seen as effective because, after its introduction in 1995, the number of cases since 2017 has remained stable at about 30 a year compared to the hundreds of cases in the initial years. This is despite a lack of penalties for violations, but that is Singapore for you.

In many countries, the law takes into account how parents treated their children, whether there were issues of abandonment, neglect and abuse, and the children’s incomes. That’s why filial laws also work better in high-income countries like Singa­pore.

Elsewhere, the law has been less effective, mainly due to enforcement and also reluctance among parents to sue their child­ren out of shame or embarrassment.

In India, it’s challenging becau­se of the number of children living overseas, which could be a similar issue in Malaysia, where many have emigrated or are working abroad, leaving their old folks behind.

So, while a filial law sounds good, I fear we will, as with many of our laws, fall short of effectiveness and implementation.

Frankly, I think a better way to deal with it is for the government to provide financial aid directly to deserving senior citizens.

The RM600 senior citizen allo­wance is a darn good idea and should be expanded to benefit more retirees. The focus is always on the so-called B40, but the hard reality is many in the Middle 40%, or M40, are also struggling. What we need is a universal basic income for senior citizens.

I am indeed classified in the M40, but I think in time to come, as my savings get depleted, I will drop into the B40. I don’t know when that will happen, but when it does, I hope the government would have developed a stronger, wider safety net and allocated more resources like affordable healthcare for us old folks who have done our part in the past contributing to the nation and were responsible taxpayers.

My children, whose financial commitments and burdens would have grown, should be my last resort.

The views expressed here are the writer’s own.