There should be no retirement age: MM Lee

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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