Retirement Age

Somebody suggested in a recent article in the Star that the retirement age in Malaysia be raised from the current 58 to 60. I was asked by a couple of people whether I would extend my services if the government were to raise the retirement age to 60. Each time without hesitation my answer would be the same. Yes. Usually the response to my answer is not what I was thinking. Many people think that we should continue working after 58..otherwise we wouldn't know what to do with our free time. There are many reasons why I want to continue working but not knowing what to do with the free time is definitely not a main reason. The main reason is of course the income. I suppose it is attractive enough for me to stay on. The second is because I feel I have still a lot to offer. Although no one is indispensable, I still feel that I'm still an asset to the school. After all, there are not many of us who can teach Pre-U science courses fluently in English. The younger teachers would probably take quite a few years to reach our level of experience. Speaking of experience, our opinions and suggestions are still needed in the school management.
However, I think the Malaysian government will not propose an extension to the current retirement age. By comparison, our retirement age is among the lowest. It is 62 in Singapore and Thailand, 65 in Japan and 67 in Australia. With the average lifespan increasing most countries are extending the retirement age. In Malaysia, however, the government has also got to consider the unemployment rate. With so many public and private universities, more and more graduates join the work force each year. If the retirement age is extended, the unemployment rate may rise further unless the economy expands. At present there are no indications of a possible extension, so I guess I should start my countdown again and plan what to do when August 2011 comes.
The most obvious thing to do is to do what we do best...teach. I'll continue my tuition classes and maybe start a few more classes. At least until I'm 60, if health permits. After that, my wife would have also retired and I may just wrap up my classes and do what most retirees do. Travelling, visiting the children, TV and of course internet. I hope I won't get bored with facebook by then. maybe I'll blog more. And who knows, maybe I'll write some short stories!

Facebook or Blog?

Four months....I didn't realise that it was that long ago since my last post. Whoever reads this blog would have given up checking for updates. Since getting hooked on facebook, I have neglected my blog. But actually I cannot blame facebook. Before facebook, the updates were also not regular. Excuses, excuses. Maybe facebook does play a part for my absence. When we feel like writing something, we just write a short post on facebook. When we have photos to share, we put it up on facebook. In a way, facebook does replace our blog activities. What more with its addictive games, we spend more and more time on facebook..where to find time to blog? The guys who created and maintained facebook have really got us all hooked.
After seeing some of the photos I put up on facebook, someone suggested I write my story on my blog. The difference between a blog post and status updates in facebook is that we can write more details in the blog post. In facebook, all your friends read your status updates almost immediately, whereas the blogs may never get read. So the best way is to update then post the link on facebook. In the next few posts I shall write about my views on the teaching profession.