Dear Prime Minister,
Greetings and Selamat Hari Raya to you from the
people of Malaysia. We have a simple proposal for you to consider for
implementation hopefully by the end of this year. We really don't want to
listen to any excuses. If there are any issues or problems, we feel sure our
cabinet ministers can solve them. We want you to Just Do It. If our request is
implemented, we will certainly give you our vote in the next general elections.
First consider these statistics:
Estimated Population of Malaysia in 2013 is 29 million
Median life expectancy is 74 (Male 71, Female
77)
Proportion of Malaysians who are 65 years and
above is 5.1 %
Therefore number of Malaysians who are 65 years
and above is 1.45 mil
Petronas 2011 income after tax was RM 68 billion (RM90.6 bil before tax)
Malaysian Corporate tax rate is 25% so Govt has already taken RM22.7 bil
Our request is very simple. The oil in the
ground belongs to the people, so the revenue of Petronas rightly belongs to the
people. For every dollar that Petronas earns, the government is already taking
away 25 cents as tax. Now its our turn. We've never had any clear accounting of
what actually happened to the trillions that Petronas has given the government
as dividends over all these years, but that is not the issue we are raising
here.
All we are asking is, we would like you to enact
a law to set aside whatever amount is needed from the net income after tax of
Petronas, to set up a fund that will provide a guaranteed annuity or pension,
of at least RM2000 per month for every Malaysian man or woman that is aged 65
and above, no matter what his race, his colour, his religion or his political
affiliation is. This will be paid to them monthly from January 2014, till the
day they die.
As the number of years that a Malaysian, on average, is expected to live after 65 is 9 years (ie 74 minus 65), for each of the 1.45 million elderly Malaysians, you only have to set up an investment fund that generates a paltry 2000x12x9=RM216,000 over 9 years for each person. To illustrate how easy it is to earn RM216K, if you have access to capital, you can buy a house in Bukit Jelutong for RM900K last year, and this year you can more than double your money by selling it off for RM2 mil. That single investment will take care of the post 65 pensions of at least 6 warga tua. Easy Peasy.
Recognizing the considerable financial wizardry
in our cabinet, we are confident this can easily be done.
Mr Prime Minister, if you can do this, you will
go down in Malaysian history as the Prime Minister who was brilliant and
visionary enough to have provided a lifelong pension of RM2000 per month to
every Malaysian man and woman above 65 years, till the day he or she dies, no
matter what his race, religion or political affiliations are. We already have a
good government hospital system that theoretically can provide for all our
healthcare requirements. This universal pension scheme for every male or female
Malaysian will complete a financial and healthcare package that will be the
envy of every country in the world.
Mr Prime Minister, we know you can do this.
Announce this incredible pension scheme in your Hari Raya message, and let your
cabinet worry about how they are going to do it. In one brilliant move your
stature will eclipse that of every Prime Minister before you, including your
visionary late father as well. You can do it Mr Prime Minister. Just do it. And
do it NOW.
Yours Sincerely,
Yusuf Hashim, on behalf of ALL Malaysians.
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