KUCHING: The Social Welfare Council of Sarawak (SWCS) welcomes the call by the state government to study the various measures to address the growing number of elderly among the state’s populace.
Its vice president Chi Poh Yung said that there was an urgent need to have centres to take care of these elderly so that their daily necessities were well taken care of.
These centres should be equipped with all the basic amenities such as shelter, hall, social zone, games zone, workshop, medical corner and prayer room, among other things, he added.
“As more and more young family members are away from their family and work outstation, we need to consider allowing elderly to stay in a fully equipped centre for them to spend their golden days.
“The state government projected that around half a million of Sarawak’s 2.8 million population will be at the age of 60 and above by the year 2030. This figure gives us a lot of question marks on how to address all possible problems and challenges that may be faced by the family and society as a whole,” he said when contacted today (Oct 7).
Chi, who is also the founder and president of Wishesland – a non-profit organisation to provide an avenue for counselling services, rehabilitation and consolidation treatment to children and adults with cerebral palsy as well as members of their families — noted that special attention was also needed to be taken into consideration on the growing number single elderly.
As such, he said the private sector should be encouraged to build more houses which are suitable for single elderly so that they could continue to live and contribute to the society.
“Private companies are also encouraged to invite elderly retired from the government, listed companies or overseas to become advisor as their experiences, knowledge and network could assist these companies to grow their businesses,” he added.
With some of the elderly being highly educated and having a master’s degree or Doctor of Philosophy (PhD), he said local higher institutions of learning should be encouraged to accept them to do research and development on specific areas so that more studies and findings pertaining to Sarawak’s interests could be addressed.
“We are living in the 21st century where medical advancement has resulted in people to live longer where living up to the age of 100 is not just a dream anymore. Hence, we need to come out with a plan where we can allow these elderly to continue contributing their knowledge and skills to nation building.
“This is possible as we can see the recipient of this year’s Noble Prize Chemistry award goes to an American Japanese aged 90 years old. A comprehensive study needs to be done to identify individual strengths as well as where they can contribute their skills and knowledge,” he explained.
Besides introducing financial assistance, Chi said a conducive environment for the elderly to live, relax, enjoy and work at the same time needs to be established.
He said most elderly would rather depend on themselves wherever possible as they would like to prove that they can take care of themselves.
“Most aging people want to live with dignity where they will do their best to continue providing their services to the society wherever possible. Hence, a conducive environment with complete safety, hygiene and elderly user-friendly facilities need to be installed in most of the public areas in the cities so that elderly could be mobile without much assistance,” he added.
