Featured in state media CNA, a 77-year-old elderly poor told reporters that he has to continue working past retirement age because he doesn’t have enough money. The petrol pump attendant, Mohamed Yasin, who works at the Esso petrol station in Yishun said that the hours are long and the pay is little.
The responsible Malay elderly said he needs the S$2,000 pre-CPF tax salary for his wife and his 48-year-old mentally-disabled son. Although he have other sons, he understands that they themselves hardly earn enough to support themselves:
“It’s not that they forget about me. But they’re lacking when it comes to finances. It’s not that they don’t give me money. Sometimes they do.”
Mohamed Yasin used to be a tugboat master for decades prior to his retrenchment at 62 years old. Despite working all his life, his CPF fund is unable to help him retire. Unfortunately there is no light at the end of the tunnel, the encik said that he will work for as long as he is still alive:
“I am still strong, still active, and I am happy to be working at his petrol station. As long as I can walk and I can work, I would. I’ll take care of my child, my wife, for as long as I’m alive … I pray to God to lengthen my life.”
Singapore have one of the worst retirement funds in the world, with the CPF return rates paying as low as 2.5% in yearly interest. Malaysia’s EPF, a former sister fund of Singapore’s CPF, returns as much as 8.65% last year.
CPF funds are invested through GIC and Temasek Holdings, which are managed by Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong and his wife Ho Ching respectively. The dictator refuse to increase CPF interest rates, and since 2003, more than doubled the Minimum Sum from S$80,000 to S$181,000.
Temasek Holdings and GIC have been taking headlines in recent years due to their investment losses, notably in Uber and Keppel.