Malaysians face retirement in poverty as lifelong low pay bites back in their autumn years

Around 6.3 million private-sector workers in Malaysia who are younger than 55 have less than US$2,125 saved up for their retirement

Left unchecked, it would mean they have less than US$9 a month to survive on in their old age, according to ministry estimates

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An elderly Malaysian woman waits to cast her vote at a polling station in Kuala Lumpur during the general election in 2018. Photo: AFP

Published: 12:30pm, 19 Mar 2024Updated: 12:40pm, 19 Mar 2024

To be old and poor in Malaysia is a raw deal, but as lifelong low pay translates into small pension pots it’s a reality millions face. For 73-year-old Ghee Eck Siong that pernicious combination may soon mean he has to forgo the basics.

“I usually buy two whole chickens at the market every fortnight,” he told This Week in Asia from a wet market in Kuala Lumpur. “But if prices keep going up I may have to cut back to buying chicken just once a month.”

Ghee should be enjoying his twilight years without worry. But like millions of Malaysians who have worked their whole lives on relatively low wages, he is staring down the barrel of poverty in his dotage, living on a fixed income after retiring from his job as a sales executive 13 years ago.

A man displays bananas outside his shop in in Kuala Lumpur, with Malaysia’s iconic Petronas Twin Towers in the background. Retirees in the Malaysian capital say their savings are being gobbled up fast. Photo: EPA-EFE

He says his savings are being gobbled up too fast in Malaysia’s capital Kuala Lumpur. The weak ringgit does not help, inflating prices of daily necessities, while the government trims subsidies that kept prices artificially low for decades.

If times are tough already, experts warn the outlook for many of those next in line to retire are even bleaker.