Selamat Hari Raya and Happy Holidays.
This is a good letter by netizen, Yusuf Hashim.
On this fine Tuesday morning, I would like to post an open letter to our Prime Minister, Datuk Najib. Please disregard your political affiliations and your race for a moment. If you support what I am asking the PM to do, please LIKE and SHARE this open letter to Najib with ALL your friends on FB.
In 2013 it is estimated that there are 14.5 mil FB users in Malaysia. As our population in 2013 is 29 million, this means half of the population of Malaysia is on FB. If every one of the 14.5 million FB users in Malaysia likes and shares this open letter to the PM, the PM better listen and do what I am asking. Here's my open letter to the Prime Minister
Dear Prime Minister,
Greetings and Selamat Hari Raya to you from 50% of the people of Malaysia. We have a simple request for you to implement by the end of this year. We really don't want to listen to any excuses. If there are any issues or problems, please ask your cabinet ministers to solve them. We want you to Just Do It. If our request is implemented, maybe, just maybe, we might consider giving you our vote in the next general elections. Be assured however, we will NOT vote for you if you don't do this.
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 person, 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 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 your 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 or 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 his 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.