Why are senior citizens being treated just like any other citizens in Malaysia?

A senior citizen who is in his or her sixties is still expected to go to the Inland Revenue Board and submit his or her income tax returns.

Income tax payments have become a routine chore and nobody thinks if this should be relevant at all.

If a senior citizen still earns an income then it simply means he needs money to survive his daily needs.

This means paying for utilities, water electricity and his telephone bills.

If he falls ill then he must have money all on his own to meet medical and hospital bills.

If he is unable to do so then he will be left to die.

Of course one may ask but what about the children? They are there, they too have their own needs.

What is so special about senior citizens? The government must realise that our younger generation that makes up our vibrant society is because of the care and love given by we, the senior citizens, in the upbringing of our children.

If there is a vibrant civil service then it is again due to the senior citizens. We sacrificed all our money, our time and all our pleasures just to give the best to our children.

Yet when it comes to the government of the day attending to senior citizens, I see hardly anything done.

They want our support and our votes but what is given in return from the government? Zilch! I must say.

Our government hospitals are there but it is more for pensioners and not for the self-employed or those working in the private sector.

If a senior citizen who is still self-employed needs to maintain himself and his wife then he still has to go around to secure the services of an accountant, or he has to go to the income tax department and file his tax returns.

To me this is inhuman and should be abolished immediately. Taxes are paid from income derived from his blood sweat and tears.

In other words it is blood money.

When one would have spent 30 or 40 years or even 50 years of his life paying blood money then why should it be allowed to continue till death?

The income tax department is the most hardened and stone walled department in Malaysia.

They have no feelings for people even till old age. This is something that the next premier must step in and do something on an urgent basis.

This is my take. All citizens who reach age 60 should be automatically exempted from paying all forms of income tax.

In fact he should even be eligible for duty free goods sold at duty free shops nationwide. Senior citizens should be exempted from the bankruptcy office after 60 years.

In other words there should be automatic annulment of bankruptcies on all senior citizens.

All tolls, charges, public transport and even airline tickets should have mandatory senior citizen discounts.

There should be special protection by the police for senior citizens. Police should be always be on standby to help senior citizens.

The legal department should be entrusted to amend the law to show special care for senior citizens.

Parliament should enact new law known as the National Senior Citizens Protection Act.

This is my initial proposal and I hope the present premier and the new premier will give this due consideration.