LUMUT, Aug 15 (Bernama) -- The Sultan of Perak, Sultan Azlan Shah, said premature retirement among public service officials can lead to human capital brain drain in the country's public service.
He said although the retirement age was raised to 58 in July last year, it was still a young age and constituted a loss to the public sector, especially in areas which needed intellectual inputs from experienced officers such as learning institutions, health and medical services, engineering, architecture and science.
"The retirement age for judges is 66 but the retirement age for the legal service is 58. This is a loss to the Attorney-General's Chambers as experienced prosecutors and legal officers are making their exit.
"Their departure at such a young and productive age is a huge loss to the service as their experience and maturity of minds is still needed by the sector," he said when opening the Malaysian Government Retirees' Association's 22nd Annual Delegates Conference at Wisma Samudera, here.
Saying that retirees had invaluable experience to share, Sultan Azlan hoped that they could record their experience by writing books.
"The Retirees' Association can collaborate with the National Archives or training institutes such as Intan to document their experience or create a website which can be visited by future generations," he said.
Sultan Azlan also spoke on the importance of keeping one's mind active after retirement.
An active mind, he said, would keep the retirees alert and fresh and prevent them from plunging into depression due to the feeling that they no longer had any use to the society.
"It is therefore important for retirees to continue attending events, participate in intellectual discussions, reading, and keeping abreast with current issues.
"In fact, in developed countries, it is a norm for retirees to attend courses in universities, not so much for the purpose of passing examinations but to enjoy the lectures, or in academic term, to carry out academic audit," he said.
The ruler also said that new discoveries and advancements in food, health and medical technologies had helped raise life expectancy among the people.
Citing statistics from the Statistics Department, he said, the life expectancy of men in Malaysia is 71.7 years and 76.5 years for women.
"We should therefore look into the context of today's retirement from a different perspective.
"Retirees of today are people who are active and productive and have what it takes to contribute meaningfully to the society and country," he said.
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