Ng Kuok Cheong vows for changes on early retirement scheme

Lawmaker and member of the New Macau Association, Ng Kuok Cheong, handed in a petition yesterday at the government headquarters, vowing for changes to the early retirement scheme.
The legislator argued that those who have applied for early retirement, typically those aged 60, are facing losses when pensions are upgraded. Ng Kuok Cheong stressed that the government conveyed the wrong message back in 2010 by assuring elderly people that they would enjoy the same type of benefits irrespective of their age of retirement. In reality, however, those who requested early retirement do not receive a full salary.
Last year, Ng Kuok Cheong had voiced his concerns regarding early retirement through a written enquiry. He stressed that the government has failed to provide a solution, while also recognizing that about 30,000 elderly residents had suffered comparative salary losses whenever pensions were upgraded.
He told the Times that “this is a significant symptom that the government does not want to do anything about… So I must remind the Chief Executive [to address this issue.]”
Similar early retirement schemes are used in other regions and countries, where those retiring early are not entitled to receive a full salary. Ng Kuok Cheong, however, argues that Macau’s reality is different, since elderly people were told that, using the current pension calculation formula, they would enjoy similar benefits whether they retired earlier or not.
“The government said ‘you will suffer no [salary] losses (…) therefore more than 90 percent of the elderly joined this [early retirement scheme], because they trust the government,” he outlined. The legislator added that in other countries, people only resort to early retirement due to very specific reasons, such as being no longer able to work. A salary loss would be otherwise untenable.
In the petition handed in yesterday to the Chief Executive’s office, Ng Kuok Cheong recalled that if the government does not adjust the pension calculation formula, “the [salary] losses will continue to grow.” He also asked the government to compensate those who have already faced losses under the early retirement scheme.

Catarina Pinto & with João Pedro Lau