KUCHING: Sarawak United People’s Party (SUPP) has welcomed the government’s plan to table the Senior Citizens Bill in Parliament next year, to protect senior citizens and deal with an ageing nation by 2030.
SUPP women chief Kho Teck Wan said she came across some hard-core poor and sick elderly people abandoned by their children who actually have the means to support their parents.
“While helping to address social and welfare issues, I have come across such cases where children refused to take care of their old parents even though they can afford to.
“These children indirectly increased the burden of this country and our society,” she said in a statement today.
Kho said some children who did not support or care for their parents even included their parents as dependents for their income tax reliefs. This had caused the elderly parents ineligible for or not entitled to certain social welfare benefits or financial aids.
She hoped that the bill, once passed, will scrutinise the suitability of the law against irresponsible children who failed to support their old and sick parents as well as to ensure that there is awareness that caring for senior citizens is important.
Yesterday, Deputy Women, Family and Community Development Minister Aiman Athirah Sabu told the Dewan Rakyat that the Senior Citizens Bill is expected to have its first reading next year.
It is one of the government’s efforts to protect senior citizens and deal with an ageing nation by 2030.
According to Kho, more than half of the states in the United States have laws requiring adult children to support their impoverished parents.
She said some states extended the laws to support impoverished relatives where adult children can be jailed in some states if they failed to provide the support needed.
In Asia, Kho said countries like Singapore, China, and India have laws that go after adult children who refuse to provide financial support to their aging impoverished parents.
“Countries that have already implemented such a law have specified and taken into account the scope of parental support for adult children.
“I am certain that the (federal) Ministry of Women, Family and Community Development will also refer to the existing bills in these countries when working on the new law,” she added.
