PETALING JAYA: Japan can help Malaysia deal with its ageing population as the East Asian nation had managed a similar issue in the past.
The Japanese ambassador to Malaysia Takahashi Katsuhiko said 14% of Malaysia’s population was expected to be over the age of 65 by the year 2044, which would push it into the category of a “super aged society”.
Japan’s population, he said, had reached that level in 1994.
In order for Malaysia to be ready for an ageing society, Katsuhiko said it could draw lessons from Japan’s successes and failures.
“Ageing is a multi-faceted issue, which includes social security, healthcare, elder care facilities, and also encompasses methods to provide a life with dignity to the elderly,” he said at a lecture titled “The Look East Policy in Present Turbulent Times.
Having faced the issue much earlier, he said Japan created its own system to address ageing, with new measures continually introduced.
Last month, the statistics department announced that Malaysian life expectancy at birth, in 2021, had increased by nearly 12 years to 75.6 years, up from its previous figure of 63.6 years, five years ago.
Katsuhiko also said Malaysia was still in need of human resource development, ranging from relatively low-skilled manual labour to high-end industries.
“For example, production of Perodua cars continues to require imported engine parts from Japan.”
He said Malaysia was still unable to produce all the technological components required by itself, and would need to continue collaborating with other nations.
“Malaysia needs to learn more, and we are ready to help.” - FMT
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