COMMENT | A short video was broadcasted by KiniTV on March 30, 2017 which captured part of a public dialog session at the Finance Ministry hosted by me and Khairy Jamaluddin on the economic aspect of the TN50 initiative of the prime minister.

I was wrongly portrayed by KiniTV as urging Malaysians not to purchase houses for their accommodation but encouraging Malaysians to continue to rent instead.

For clarification, I was merely throwing up the idea of renting houses or accommodation to fellow Malaysians until such a time that they are in a position in their life or career where they are actually ready to commit to such a big financial responsibility.

It is the culture amongst Malaysians, upon entering the workforce to commit themselves to two big financial burdens: 1) purchase of automobiles, and 2) purchase of accommodations.

Whilst the financial commitment for an automobile may last up to nine years, the financial commitment for accommodation can last up to 30 years.

Thus, Malaysians tie themselves up to such a financial burden at such an early stage in their life when they should actually and ideally concentrate in developing their careers instead.

By freeing themselves from having such burdensome financial commitments, they could instead enhance their job mobility by exploring opportunities at other work places, seek or change to different careers or develop their entrepreneurship by starting their own business or enterprises.

No stigma in renting

In more advanced economies such as European countries, the percentage of house ownership is much lower than it is in Malaysia as the cultural mindset is different.

There is no stigma to renting family accommodation throughout their lives instead of being burdened with financial-repayment responsibilities of home ownership.

In Germany, for instance, the percentage of the population who are house owners is at 41 percent whereas in Switzerland is lower at 38 percent.

If we were to look at Greece, where the population are currently facing economic hardships, the home ownership is very high at 73 percent. Burdensome financial commitments are cited as part of their economic woes.

If we were to proceed to live up to the aspirations of TN50, we need, as part of the process, to change our outlook of life and the way we do things in the country.

The concept of long-term rental of accommodation is only one of the many ideas that Malaysians should consider. At the end of the day, Malaysians themselves should evaluate their own living situation to see what will work best to be part of the progress of the nation.

Those who can afford to buy house at early age, by all means, no one can stop you from doing that. As for the government, we will continue encourage developers to develop more affordable houses and embark on rent to own concept.

JOHARI ABDUL GHANI is Finance Minister II.

The views expressed here are those of the author/contributor and do not necessarily represent the views of Malaysiakini.