QUESTION TIME | There is just one reason to raise the retirement age - more and more people need to have the opportunity to earn money to support themselves in their old age. People are living longer and longer, but they can still be useful, productive contributors to the nation, and thereby avoid becoming a burden to society.

It is a disappointment that Prime Minister Dr Mahathir Mohamad who, at 94, ironically 34 years above the official retirement age now, flatly turned down the proposal by the Malaysian Trades Unions Congress (MTUC) to increase the retirement age to 65 from 60.

Instead, he supported the young Sports and Youth Minister Syed Saddiq Syed Abdul Rahman (incidentally being a cabinet minister is his first job, indicating that even inexperienced youths will have no problems getting high-paying jobs if they have the right connections)...