Malaysia Can Consider Lifelong Retirement Income Mechanism -- Singapore CPFB

KUALA LUMPUR, Sept 29 (Bernama) -- Malaysia can consider establishing a national-level decumulation mechanism that converts accumulated retirement savings into lifelong income as the country prepares for an ageing population, said Singapore Central Provident Fund Board (CPFB) deputy chief executive officer (services) Wong Yan Jun.

He said a mechanism similar to Singapore’s CPF Lifelong Income For the Elderly (CPF LIFE), if implemented at sufficient scale to cover most Malaysians, could help provide income security throughout retirement.

CPF LIFE is Singapore’s national longevity insurance annuity scheme that provides members with monthly payouts for as long as they live.

“For me, it is really national-level decumulation… Something like CPF LIFE, streaming out the retirement savings which Malaysian citizens have built up over the years into a lifelong income stream.

“If we are able to get it at a certain scale that covers most people, I think that will be a very good outcome for everyone,” he said during the concluding panel titled “Ahead of the Curve: A Tale of Three Systems” at the International Social Wellbeing Conference (ISWC) 2026 here today.

Wong said this in response to a question on a policy that Malaysia could consider putting in place over the next 20 years to better prepare for an ageing society.

He said Singapore’s retirement system, which has a defined contribution system at its core, has evolved over the years to incorporate defined benefit elements after recognising that some risks could not be managed through defined contributions alone.

These include CPF LIFE, which pools longevity risk, while Singapore has also continued to reinforce the defined contribution component of the system, including through a scheme covering platform workers, he said.

(Platform workers refer to those providing ride-hail or delivery services under a platform work agreement with a platform operator and receive a payment or benefit, and are under the management control of the operator when providing the platform service.)

He added that policymakers should look at the system through three lenses -- from the citizen’s perspective, over the long term and in terms of how individual components complement the overall system.

According to Wong, the long-term perspective requires policymakers to look beyond immediate needs and even the next 10, 20 or 50 years to identify problems before they emerge.

However, he acknowledged that balancing retirement savings with other needs such as housing and healthcare remains challenging.

Singapore partly manages the trade-off by varying CPF allocations according to a member’s stage of life, with a larger proportion allocated for housing when members are younger before shifting towards healthcare and retirement as they age.

Wong said Singapore is still grappling with determining the appropriate balance between the different needs.

Meanwhile, Tohoku University Smart-Ageing Research Centre professor Hiroyuki Murata said Malaysia should start preparing early for the consequences of population ageing, drawing from Japan’s experience in developing its long-term care system.

He said that “social hospitalisation”, where people remain in hospitals for non-medical reasons such as a lack of home care, family support or nursing facilities, became a social problem in Japan and prompted the country to consider how it could sustainably provide care for its ageing population.

Japan subsequently introduced its long-term care insurance system in April 2000 after years of preparation.

“You can learn from our experience. The earlier you prepare, the more you can prepare for the future. You should start to study and prepare as soon as possible,” Murata said.

Council on the Ageing (COTA) Australia chief executive officer Patricia Sparrow, meanwhile, called for a broader longevity policy that addresses ageing across different areas rather than focusing separately on pensions or aged care.

She said such a policy should also recognise and account for the contribution older people continue to make, including through unpaid care.

-- BERNAMA