PertanikaJ. Soc. Sci. 8c Hum. 13 (2): 159-171 (2005)ISSN: 0128-7702

Universiti Putra Malaysia Press

Debunking the Myth:

The Involvement of Malaysian Retirees in Volunteerism1

SURJIT SINGH S/O UTTAM SINGH, RAHIM M. SAIL, BAHAMAN ABU SAMAH,RAJA AHMAD TAJUDIN SHAH & LINDA A. LUMAYAG

Institute for Community and Peace StudiesUniversiti Putra Malaysia

43400 Serdang, Selangor, Malaysia

Keywords: Retirees, older adults, volunteerism, ageing, Malaysian public service, communitydevelopment

ABSTRAKIni adalah satu kajian rintis yang melibatkan pesara Malaysia dari peringkat atasan, pengurusandan profesional daripada sektor Perkhidmatan Awam Malaysia. la menilai sejauh manapenglibatan, motivasi dan keutamaan pesara melibatkan diri dengan kerja sukarela di negaraini. Secara metodologinya, borang soal-selidik telah digunakan di kalangan 261 pesara di seluruhMalaysia termasuk Sabah dan Sarawak bagi mendapatkan maklumat dan pendapat. Hasil kajianmendapati bahawa, pesara adalah lebih dari sanggup untuk melibatkan diri secara sukarela didalam organisasi keagamaan, sosial, pendidikan atau komuniti terutamanya yang memerlukankepakaran rnereka. Para pesara menyuarakan kebimbangan mereka terhadap tanggapan orangramai bahawa mereka tidak lagi produktif dan dirasakan kurang penting.

ABSTRACTThis is an exploratory study involving the Malaysian retirees from the Premier and Managerialand Professional sectors of the Malaysian Public Service. It examined the extent of the retirees*involvement, motivation and preference in relation to engaging in volunteerism in the country.Methodologically, a mailed-survey questionnaire was conducted to elicit the information andopinion of 261 retirees throughout Malaysia, including Sabah and Sarawak. Based on the findings,these retirees were more than willing to volunteer in religious, social, educational or communitytype of organization especially to those who needs their expertise. These retirees expressedconcerns about the widely-accepted public conditioning that they were no longer productiveand could therefore be relegated to the background as far as their relevance was concerned.

INTRODUCTIONVolunteerism is an intrinsic social value of acommunity and does not exist in a vacuum.This means that in any given community thereis bound to be unselfish, selfless and altruisticactions that individuals demonstrate asproducts of their own social conditioning. It

is apparent that volunteerism exists in moreways than one and it is portrayed differentlyfrom one culture to another, depending onthe economic and social development ofcertain communities. Volunteerism comes inmany forms, depths and dimensions (Wilson2000) and these circumstances largely depend

1 This research was funded by IRPA, 8th Malaysia Plan, Ministry of Science, Technology and Innovation, under ProjectNo.: 07-02-04-0540-EAOOL

Surjit Singh, et al

on whether there are conditions that facilitateor hinder the growth of the voluntary actionsof the individuals in the society. It is alsobelieved that practically the nature ofvolunteerism changes as the society evolvesfrom that of peasant economy to cash-cropeconomy (Foner and Schwab 1983). As thebody of literature would show, there is a clearconnection between the changing economyand the extent people engage in volunteerismin their social relations with the members ofthe community (see for example, Cherline1983). For example, in the Philippines, theconcept of bayanihan [mutual helpfulness] isan age-old practice that involves theparticipation of the members of the localpeople in community-based actions e.g.lifting/transporting a wooden house usinghuman hands and requires that all able-malemembers of the village must participate(nnvw.worldvolunteerweb.org). Another exampleis among peasant farming households, thereis hunlos —a bisayan term which means'alternate', to emphasise the strength of thecommunity helpfulness reflective of the factthat farming households are dependent onanother to be able to continue the farmingcycle from weeding and plowing to plantingand harvesting. In many respects, the natureof volunteerism is engaged in these two formsof community practices in the sense that one'sinvolvement is crucial in the overallfunctioning of the local peasant community,and only in the selfless form of service to thecommunity that it is able to sustain its'"life'\

Indeed, volunteerism is common amongmost communities, for example, it is yi wuamong the Mandarin-speaking Chinese or yimo among the Cantonese Chinese or sewaamong the Indian communities. BothIndonesian (www.worldvolunteerweb.org) andMalaysian rural communities share the samemeaning of gotong royong which means"working together hand in hand". Whilesukarela speaks of the spirit of volunteerism,gotong-royong is the concrete manifestation ofthat spirit. However, how does volunteerismas a selfless form of action become reallywanting in these modern times? Sometheorists argue that altruism and volunteerism

remain a feature in most communities thoughthey are no longer as prominent as a pro-socialbehaviour in the sense that individuals havevarious "avenues" over which they could searchfor assistance henceforth volunteerismbecomes a "dormant" feature in thecommunity. To illustrate, it is noted thatbefore the advent of the Green Revolution inthe early 70s and the cash economy evenbefore this period, peasant farmers weredependent on the manual labours to sustaintheir farming activity; gotong royong andbayanihan enriched and beautify the culturaland economic life of the village communitiesin the sense that, in literal term, one farmercould not live without the other. This refersto the constant, cooperative and coordinatedfarm labour that each household engages inthe survival of another. That was when "use"labour was primarily the dictating element inboth the social and economic relations.However, the introduction of the mechanisedfarming gradually changed the farminglandscape of the village communities in mostAsian countries in a manner that thetraditional form of labour was no longer intandem with the existence of machines. Thisled to the gradual erosion of the spirit ofbayanihan, gotong royong or hunlos as farmers*roles in the farm economy diminished.

The central thesis of this paper isinfluenced by the argument that theinvolvement of individuals in altruistic andpro-social action such as those that reflectvoluntary actions hinges on whether the socialsystem readily recognizes their positivecontributions, especially those contributiveroles that ageing or older individuals providein the local community. As argued by Merriamand Mazanah (2000) the older persons, forintance, the public service retirees, must beviewed as a social capital in the social systemand that their productive function must beviewed in relation to their cultural, social andeconomic contributions. This articlespecifically examines the involvement of publicservice retirees in voluntary work in thecommunity and the retirees' own perceptiontowards their contributions. It is in theirinvaluable contribution that one needs to

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examine the extent of their presentinvolvement in the local community affairs,their motivations, potential and preferences.In as much as they are highly-skilled andEnglish-proficient Malaysian retirees, theircontributions may be sought after by both anumber of social and charity groups and thenon-government organisations (NGOs) thatare in need of volunteer service. This paperalso provides recommendations on how toencourage the future involvement of retireesin the community development

Volunteerism DefinedAs mentioned earlier, volunteerism is vieweddifferently from one situation to another.However,the common feature is that it is aform of service or help to others withoutexpecting any reward or payment. Snyder andOmoto (2000) describe volunteerism "as aform of pro-social action in which people seekout opportunities to help others in need, makeconsiderable and continuing commitments tooffer assistance, and they may do so in stressfulcircumstances without any bonds of priorobligation to the recipients of the services".Volunteering is related to the motive or desireto volunteer. The motivation for volunteeringvaries from one person to another. Based on41 references to the theory and research forthe period 1982-1991, Fischer and Schaffer(1993) identified "eight categories ofmotivation for volunteering: altruistic,ideological, egoistic, material/reward, status/reward, social relationship, leisure time, andpersonal growth motivations." Riley and Riley(1994) argue that "all older people,everywhere," want to remain contributing,productive members of society and will be ableto do so if the social norms and structures allowfor their participations". Indeed this is a verysignificant argument to follow considering thesituation of the ageing population in manycountries today where the social system failsto understand the role of the ageing persons.

In this paper, volunteerism is defined asan act of providing unpaid service or helpingregularly or occasionally in the form of time,service or skills to a non-governmental, non-

profit formal organizations (e.g. societies,community, welfare, educational, politicalparty, service clubs) by retirees from theMalaysian public service who may or may notbe engaged in paid jobs for otherorganizations during their retirement life. Theterm does not include informal voluntary workof care-giving or helping of individuals on one-on-one basis, in the form of service or charityamong friends and relatives on a long term ortemporary period of time. In this study, theinvolvement of volunteerism is measured interms of time contributed, responsibility heldand the number of organizations served, forthe voluntary service rendered.

Myths About Retirement and Old AgeAn important assumption about life transitionsat any point in the life course is that suchtransitions will be accompanied by stress,especially if they entail major changes in theperson's life. The evidence indicates that manytypes of changes can affect mental and physicalfunctioning (Foner and Schwab 1983). Olderpersons do not react to change in their lives atretirement in isolation from the social andeconomic context in which retirement occurs;they are affected by the climate of opinion inthe society and by the economic, political aswell as social environment. True decisions aremade by individuals, but the calculation ofcosts and benefits and attitudes regarding workand leisure are developed within a field ofinfluence that in itself continuously changing(Foner and Schwab 1983).

Myths are the products of socialconditioning and are as common as they arepractised and reinforced by both the beliefsand everyday social actions. Mythssurrounding the retirement and ageing areabundant both in advanced and developingcountries (Foner and Schwab 1983) andMalaysia is not an exception to this. It is arguedthat myths precisely mirror our ownarticulation of certain social reality and, moreoften than not, are not based on the objectiveunderstanding of the reality. It is when thissocial conditioning inculcates a certain viewthat retirement and old age are equated with

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unproductivity, "silence", "passivity,""exit",dependency or ill-health, words which stronglysuggest their becoming "surplus" and a"bundle of needs" that retirement issuebecomes muddled and loses its real value andsignificance. When this prevailing notion ofold age becomes a guiding compass ineducation, social policy and in theintervention agenda of the government, thenit loses its usefulness ab initio. Both advancedand developing economies are guilty of thisfalse consciousness that older populations area bundle of needs citing from the fact that thedevelopment agenda caters only to thechildren, youth and adults, and the cycle stopsthere. It fails to capture the whole spectrumof the human development which includes, ofcourse, the ageing sector. It implies that theelderly no longer needs a continuingeducation after reaching a certain age. Thisdevelopment bias is reminiscent of mostintervention policies affecting the olderpopulation in the world today (Foner andSchwab 1983).

RESEARCH METHODOLOGYThe study involved the retirees in the Premierand Managerial and Professional groups(PMP) in the Malaysian public services whohad retired between 1989 and 2000representing all the states in Malaysiaincluding Sabah, Sarawak and the FederalTerritories. It is assumed that between the timethey had started retiring and when theresearch was conducted, the respondentswould be around the age of 60 or 70 and werenearing the life expectancy year ceiling ofMalaysians. Of the 21,242 retirees fallingunder this group, a cross-sectional sample wastaken randomly from the monthly clusters(Maxim 1999) within 12 years. The PensionDivision of the Public Services Department ofMalaysia provided the complete list ofmandatorily-retired personnels and out ofwhom 613 names were identified includingtheir addresses, year of retirement, month,gender, type of service and position held priorto retirement.

A survey questionnaire was utilised basedon the research objectives. In addition toavailable literature, exploratory interviews withselected respondents and interviews withprominent non-government organisationrepresentatives were carried out to substantiatethe paucity of available materials on localvolunteerism. The findings of the interviewsand the literature material were merged andan instrument comprising nine sections with215 items was developed. The questionnairewas then pre-tested using randomly selectedrespondents from the sample and a validity testusing the Exploratory Data Analysis (EDA) andfactor analysis.

Data collection was conducted through amail-survey. From the list of 613 retirees, amailing list of 576 names were prepared,excluding those who that participated in thepreliminary interview and pilot study. Theresponse rate was 45.3 percent, a rather highturn-out for a mail-survey mode of datacollection. Data in the completedquestionnaire were analyzed using the SPSS.Descriptive and inferential statistics wereadopted to further analyse the data.

FINDINGS AND DISCUSSION

Profile of Retirees

Of the 261 retirees involved in this study, 136or 52.1% were volunteers with 32.3%belonging to the early retirees while 67.5%from the later retirees. There seems to be awide gap in term of the percentagedistribution of retirees within the 12-year'speriod alluding to the fact that as the age ofretirees advances, their participation tovoluntary work becomes limited. Age alsopredicts the level of volunteering for both menand women. This is in consonance with thefindings of the Independent Sector survey of1992, a U.S. based group incharged ofpromoting volunteerism initiatives, whichshowed that 42% of people aged 65-74 saidthat they had volunteered in the previous year.Other studies also showed the comparablerates of decline (Chambre' 1987; Herzog 8cMorgan 1992). It seems that increasing age

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Debunking the MythrThe Involvement of Malaysian Retirees in Volunteerism

TABLE 1Sociodemographic characteristics of retirees

Characteristics

GenderMaleFemale

RaceMalayChineseIndianKadazanI banOthers

Educational QualificationHSC/DiplomaBachelor's DegreeMaster's DegreeDoctorate or equiv.Professional/TechnicalOthers

Residence/LocationPeninsular MalaysiaSabahSarawakFederal Territories

Marital StatusMarried (with children)Married (no children)Single (widowed,divorced, separated)Never married

ReligionIslamBuddhismChristianityHinduismNon-believer•Other

Volunteer(%)

82.417.6

66.817.88.81.5.7

4.4

12.555.916.13.75.95.9

70.65.96.6

16.9

89.02.2

4.44.4

68.48.1

15.45.2.7

2.2

NonVolunteer

(%)

91.28.8

50.435.211.2

.8

.8

1.6

20.249.216.1

.83.2

10.5

68.87.26.4

17.6

91.23.2

3.21.6

50.415.213.68.06.46.4

influences volunteering independently ofhealth status. However, the decline involunteering seems to be occurring at muchlater ages, i.e. after the age of 75 or 80(Chambre' 1987; Fischer & Schaffer 1993).One study found that the rate of volunteerismafter 80 declined much more sharply for menthan it did for women: with 14% of women

were still participating in volunteering ascompared to only 7% of men (Chambre'1987). It has been pointed out that it may notbe age itself that influences the rate ofvolunteering.

Table 1 shows the social and demographicprofile of both the volunteer and non-volunteer retirees. A majority of the retireeswere male, Malay, married, Muslim, residingin Peninsular Malaysia and possessed abachelor's degree. As these ex-public servantswere from the Professional and ManagerialGroup, their educational qualifications wererather high, noting that 50% were holders ofa bachelor's degree while others even havemaster's (16.1%) and doctorate (3.7%)degrees. In other studies, the level of educationhas been indicated as the most consistentpredictor of volunteering as it boostsvolunteering because it heightens theawareness of problems, increases empathy andbuilds self-confidence. Educated people arealso more likely to be asked to volunteer whichis partly a function of the fact that they belongto several organizations where they developmore civic skills, such as the ability to run ameeting (Brady et al 1995). The 50% rate ofvolunteerism among the retirees clearly showsthis trend.

The role of gender in volunteerism has yetto be established as there is a scarcity of localmaterials on this. However, research studiesin the West showed that women tend to bemore active in both organised andunorganised voluntary work simply becausewomen are more numerous than men. Thishas implication on the local scenario inMalaysia considering that the life expectancyfor women is higher by five years as comparedto men. In contrast looking at the labour forceparticipation of women in the professional andmanagerial level in the country, it is safe toargue that women should be given both equalaccess and opportunity so that future retireesof women will most likely to involve involunteer work. Studies which were conductedon both local and abroad point to the fact thatthose who engaged in voluntary work are morelikely those who have high education and

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TABLESPercentage distribution of respondents' sustaining factors for volunteerism

Sustaining factors

The joy of success in voluntary workCongenial environmentOpportunities to socialiseFeeling of being wantedTreated well by othersAccepted as a team memberContribution is appreciatedFamily supports volunteerismBelief in the cause/mission of voluntary organizationHaving been in the voluntary service for a long time

NI - Not Important; SI - Somewhat Important; I - Important

NI

5.16.69.510.310.34.49.69.65.912.5

Volunteer(n=136)

SI

18.436.830.924.334.621.319.933.816.934.6

I/ Of \\ /C )

76.556.659.665.455.174.370.656.677.252.9

Non-volunteer

NI

7.27.2

12.812.09.64.08.614.41.6

35.2

(n=125)

SI

23.240.837.626.435.227.231.236.821.634.4

I

69.652.049.661.655.268.863.248.876.830.4

involved in voluntary work in later life.Nevertheless, the volunteer-retirees'participation in voluntary work during theircareer may have left an imprint of influenceas far as continuing to provide service to thecommunity is concerned.

Table 5 reflects the retirees' responses,with regards to issues affecting the factors thatsustain their volunteerism spirit. It isinteresting to note that both the volunteersand non-volunteers believe in the sanctity ofthe mission of voluntary organization (77.2%and 76.8%, respectively) followed by the sheerjoy of having contributed to the success of anyvoluntary work (76.5% and 69.6%).

It is interesting that the findings above aresimilar to the survey conducted in 1995 and1996 in New Zealand's by VolunteeringCanterbury (www.cvc.org.nz/paper) showingmore or less common reasons for choosing todo voluntary work. These were:

To do something useful in the community(87%)To meet people (69%)To use experience and skills (66%)

- To have fun (65%)To use spare time (65%)

Preference of Retirees in Voluntary WorkBoth volunteers and non-volunteers seemedto have the same choice pertaining to theorganization they would work for or wish towork. These types of organizations includereligious, education, social or community-based groups. Bearing in mind the availabilityof volunteers and prospective volunteers towork on critical areas - religious education,training and education and communitydevelopment - that concern the Malaysiansociety, relevant agencies and authorities musttake note of this vast untapped resources whoare simply waiting to be called to-"active"service. Based on the informal interviews withthe selected retirees, they are willing to sharetheir time and expertise to the community.They are however reluctant to engage involuntary work once they experience certainglitches in the management of organizations,and thus preferring a high standard ofmanagement to manage them. Volunteer-retirees also disliked the idea of other retireeswho used their voluntary work as a platformto advance their personal and politicalinterests and argued that politics and vestedinterests should not interfere with any selflessform of voluntary work. The retirees'

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TABLE 6Organizational preferences of retirees

in voluntary work

Preferred typeof organization

ReligiousEducationSocialCommunityWelfareHealthPoliticalRecreationalWork-relatedSocietal benefitSportsService clubsYouthArts 8c Culture

Volunteer(n=136)

(%)

34.633.822.118.416.910.37.47.45.13.73.72.92.20

NonVolunteer(n=125)

28.828.018.427.221.616.85.67.2

10.48.07.22.43.22.4

preference in community work also indicatesa positive attitude towards helping the broadercommunity of which retirees and their familiesare a part. The verbal expressions "givingback" and""it's high time to give back"presuppose a very strong connection betweenthe retirees and their immediate localcommunity where they are a part, suggestingthat economic productive work has somehow"detached" them from the local communityand it is only during retirement that they wantto return or ""give back" what they feel theyhave owed to the broader community.Nevertheless, it is not definite what it is thatthey want to give back and/or what they havereceived during their "working" life but it issurmised that now they want now to spend timewith the people in their neighbourhood orcharity groups in need of their experience andskills. It is heartening to note that retirees,after having been through with their fair sharein working in the public sector, are a readyresource to work in the community where theirexpertise can be tapped. Looking at the socialproblems drug addiction, juveniledelinquency, sexual permissiveness and the

like (see Azimi 2005) - that Malaysian societyis confronted with in the recent times, it is bestto avail of the services of the retirees andacknowledge their experience and wisdom. Itis when they are recognised as a valuableresource that other retirees lurking in theirhomes are also emboldened to take part inassisting others to transform our community.

Why volunteers tend to converge inreligious and social activities is explained bythe influence of the eastern cultural valuessystem that puts overriding importance of thecommunity and "personal relationships". Thisis consistent with the qualitative studyconducted by Merriam and Mazanah (2000)on the role of cultural values in shaping theirlearning on older adulthood. Furthermore,emphasis on dependence, community, familyand relationships take a frontseat as peopleapproach retirement. Learning is bothcommunal and informal and is usuallyembedded in social interaction, whether it iswith their families or with the largercommunity. The preference for religious socialactivities could be an indication of retirees'preference for less stressful workingenvironment after having spent most of theirworking lives in the formal organizationswhere time, skills and energy are requisites.

Potential of Retirees as Volunteer WorkersTable 7 provides a clear picture of retirees whoare engaged in voluntary work. It is noted thatthey are willing to accept more responsibilitiesby participating in voluntary work shouldanother one comes along. However, the non-volunteers are non-committal as far as theirwillingness to join in voluntary work isconcerned though they may still be "free andeasy" (53.2%) and do not have any form ofproductive employment (see Table 3).Volunteers who were also giving their freeservice to the community gave an ambiguousposition as far as discontinuing their service;nonetheless, only 3.7% of the volunteer-retirees responded that they wished todiscontinue their voluntary work. In thecomments they shared, it showed that they hadexperienced some form of disappointments

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Surjit Singh, et al.

TABLE 7Percentage distribution of retirees as potential volunteers (N=261)

Statements

Volunteers willing to accept more voluntary work.Volunteers wishing to discontinue from voluntary work.Non-volunteers willing to do voluntary work.

TABLE 8Frustrations in volunteerism as perceived

Statements

Yes(%)

48.53.73.7

by respondents

DS*(%)

No<%)

42.635.38.8

(N=261)

ASW(%)

No Response(%)

8.961.087.5

AS(%)

Absence of expected rewards.Service effort is not appreciated.Mismatch of individual needs to tasks.Inability to carry out the tasks successfully.The spirit is willing; the flesh is weak.Lack of adequate resourcesLack of dynamic leadershipPersonal agenda not fulfilled.Burnout from workload overload

70.642.723.522.725.819.921.352.947.8

22.829.443.440.427.243.430.133.128.7

6.628.033.136.747.036.748.614.023.5

: DS-Disagree Strongly; ASW-Agree Somewhat; AS-Agree Strongly

and frustration implying that they may haveexpectations of a better-run voluntaryorganization prior to engaging in voluntarywork.

The Hong Kong study on the receptionand perception of the volunteer services wouldpoint to the fact that non-volunteers werewilling takers of the future voluntary workprovided they were well-informed of theactivity. The present research however stronglyshows that non-volunteer retirees have non-committal response when asked of theirpropensity to engage in voluntary work in thefuture giving an ambiguous position withregards to volunteerism.

Of the nine statements related tovolunteer's frustrations, the lack of dynamicleadership seemed to be the main issuefollowed by the apparent physical inability ofsome to carry out volunteer work, especiallythose who might have experienced somehealth problems or when the place of workwas far from their place of residence. There

seems to be a strong indication that one of thenegative factors that discourages retirees fromvolunteering is the lack of dynamic leadershipin the organisation that they wish to work inor have already worked and these frustrationsdo not bode well for both parties. While itshies away potential volunteers, it also stiflesenthusiasm of other people who are nowworking within the organisation. On anotherlevel, volunteers indicated that rewards forengaging in voluntary work was the least oftheir concerns and thus, it implies that theirpersonal agenda or interest in this matter takesa backseat.

Table 9 shows volunteers' and non-volunteers* perception of their satisfactiontowards volunteerism. While volunteer retireesstressed the importance of sharing theirexperiences as a source of satisfaction, the non-volunteers, on the other hand, stressed theissue of "creating a sense of civic responsibility"as an important criterion in measuringsatisfaction. This however is not consistent with

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TABLE 9Respondents' satisfaction on voluntary work (N=261)

Satisfaction items

Provides a sense of purpose.Contribution to national unity.Reduces feeling of isolation.Maintains satisfactory mental health.Sharing of experiences.Enhancing self-esteem.Spending free-time usefully.Creating a sense of civic responsibility

NI

1.52.25.1

.71.5

10.3.7.7

Volunteer(n-136)

SI

14.016.228.724.3

9.632.423.514.0

I

84.681.666.275.088.957.375.885.3

NI

2.47.2

14.412.04.8

15.24.81.6

Non-volunteer(n=125)

SI

19.217.627.221.619.234.426.415.2

I

48.475.258.466.476.050.468.883.2

the non-volunteers' non-committal attitude ifthey were to be given the opportunity to doany voluntary work.

Conclusions and RecommendationsMost of the retirees were Malay males and arefrom peninsular Malaysia and the majority ofthem were from the education sector. Theretirees were generally in fairly good healthand had a comfortable financial standing.Being more or less financially sound, thesearch for rewards for their service was notreally wanting. The volunteer retirees wereinvolved in volunteerism not for the financialgain but more as a selfless service to the societytaking note that they felt duty-bound to giveback what that society had given to themduring their "productive" years.

Slightly more than half of the retirees wereengaged in voluntary work and said to beproductive with more than 50% were stillhaving full, partial or self-employment whileothers were "free". This finding alonecontradicts the prevailing myth that once theproductive Malaysian workers pass their"prime" i.e. 55/56 years old, they are nowconsidered a"'rocking chair relics' or, to usethe colloquial expression, as a "householddecoration". In the same vein, knowing that amajority of them are still working productivelywith specifically about 25% are self-employed,

it is safe to say that they have actually not leftemployment at all. It also reflected thesatisfactory health status of retirees dispellingfurther a predominant notion that once theyreached the retirement age, were faced withnumerous health problems and thereforebecome a 'liability' in the organization ratherthan a productive asset. This finding also,strongly suggests that perhaps what have madethem real healthy, at least, during the time ofthe survey, due to the fact that they have beenworking productively ̂ nd this in itself impressesthe community that active work brings with ita healthy lifestyle. A rather common expressionand also carries some truth is, Alzheimer'sdisease is the best partner of a non-workingelderly.'

Retirees' propensity to get involved involuntary work which has religious,educational or social nature has beenindicated. As shown in the study of Merriamand Mazanah (2000), the cultural valuesgreatly influenced this tendency, arguing thatas compared to the western values, with theformer stresses on the importance of thecommunity and personal relationships andclose friendships, not to mention the aim forspiritual fulfillment as reflected in the retirees'tendency to get involved in religious activities.

Based on the findings, a number ofrecommendations on how to attract moreretirees towards volunteerism are proposed

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Surjit Singh, et al

how government and NGOs could helpadvance the issue of volunteerism and howretirees could make the right choice oforganization.

1. In attracting more retirees to volunteer,the present volunteers themselves shouldplay an active role in getting moremembers. This is dependent on whethervolunteers are happy with their currentwork.

2. In as much as most of these volunteers areworking for religious entities, these can beutilised as the communication channelson the information regarding retirees,pensioners, senior citizens and the like.

3. A systematic recruitment, selection andplacement of volunteers can aid indetermining the motivation, abilities andskills, the type of work preferred andavailability of time of the retirees vis-a-visthe need of various organizations.

4. There should be a national policy onproviding healthy and meaningful livingfor all categories and gender of the ageingpopulation in the country. As the retireestend to withdraw from their active life asage advances, it is important to provideappropriate geriatric facilities to cater fortheir ageing needs and to enhance theirproductive lifestyle.

5. As a large number of retirees are from theeducation service, they can be engaged incoaching or tutorial classes organised bythe Government; while others inmanagerial and consultancy work withinthe community.

6. There is a need to change the attitude ofthe public towards retirees asunproductive or inactive. The formationof the Pensioners' Association and theSenior Citizens Association could assist infinding/matching suitable andmeaningful activities for retirees.

7. Educational institutions should giveprominence to voluntary work byincorporating service learning in thecurriculum.

8. Organizations should encouragevoluntary work among the staff by givingrecognition to those who join NGOvoluntary work.

9. There is a need for the Government to setup a special task force to review the socialpolicy for the ageing population and toincorporate among others their concernsand needs and how the governmentbodies can enhance and attract retirees tocontribute to voluntary woork.

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