Retirement protection a human right: elderly hope after decades of contributions Hong Kong will take care of them

Retirement protection might be seen as a poverty alleviation matter, but many elderly Hongkongers hope the society will recognise their contribution to the city and their right to be taken care of in old age.

Watt Kwong-ho, 85, and his 81-year-old wife Mak Shiu-kuen both worked until their mid-70s to save up for retirement. They won’t be eligible for the HK$3,230 monthly pension as their assets are over the HK$125,000 limit for a couple.

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“We are old already, so there shouldn’t be a means test – how many more years can we eat [up government expenses] anyway?,” said Mak. “I guess we’ll just live very simply and spend very frugally. We’ll think of what to do when our savings dry up.”

The couple live in a Tai Kok Tsui tenement flat they own, and both have long-term illnesses – a situation that is eating up their savings even quicker, said Mak.

She said that even if she is eligible, she will refuse to apply for a pension, as she finds the idea of a means test degrading. “I’ve lived in Hong Kong for so many years. I’ve always been clean as a whistle,” she said, querying why the government needs to be so harsh.