{"id":26398,"date":"2019-10-01T02:53:51","date_gmt":"2019-10-01T02:53:51","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.ikim.gov.my\/new-wp\/?p=26398"},"modified":"2019-10-01T02:53:51","modified_gmt":"2019-10-01T02:53:51","slug":"defining-our-own-ageing-nation","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.ikim.gov.my\/en\/defining-our-own-ageing-nation\/","title":{"rendered":"Defining Our Own Ageing Nation"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">In several Quranic verses, Allah the Almighty commands\nhuman beings to respect appreciate and honour their parents by doing good. The following\nverse beautifully describes the way parents should be treated, \u201cAnd your Lord\nhas decreed that you worship none but Him and that you be kind to parents,\nwhether one or both of them attain old age in their life, say not to them a\nword of contempt (<em>uff<\/em>), nor repel\nthem, but address them in terms of honor.&nbsp;\nAnd out of kindness, lower to them the wing of humility, and say: \u201cMy\nLord! Bestow them thy mercy even as they cherished me in childhood.\u201d (<em>Surah al-Isra\u2019<\/em> (17):23-24). In the same\nvein, the Prophet SAW also urged that parents and the elderly be loved and well\ntreated where he said, \u201c<em>He is not of us (the one) who does not\nhave mercy on our young children, nor honor our elderly<\/em>.\u201d (Al-Tirmizi)<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; With\nthe changing times, some children face great challenges in fulfilling the needs\nof parents particularly the emotional and psychological aspects. It is\nundeniable that there are a lot of elderly people living their old age in deteriorating\nhealth, fear, depression and loneliness. This is partly due to the change in\nthe family structure i.e. from extended family to nuclear family.&nbsp; In this context, the extended family which\nextends to include relatives such as uncles, aunts and cousins would be able to\nassist and support elderly care when needed. The migration of youths to the\ncities and involvement of women in the workforce due to economic and financial necessities\nhave had some effects on the life and personal care for the elderly\nparents.&nbsp; <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Some parents would\nprefer to stay in their own homes if they still have their spouse is still living\nwith them. This trend could also be seen in other countries such as The\nPhilippines, Brazil and Ecuador. For those who have lost their spouse, they may\nchoose to stay with the children while in some situations they need to accept\nthe fact that they have to spend their old age living alone. &nbsp;<em>As\nreported in Kajian Penduduk dan Keluarga Malaysia Kelima<\/em>, this situation is\nknown as empty nest syndrome. The loneliness felt by these elderly parents\nwould make the vulnerable to mental illnesses such as depression, social\nanxiety, paranoia, etc. It is observed that at Klinik Psikiatri, Hospital Besar\nPulau Pinang, when the writer was there last June, found that most of the\ncaregivers for elderly parents with mental illnesses are women, including two\nfamilies met by the writer during the visit. One of the caregivers had to\nresign from her work in order to take care of her mother who has been diagnosed\nwith dementia and Parkinson\u2019s.&nbsp; <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Meanwhile another\ncaregiver is still working and makes every effort to ensure that she could play\nthe role as an employee and caregiver efficiently. Her mother had been\ndiagnosed as having psychosis and was previously struggling with chronic\nloneliness which leads to anxiety and depression. Both of them recognize the\nimportance of a support system. The support system may consist of family\nmembers, neighbours, co-workers, support groups and a healthcare team. It would\nensure that the caregivers receive appropriate advice, suggestions as well as\ninformation not only for the well-being of patient or the parents under their\ncare but also for themselves.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Instead of having\ninformal caregivers among the family members, there are also nursing homes run\nby various parties to provide care for elderly in this country.&nbsp; These nursing homes can be categorized into\nthree types; government welfare senior care facilities, NGO and charitable care\nfacilities, and privately run care facilities.&nbsp;\nPusat Jagaan dan Pendidikan Warga Emas Darul Insyirah managed by Pusat\nKecemerlangan Pendidikan Ummah (PACU) is one of the best examples.&nbsp; It is an elderly center offering daily,\nweekly and monthly care.&nbsp; This means that\nthis centre serves as only a transit for elderly parents to spend their time in\nlearning classes while their children are busy at work.&nbsp; <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">It is also equipped\nwith comfortable facilities to ensure the elderly\u2019s welfare and well-being. &nbsp;The spiritual well-being is the main goal\ntargeted by this elderly care centre where it provides opportunities for the\noccupants to learn various knowledge such as al-Quran, Hadith and Arabic\nlanguage to support life-long learning policy. This is in line with the\nobjective of its establishment to design and implement educational programmes which\nenhance dignity, self-esteem and quality of life of senior citizens in the\nfamily and community. Interestingly, PACU aims at preparing the youths to serve\nand entertain the elderly in the care center.&nbsp;\nThe involvement of young adults in this social work is important as one\nof the measures of a nation\u2019s greatness is the way in which senior citizens are\ntreated. <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">In preparing to be an\nageing country when seven percent of its population will be 65 years and older\nby 2030, Malaysia should then set its own mould to be implemented and\nconsequently, used as an exemplary model by others. The empowerment of its\nsenior citizens should not only be done by focusing solely on provision of\nphysical infrastructure.&nbsp; While this is\nimportant, efforts must also be taken to empower the elderly with learning and\neducation for spiritual strengthening in tandem with National Policy for Older\nPerson. In addition, policies regarding the welfare of formal and informal\ncaregivers need to be re-examined. The presence and participation of the\nelderly in the family and society is important to ensure their well-being.&nbsp; In this context, the support system for the\nfamily and society need to be enhanced. <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">With the new Hijrah\nyear, let us hope that there be prosperity and happiness to the lives of the family\nand society in general, as well as the elderly, in particular.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>In several Quranic verses, Allah the Almighty commands human beings to respect appreciate and honour their parents by doing good. The following verse beautifully describes the way parents should be treated, \u201cAnd your Lord has decreed that you worship none but Him and that you be kind to parents, whether one or both of them attain old age in their life, say not to them a word of contempt (uff), nor repel them, but address \u2026<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":26,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_analytify_skip_tracking":false,"_wpzoom_pinterest_image_url":"","_wpzoom_pinterest_hidden_image":"0","_wpzoom_pinterest_description":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[139],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-26398","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-new-straits-times","category-139","description-off"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ikim.gov.my\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/26398","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ikim.gov.my\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ikim.gov.my\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ikim.gov.my\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/26"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ikim.gov.my\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=26398"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.ikim.gov.my\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/26398\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ikim.gov.my\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=26398"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ikim.gov.my\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=26398"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ikim.gov.my\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=26398"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}