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Govt Should Act Immediately To Help Pensioners   Media Statement by M Kula Segaran (Kuala Lumlur,  Thursday): Pensioners have again complained in the Press about their desperate financial position. They must really be going through a very difficult time trying to make ends meet with small stagnant pensions.  Many pensioners get only a pension of RM 300 a month or less. This is ridiculous for a person to sustain on even if he or she were single. What more if he or she were to have a family – say, a wife and a few school – going children?   How could a family of five or six persons depend solely on such a ridiculous amount of money a month? Can Cabinet Ministers survive on that amount a month? Can some of their expensive dogs or cats survive on such an amount? Can their big cars survive on that sum?   The shocking fact is that in Malaysia today, tens if not hundreds of thousands of pensioners have to make do with a pension way below the official poverty line of RM 500 a month.   The Prime Minister must wake up to the fact that many of our pensioners, who had given of their best during the best years of their lives to society, autumn of their lives. What sort of treatment is this? What sort of gratitude is this?   I call on the Prime Minister to initiate an immediate review of the entire pension system in the country, with the view to update and increase all pensions justly and realistically in line with current economic and financial realities and inflation.   Thousands of Malaysian pensioners are living in poverty, unease and bitterness. The government must act immediately to alleviate their situation. They should not be neglected anymore. (31/3/2005) * M.Kula Segaran MP for Ipoh Barat and DAP National Vice Chairman