Budget 2015: Tax exemption proposed for tax payers caring for elderly parents

Its minister Datuk Seri Rohani Abdul Karim said the amount of tax exemption was still being studied and the working paper on the matter would be submitted to the Finance Ministry at the end of this month.

"If there's time, we will include it in the 2015 Budget which will be tabled soon," she told reporters after chairing the Senior Citizens Consultative and Advisory Council meeting, on Tuesday.

Rohani said with this move, more people would feel encouraged to care for their ageing parents themselves instead of sending them to the welfare or old folk's homes.

In another development, she said a second employment opportunity should be given to senior citizens who had retired but were still healthy and active, for society to benefit from their experience and thoughts.

Rohani said this would be better than hiring foreign immigrants and she urged the Manpower Department to look into this matter.

She said senior citizens keen to learn certain skills like tailoring and drawing/painting could receive training at any of the community colleges in the country with a fee payment of RM5.

She noted that 53,904 senior citizens had registered with over 80 such colleges since 2010.

Rohani said her ministry would also propose that community service activities held with senior citizens by students of public and private higher education institutions he included in their course credit hours.

She said the proposal had been made before at the meeting of the National Social Council, and the Education Ministry's sub-committee would be asked to study the proposal.

"I also want to propose that community service activities with senior citizens by students be held as early as when they are at the primary school level," she added.