Thursday, April 17, 2008

How About Us?

OK..I did some checking up and I found out that about 40% of the Klang Valley working class people who between 25-65 indulge in maybe once a fortnight or more at the local pub. May it be from listening to the Os Pombos in Ol' Skool Bistro on Fridays or the Zarzadias Brothers at Backyard Pub on Thursdays...heck come check us, Blister, out at Backyard Pub every Saturday in May (cheap publicity...haha), one question lingers...what lies for the future of the musicians?

We all got our EPF or government pension or some other pension plan, basically something to sustain us in our later years...the musicians, well they don't have an EPF deduction! These are the same people who go on night after night giving us songs as we sip or gulp our larger. No, I'm not ranting out at the people, nor am I ranting out at the pubs. All I propose is system where musicians are able to taste the long term joys of an EPF payout!

Why aren't musicians eligible?
  • They are part-time employees at a certain pub depending on the duration of their contract.
  • Pubs rotate the talent from time to time.
  • Probably because it'll be too "leceh" to go back and forth to the EPF office for the paperwork.

Utter nonsense! Here's what should be done (credit to Mr Jude Singho):

  • Form a body which will contribute directly to the EPF
  • The musicians and pubs register themselves with the Body with a small fee(be realistic..nothing is free)
  • The Body manages the EPF accounts of the musicians and pubs
  • The Body contributes to the EPF every month from the money of the musicians and pubs
  • When a band retires from the scene, the Body cmakes a withdrawal

Simple!

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