Even Women Can Be Greedy

Pardon me for the slight sexist slur in the title, but hang on, it has something to do with the context as well. =) Ok, The Government approves of 5-years unpaid leave for women, to take care of children. I'd say, yeah, at least it still allows the option of going back to work, without the hassle of finding a job, after the child has grown up. So, pretty good, and flexible.

Now, this group says it wants more.

This was far behind other countries like Sweden (14 weeks), Singapore (12 weeks) and Hong Kong (10 weeks).

In Sweden, fathers are also entitled to 10 days' paternity leave with 80% of them taking advantage of the benefit, said the Swedish Consular Deputy Head of Mission Eva Nilsson Mansfeld.

On top of the leave, parental leave is provided for 480 days per child, with 60 days reserved each for the father and mother while the rest are shared freely, she said.

During parental leave, 390 days are paid at 80% of the parents' income, up to a given ceiling and the remaining 90 days are set at a daily rate of around RM90 per day, she said.

Ok, so you provide much comparison to Sweden. How about comparing our taxation rates with theirs?

The compilation of taxes that compose the final income tax (2003): tax on gross income from the employer: 32.82% (indirect, fixed), pension fee on gross income: 6.95% (indirect, fixed), municipal tax on gross income less pension tax and a base deduction: ~32% (direct, varies by municipality), state tax on gross income less pension tax and a base deduction: 0%, 20%, or 25% (direct, progressive).
Source:Wikipedia.

Prepared to pay so much taxes or not? I'm not quite clear on the taxation system, but if I'm correct, you retain a maximum of about 40-43% of your income, after taxation, (and that's probably the worst case scenario there is). Correct me if I'm wrong.

So, janganlah compare banyak banyak. Beri betis nak peha, beri peha nak dada, beri dada nak kepak, nah ambiklah semua makan sendiri. (Literally means, give you this, you want that, give you that, want the other one, nah, take everything and eat yourself lah.)