Making Volunteering Visible

Volunteer work is always associated with free and unpaid employment and is never accounted forin the national data of Malaysia. This paper argues that voluntary work should be made visib le byaccording it with economic value for it to be part of the nationa l asset ofthe country. The empiricalbasis of this paper is reflected in a research survey conducted in 2003 on the tangible and intangiblecontributions of the public service retirees who be lo nged to the Pro fessional and Man ager ialgroup within the Malaysian civil service. It is premised on the belief that providing a decent andliveable monetary valu e to the retirees volu ntary contribution in community development wou ldusher in more retirees to come forward to engage in meaningful and productive work during theso-called transition period of their waking life.