I am a Malaysian born and bred in our great capital city of Kuala Lumpur. I am proud to call myself an 'anak watan'. I have many happy memories of my childhood. I fondly remember needing to cross the Gombak River by foot, then going through secondary jungle to get to school in Lembah Keramat.

I remember being the one of the only four Chinese students in a school of 1,800, the overwhelming majority of whom were Malays. Many of my good friends were Malays and I studied, played and worked well with them.

Only rarely would I be called derogatory names by some poor misguided souls but overwhelmingly, they respected me and vice-versa. Due of the low volume of non-Malays in the school, I had to join the Agama class and learned a lot about Islam and its prayers (In fact, I studied Islam as an extra subject in university).

I speak Malay, English and Cantonese fluently and have consistently did well in school. However, because I am not a bumiputera, I was sent by my parents at the tender age of 18 to further my education abroad. My mother always fancied me becoming a medical doctor although I wanted to be a soldier - but I guess mother knows best.

So off I went to the United Kingdom to study medicine. I must say that the reason for sending me abroad was because my parents felt that there wasn't any chance of me getting into the local university to do medicine because of my skin colour.

They also felt that I would have better opportunities in life if I went abroad. I hated the prospect of leaving Malaysia to go to a foreign land. It was painful enough to be separated from my loved ones and I hated the weather over here in the UK. Can you imagine going from 32 degrees Celcius to minus six degrees in the winter? To make matters worse it rains continually and the sun rarely shows its head throughout the year

It also pained my heart to see my parents fork out a fortune to fund my education. My dad spent 100,000 pounds or RM650,000 just to give me a good education and a better shot at life. He had to withdraw from his EPF savings and I still feel guilty for him having to do it.

They are not rich people and I am not sure how are they going to have enough for their twilight years. Why did they do this - because they were disillusioned with life in Malaysia.

Anyway, they did what they thought was best and I am grateful for it. I finished medical school in four years rather than the normal five ( I skipped a year to save my parents' money). I thank God that I was blessed with a good job here in the UK at the age of 27, providing health services to a population of 65,000.

I live in a city-centre and my average salary is about 60,000 (RM420,000) per annum minus private work. I married a Malaysian flight stewardess two years ago and though we do not have any children yet, I am seriously contemplating coming back to Malaysia.

What? Why, you may ask. Well, I will tell you why. One may be naive to think that in the West you won't have problems with racism. The fact is it is alive and well. In jobs, people who are non-white are discriminated against in terms of promotion.

There are numerous cases in the health service alone of Indian and Asian doctors and nurses being bullied, abused, discriminated and harassed just because of the colour of their skin. Even the local police force is being accused of being institutionally racist.

Let me cite the Stephen Lawrence case for example. A black boy was murdered by a group of whites and the way the police here handled was appalling. Only recently did the local investigative media send an undercover reporter to see if the police force had reformed itself.

The results were horrifying - white police cadets admitted to having no qualms about killing and beating up non-whites (trash). Of course, the said cadets were either kicked out or punished but this shows a worrying undercurrent that is becoming more prevalent in the UK.

Look at the rise of the right-wing parties and the deep resentment of the local whites towards immigrants. It is akin to the way Malaysians treat Indonesian and Bangladeshi foreign workers. It is now a daily occurrence to read of some poor coloured soul (Black, Asian or Oriental) being beaten up on the street for no apparent reason apart from being not white.

In April this year, two Chinese men were seriously assaulted in an unprovoked attack in the city-centre of Arbedeen, Scotland. Police noted that these two Chinese men were on their way home after visiting the local take-away. One is now brain damaged.

Things are no better in Belfast, Ireland where though there is a higher number of immigrants, especially Chinese, the number of racial and unprovoked attacks have risen dramatically.

On a personal note, my wife and I have been verbally abused by the local skinheads while out shopping and have been discriminated against in a plush restaurant. I have had stones thrown at me while at McDonalds simply for being a 'bloody Chink'.

I bet you don't get that in Malaysia eh? Even some of my colleagues resent the fact that I am here working and doing better than them. Yes, you may state that the government in the West has laws against this sort of thing, but let me ask you, have you even seen a racist being charged and put into prison here in the UK?

Have you tried calling the racial equality board and telling them your grievances? Hell would freeze over before you would see things being rectified. Report a racial crime and the British police would smile and say, well, get on with life.

You may think that this is all a bit extreme. I used to think that my experience is not the norm and life in the UK must surely be better than in Malaysia. Well, to a certain extent it is and to certain extent it is not.

I have a circle of 25 Malaysian and Singaporean doctor friends and in five years time 80 percent of them will be heading home. Ask them why and they will say, 'I don't want to bring my children up here, the culture is so permissive and society in general is anti-family'. Others would blame the rise of silent racial discrimination and the breakdown in morality.

Let's face it, the majority of the whites here would treat you like a second-class citizen just as the majority of Malaysians treat Indonesian immigrants as second-class citizens. This is what is known as a siege mentality where the local population believes that they are or will be overwhelmed by another ethnic group or groups.

The same happens everywhere. Every year, I counsel and treat dozens of immigrants from Malaysia, Singapore, Pakistan, India, Philippines who suffer from depression due to numerous factors primarily, homesickness, lack of family and social support and racial discrimination. I also counsel immigrant parents whose children are confused as to who they are.

My parents who worked so hard to sent me abroad and are pleased that I have not let them down. I thank God that I have done well and am considered successful amongst my peers whom themselves have persuaded me to come to home to Malaysia.

This change in perspective occurred during one of my parents many visits to the UK and has weighed heavily on my mind. The irony of this is that if I migrate back to Malaysia, it would be for my children whom I would want to grow up in a society where religion and family values are still a priority.