I refer to the Malaysiakini letters Emigration vs 'optimism of the will' and Emigrating not the answer .

I had a young Malaysian graduate arrive on my doorsteps in London having been phoned up earlier by my wife in Malaysia to assist this young girl, who is the daughter of a friend of a friend of a friend of my wife. We have daughters and I know at first hand the feelings of sending your daughter away to a foreign land.

She arrived here last Thursday morning. I put her up temporarily and took her to intended place of work in Croydon. Her story sums up the pros and cons of the emigration debate.

After graduation from the University of Canterbury with a degree in Actuarial Science, she went back to KL to job hunt. She had an interview with Bank Negara which told her they will let her know within a month whether she would be employed by them. A month came and went and there was no response.

Young people are resourceful. Thanks to the Web, she got an interview with a multinational insurance group in the UK, got an offer of internship, packed her bags and moved on.

This is the real world. Young Malaysians are not interested in what politicians say. They want university places, jobs and a career .When government institutions don't bother to even to reply after an interview, that speaks louder than all the hollow words of the current batch of politicians in power.

The truth is young Malaysians don't have emigration on their mind when they leave Malaysia. Three years on as a qualified actuarist with a 40,000 salary, well, then it will be a different story.