In response to the
Malaysiakini
report
Why I chose to return to Malaysia
, readers write in and share their opinions on the various reasons that prompted them to return to the country and contribute their skills.
Regina Cheah , 24, sustainable development officer, Kuala Lumpur.
I studied at the Garden International School and did my Foundation Studies and Bachelor of Science at the University of Melbourne from 2002-2005. Worked for two-plus years in a non-profit environmental NGO and went back to Melbourne to further my studies from July 2008 to July 2009. Returned to KL in December 2009. Currrently working in the same NGO as before.
Even though I have travelled to many different countries overseas, lived in Melbourne for a good five years of my life and been exposed to many different cultures and lifestyles, Malaysia is always home to me.
I have such strong feelings towards Malaysia and I came back because I felt that I can contribute to the progress of the country, and it is my duty.
No matter how corrupted the country may be and how unfair the political and social system is, there are developing countries that are much worse off than Malaysia.
Furthermore, you cannot deny that Malaysia has supported us and our families and given us the space to develop as individuals. It has given many the opportunity to experience life overseas - and allowed a fair few to be tempted enough to move away.
What I can't stand is people comparing Malaysia as a developing country to developed countries like Australia or the US. How can you compare such a young country to those that have hundreds of years of history? Even as developed countries they continue to have many social problems.
And more so, how can the people who have left Malaysia criticise Malaysia for the country it has become?
The citizens make the country what it is, and if all the people who have had the opportunity to study abroad leave the country for greener pastures, then how can Malaysia ever become a better country if you leave the less experienced to run the country?
I also came back because of family. My family and relatives are still in Malaysia and having a family support group is really important.
One of the trends we can see today are old couples left alone in Malaysia while all their children are living overseas and I think this is quite worrying as we are moving away from the Asian culture of caring for our aged parents.
While my parents may be able to support themselves financially for the foreseeable future, I think it is still important and only fair to be here to see to their other needs when they get older as they have spent most of their lives caring for us.
In any case, I know the main reason people leave Malaysia is because they have lost hope in the country. But if we don't have hope, then what do we have?
We must stay and continue to fight for our rights and contribute our knowledge and ideas to build a better Malaysia. Because if we (as Malaysian citizens) don't do it, then who will?
GS aka Pratamad
We don't really belong to the 'Malaysians who come home' category. Not yet at least. But nonetheless, I thought I would share our story too.
My wife and I have been working and residing in Singapore for more than 15 years. We both hail from Segamat, Johor, which is about 100 miles away.
So we do keep in touch with families occasionally. My wife works as a consulting accountant for a Japanese firm here and I as associate director of innovation development for a university.
Recently, our fourth baby was just born. All of our children hold a Singapore birth certificate but we all remain as Malaysian citizens.
They are all raised in a relatively safe and comfortable environment of Singapore. The dilemma came last year when our eldest son was about to reach his formal schooling age of seven.
Should we let him be a Singapore public school, it is just a matter of time that he would be 'turned' into a Singaporean. We may as well just change his status to Singapore citizenship.
Furthermore, the Singapore government's policies with regards to foreigners and permanent residents have changed significantly in the last few years in their drive to increase their young citizens.
It effectively applies both ‘carrot' and ‘stick' in its policies, withdrawing many subsidies while increasing the costs of maintaining children for non-Singaporeans and at the same time introducing incentive schemes to woo non-Singaporeans into making their children Singapore citizens.
After much struggle in our heart, we made the unusual move, defying the trend where Malaysian parents send their children to Singapore schools here.
We moved our eldest son to be with my mom and sister in Segamat. We signed him up in a Chinese vernacular school. In short, we chose to let him sing 'Negaraku' rather than 'Majulah Singapura' every morning.
Even now, after a few months, it is still a struggle. Imagine sending your children into a less safe environment, where crime and health concerns are real. And sending them to a schooling system that has suffered many years of neglect and politicking by the government.
More importantly, the suffering of being parted with the loved ones. But we try our best to cope, having more frequent travels back to our home town whenever we can.
For now, we are planning to make transition so that at least one of us can spend more time in Segamat, perhaps also moving some of our kids there to grow up in a bigger space of Malaysia.
The ultimate, if it is eventually feasible, is to have all of us together in Segamat. But we shall see.
For me personally, being able to grow my family back home is one tremendous feeling, despite all its lesser aspects for a family.
I guess life is never perfect and it is for us to be in it to improve it further. That's probably my sentiment.
PJ Guy
Like many other Malaysians, I, too, had the opportunity to work as an expatriate executive in Tokyo based in a regional institution for five years beginning in the 80s. Greener pastures and good opportunities were then the most pressing need for many young Malaysians, especially the non-Malay ones.
It was a permanent, well-paying job. Yet, I returned and with my two children who began their primary education here in Malaysia. I took one stride at a time. There are both difficult times in life and I, too, had my share in the decision-making in a lifetime.
Though nothing serious to look back at with regret, I took my work and life with my family in Tokyo as a learning opportunity and an exposure to the many and varying challenges in life. My worked required frequent travel globally and that made me even more Malaysian and the land of my birth - Malaysia - all the more closer to my heart.
Briefly to outline, my father and I have been with BN since the 1950s. But the culture of politics under BN took a course for the worse, in particular on fundamental and core issues such as
policies on racial discrimination, employment including corruption, etc. If you can't beat them you join them, so I, too, was (for 15 years) in BN until 2008.
Again, after the 1997 financial crisis, I had a second opportunity to take on an international posting in Singapore and returned after 10 years with my own gut feeling that the country was heading for political disaster. Singapore was not too distant a country to keep abreast with developments here.
I was back home in Malaysia always almost every weekend. I still continue unable to agree with the many political developments including the BN's leadership style, priorities and agenda. All
this, however, has not changed my feeling towards my homeland, friends and fellow Malaysians.
In fact, just 10 to 15 years ago, I felt lost in the wilderness when mingling among a crowd of BN groups. At 55, I had opted for an early retirement scheme. Over the last six to 12 months, I have
enjoyed catching up with many friends, back in my hometown in Ipoh and in Selangor and other towns.
Many from all walks of life including young teenagers as well as those in their 50s and 70s share my similar sentiments that this is our homeland and we are rightfully back home here to stay,
where we really belong too.
If you really cannot change those up there in power, we must change to bring about changes. Malaysia may not be the best country in the world but it is certainly a country blessed with a
growing population that desires changes for a better future for all Malaysians.
Gillian Goh, 18, student, Australia. Emigrated in 2008
At age 16, I was given the opportunity from my parents to gain a new perspective of the term 'education'. Holding an Australian residency, I took this opportunity to explore this famous giant
desert island of the southern hemisphere. But ultimately, to escape from the textbook-lined curriculum in Malaysia.
From Standard 1 till Form 3 in a government school, I've never understood the term cited by my father - ‘Don't let school get in the way of your education'.
Every first day of school back in Malaysia, my friends and I would not discuss how our holidays has been, but more of an amalgam of tuition places and how the end-year exam results has been.
A couple of days later, you find students hanging themselves for getting that tainted, unsightly ‘B' in the stream of ‘A's.
I remembered a friend sounding disappointed when she told me: ‘I've got a 92%. My mum is going to question and berate me about the missing 8%'. Is it me, or do Malaysians tend to see the
cup half-full? Don't they know that it just means that there is more room to fill the cup? Room for improvement, as I would say.
‘Bagai katak di bawah tempurung'. An age-old Malaysian saying explaining how a frog that is always under a coconut shell, never to explore the edge of the world.
Malaysia is still afraid to get out of the comfort zone. Malaysia has room for improvement but 'you-know-who' are holding it back. Being a minority and at such tender age, there is no chance of people like me to succeed without fear.
And that's why I left. To befriend education, not to be afraid of it.
This is third of a four-part series where Malaysiakini invited the Malaysian diaspora to write about why they left the country. More tomorrow.
Part 1: 'Leaving Malaysia a necessity'
Part 2: 'Malaysia isn't the same anymore'
