Po Kuan blogs a heart-rending story in the continuing creation of a Malaysian diaspora which has happened to more than a million Malaysians in the past four decades — whether to uproot and migrate overseas and later to take up foreign citizenship.
Although human migration is a common phenomenon in human history and prehistory, the migration of over a million Malaysians in the past four decades was more because of push rather than pull-factors, with the country losing many of her best talents and human resources stunting and undermining Malaysia’s achievement of her full potential in national development and international competitiveness.
Malaysia on her 50th anniversary would have been a more developed, equitable and more competitive nation if more than a million of the most talented , enterprising and resourceful Malaysians had not been driven away from our shores in the past four decades because of unfair discriminatory nation-building policies and measures by myopic politicians.
After nearly four decades of such self-inflicted injuries, the heart-rending story which Po Kuan blogs should have come to an end with the abandonment of unfair discriminatory policies among Malaysians.
But this is not the case. It would appear that the “Good Riddance to Bad Rubbish” reflex and mentality to the problem of emigration of Malaysians, though not publicly stated as in the seventies and eighties, is still quite prevalent today.
There is not much that can be done about the pull-factors of human migration but a government which refuses to address the problem of the push-factors, which are the result of the failures of just and good governance, cannot claim to be a good government.
Visit Po Kuan’s three-part blog and share your thoughts.
#1 by lakshy on Monday, 19 March 2007 - 11:11 am
The Making of the Indonesian Bumiputra
To all concerned Malaysians and non bumiputras, I received this e-mail That I wanted to share with the rest,
We need to anticipate the fate of our children and grandchildren in this so called country of ours Malaysia ……..
The Govt’s announcement (26th February 2007 ) of its
intention to build schools for 34,000 Indonesian
children was applauded by the Indonesian Govt who
called Malaysia its “very good friend”. Not only do we
provide jobs for MILLIONS of Indonesians, we will also
provide quality education for free with better
facilities than they enjoy back home in Indonesia .
To me, this is somewhat a surprise. The 9th Malaysia
Plan provided no allocation for the building of any
more vernacular Chinese and Tamil schools and when MCA
youth officials questioned the absence of allocation,
UMNO youth’s Datuk Hashim Bin Suboh from Perlis (at
the last UMNO Gen Assembly) asked Datuk Hisham what he
was going to do next with the Keris now that he had
unsheathed it, kissed it and waved it about. He was
suggesting that the MCA’s demands for the construction
of Chinese schools be handled by more than just verbal
debate.
Every single unspent Ringgit earned by the Indonesians
are remitted back home whereas the wealth of
Malaysia’s citizens are reinvested in the country. The
Govt machinery runs on taxation income derived from
its citizens but spent on the children of Indonesian
immigrants who incidentally according to Police
statistics account for 33% of all crime in the nation.
The real losers in this scenario are members of the
Indian community. Particularly the uneducated who are
deprived of the same level of educational opportunity
as the children of Indonesian immigrants. And now with
free and better education, we can expect even more
Indonesians to come over to Malaysia as public
education in Indonesia is not cheap. With the
population of Indonesians already exceeding the number
of Indians in the country, one wonders if there is a
hidden agenda to dilute the population mix any
further.
How many “Indonesian Malaysians” are currently
enjoying Bumiputra benefits? How many of them are
already enjoying Govt sponsorships and aid for various
reasons? The answers are a well kept secret.
The MIC youth leaders were lamenting the fate of
Indians in the country recently. Because of public
prejudice against Indians, employers were reluctant to
employ them. The police have a habit of
indiscriminately arresting every Indian youth in sight
every time a crime occurs and keeping them in lock up
for days. As a result, the youth are reluctant to
return to work, unable to explain their absence. Those
who do are pressured out of employment when the reason
for their absence is revealed. The number of
uninvestigated deaths of Indian youth in Police lock
ups around the country is rising. And the MIC is
looking more disempowered by the day.
The racial polarization caused by UMNO’s superiority
complex is creating a stronger spirit of protectionism
among the Chinese which doesn’t help the fate of
Indians in Malaysia. Malaysia has forgotten the
contribution of its Indian citizenry. Recently, the
Selangor state Govt evicted 43 Indian families who had
occupied a plot of Govt land in Kuala Selangor for
over 80 years. Their appeal for a stay of the eviction
order was denied by the Chief Minister of Selangor who
incidentally is the son of an Indonesian immigrant.
I write to appeal to you all to stop thinking of the
Indian underclass as somebody else’s problem. Indians
are intelligent, hard working and loyal. But the level
of frustration, lack of confidence and lack of
entrepreneurship among them is the result of the
selfishness of the Govt. With collective contribution
of society, this can all change.
#2 by Taiko on Monday, 19 March 2007 - 1:34 pm
Endangered Hornbill: “Those who must go – because they have good reasons (whatever it may be) and those reasons exert a compelling force on them to leave – just go”
I agree, if they have to go, by all means. I have no problem with migration. To each his own. In fact, I’ve written about this issue not too long ago: http://xurfnet.braveblog.com/entry/19413
However, I felt that:
1) nobody should blame people who stays
2) we should fight on because leaving is not always the best option
#3 by teetwoh on Monday, 19 March 2007 - 1:35 pm
“But don’t use the Ketuanan Melayu and discriminatory policies based on bumiputra-non bumiputra dichotomy as an excuse. It is an aberration that distorts perspectives.”
You serious Jeff? Aberration? These discrimnatory policies have been in place since the birth of the country. Sure, the fact of globalisation has meant transplanting of labour and skills across borders but every one of my fellow immigrants with whom I now socialise in Melbourne left because of these discriminatory policies. I left for the same reason.
#4 by Taiko on Monday, 19 March 2007 - 1:36 pm
Lakshy, that’s a great article. Thanks for sharing.
#5 by Kingkong on Monday, 19 March 2007 - 2:02 pm
While the whole world is hungry for shortage of qualified skilled people, our government is stupid enough to create all sorts of policies to drive away our invaluable human asset. Luring talents to serve the country is itself a very competitive exercise, and definitely we are also not good at that.
Country like New Zealand also lost 500k her people to Australia, and according to BBC news ( 18-3-07 ), they are advertising aggressively to try to get back their people by emphasizing their geographical beauty, and cheaper housing though the pay is lower by about 30% compared with that of Australia.
There is a big difference between the wealth creation and receiving handouts. Brain drain will reduce number of wealth creator, like the US computer scientist who got rejected by MU for a stupid reason creates special software which could be cash cow for the organization and so the country. “Connectivity†“Ali Baba “for the government contracts is not wealth creation but a receipt of handouts at the expense of honest taxpayers.
Today’s paper, Nanyang Siang Pau, Abuse of diesel oil is horrible, 78% of the industry rely on abuse of diesel including GLCs and listed companies. You see, cheating, and receiving handout has become a culture and the executives in those companies probably got a promotion by doing that for their “smartness “in saving “ X “ ringgits for the companies. How are we going to compete in the globalised environment with that kind of competence?
It’s indeed a tragic to see more people in this country are measuring success in good connectivity in receiving handout and cheating while creation of wealth has been largely ignored or incapacitated.
That explains that why the immigrant in the first world country works for a month, his counterpart in home country has to work many months. Our average income for an average worker has declined very much as compared to the purchase power of the income. For that reason, it is difficult to attract the talents and skilled people back and our high crime rate, filthy water, environment will also scare people away.
Talents need to be groomed and grow and not to be incapacitated and talents and skilled people go to where they are most wanted. Surely, it is easier to retain the people we already have rather than trying to lure the people who are already out.
#6 by lakshy on Monday, 19 March 2007 - 2:11 pm
But sadly Kingkong, no effort is being made to retain us here. More and more Malaysians are applying to leave, while other countries are welcoming people with relevant experience. It’s just a show to try to get people to return here. What is going to keep those people here once they return and see the rut that we are in?
This was a good country that could have become great, if not for its mismanagement. And no effort is being made to improve the management. It is going from bad to worse. In time to come we will be classified along with the likes of Ethiopia and Sudan and Nigeria.
#7 by Kingkong on Monday, 19 March 2007 - 2:11 pm
read ” abuse of diesel rebate ” rather than ” abuse of diesel “
#8 by lakshy on Monday, 19 March 2007 - 2:15 pm
Kingkong, I find it hard to believe that MNC’s have got involved in the purchase of subsidised diesel. It’s not worth the trouble and not worth the current savings level.
I think it’s more likely that the source they were buying the diesel from had also obtained subsidised diesel through improper means and had mixed all the diesels together.
This would explain why such a large number of companies in Gebeng were found with this subsidised diesel.
#9 by sotong on Monday, 19 March 2007 - 2:47 pm
We have a duty to help the poor Indonesian migrants or any migrants.
But, first we should not grossly discriminate our own who had made great and significant contributions to the country for generations.
Clearly there is a politics of numbers.
#10 by sotong on Monday, 19 March 2007 - 3:03 pm
We recognised and acknowleged the unique culture and traditions of the bumi and to protect it for the benefit of generations to come.
But non bumi should not be pushed to leave the country. This is most cruel, inhumane and uncivilised at the extreme any decent human being could do to another…..forcing them out of their country of birth!
#11 by Bigjoe on Monday, 19 March 2007 - 3:22 pm
While the emigration of non-bumis is unjust and shameful, the critical issue is not just the talent lost and missed opportunities. These non-bumis form a beachead of Malaysian talent that will in the future also deplete the elite talent of bumiputera themselves in the future when they are most needed.
The most talented bumiputera will see that opportunities abroad is far superior and while there will be patriots who sentimentally will stay and contribute, the best will find government politics distasteful and mediocre institution intolerable. Building excellent institution that will keep them here is harder than it seems. Just ask the Singapore gov, Taiwanese and Koreans. They have instead resorted to foreign talents and private institution for real excellent, something we can not hope to come close given the UMNO need for autocratic political control.
The real tragedy has not even unfold yet. The truth is that a system that taxes directly the future of its best indirectly taxes the future of everyone and eventually find its future already spend.
#12 by Kingkong on Monday, 19 March 2007 - 3:50 pm
Lakshy,
Yes, it is very disheartened to hear our young people crying out like what Careena6 says: “—–we have so many intelligent, creative and innovative Malaysians, and yet some creatures insist on doing things their way.. don blame the rakyat for brain drain then.. Graduates.. they want to be recognised in some way.. they wanna succeed.. they want a job that reflects their education…and all the hardwork and sacrifices that they put into in getting the scroll.. should be appreciated . – “
If there is no way out in the country, then we are back to square one, that is to venture out of the country; the nearest is Singapore and across the blue ocean as far as wherever you can reach.
Certainly, an ambitious youth would not want to waste his youth and the best way is to go where you are readily accepted. In the first world country, the mobility of people is also very great. Each year, many young people from Australia also move to UK, US and Europe to work and to experience different kind of working life. As what the saying goes; no venture, no gain!
As far as the diesel subsidy is concerned. You see, the fisherman diesel is RM 1.00 per liter, the retail price is RM 1.58/liter and the industry diesel is RM 2.10/liter. The industry will save a lot if they could somehow make use of the former types of diesel.
There are special merchants who could find way to deliver you the former type of diesel as long as you could make the payment, usually cash. As Jeffrey pointed out “corruption “is also a good means to do business, if you are willing to pay, you get what you want.
Actually, this subsidy policy is itself stupid, there is no way the government could control it. i.e refrain the industry people to use the fisherman’s diesel. The industry players are “smarterâ€Â, and the special merchants make a lot of money. The money comes from us, the honest taxpayers. The best policy is still no subsidy for all and let the price free float. In Australia, the fuel price is free float daily; you just buy what the market price is!
#13 by shortie kiasu on Monday, 19 March 2007 - 4:13 pm
So long as the dominant political party want the dominant race to dominates the country, to dominate the government, the domnate the allocation and projects, what is there left for the others who are not in the dominant race?
When the discrminated is more capable in every sense of the words, they have to survive and survive they and look for greener pastures. There are no lack of greener pastures beckoning them.
Why should they be a third class citizens in their own country wheras they be a first class citizen in another country based on fair and equitable treatment where meritocracy is the rule of the day.
This migration will be a permanent features for the discriminated citizens, to the ruling dominant race here, they are happy to see the competitiors who are more capable leave irrespective of any long term consequence to them.
#14 by lowcb88 on Monday, 19 March 2007 - 5:55 pm
God damnit, reading all this makes me wonder. When will the Chinese in Malaysia realise things wont get any better. No miracle or 100 more elections will change a thing, money (corruption) will rule all wether its Indian Chinese or Malay. Greed will be the nail in the coffin for the country. Lets all stop dreaming and start trying to get a bloody PR or another proper citzenship cause things wont change.
Will you want to be left behind when the oil runs out?
Those with money are well prepared to leave the sinking ship, don’t be stupid, go get out before its too late!
Those that migrated aren’t stupid and I am guessing people that read this blood aren’t either. Don’t leave it too late.
#15 by lucia on Monday, 19 March 2007 - 8:25 pm
another heart-rending tale of a malaysian diaspora:
http://lucialai.org/2007/03/19/tale-of-a-malaysian-diaspora-discrimination-abound/
#16 by DarkHorse on Monday, 19 March 2007 - 9:12 pm
“Why should they be a third class citizens in their own country wheras they be a first class citizen in another country based on fair and equitable treatment where meritocracy is the rule of the day.†Short Kiasu
Do you think by migrating to places anywhere in the world would solve the problem of being second class citizen in your own country? If you were to come to the United States, you would rank below the Koreans, the Vietnamese and the Filipinos to name a few.
Racism is ever present everywhere you go. The difference is that in Malaysia racism is institutionalized. Yes, in the U.S. it is illegal to discriminate and there are laws to prevent that. There are laws also to prevent discrimination along gender lines – and not just race. Does it prevent discrimination? The short answer to that is “Noâ€Â. As a minority you will be discriminated.
#17 by DarkHorse on Monday, 19 March 2007 - 9:20 pm
Having said that, I agree wholeheartedly with the following observation.
“If you want to say discrimination is here in the US, yes, of course it is. Can you name a country where it doesn’t happen? But let me tell you one thing – if you go looking for it, you will find it. But in Malaysia, you don’t have to go look for it because it seeks you out, slaps you in your face every which way you turn, and is sanctioned by law!
Here in the US, my children have the same opportunity to go to school and learn just like their black, white, and immigrant friends. At school, they eat the same food, play the same games, are taught the same classes and when they are 18, they will still have the same opportunities.
Why would I want to bring my children back to Malaysia? So they can suffer the state-sanctioned discrimination as the non-malays have for over 30 years?
As for being a slave in the foreign country, I am a happy ’slave’ earning a good income as an IT project manager. I work five days a week; can talk bad about the president when I want to; argue about politics, race and religion openly; gather with more than 50 friends and family when I want (no permit needed) and I don’t worry about the police pulling me over because they say I ran the light when I didn’t.
How about you………….? “
#18 by undergrad2 on Monday, 19 March 2007 - 9:45 pm
“Why would I want to bring my children back to Malaysia? So they can suffer the state-sanctioned discrimination as the non-malays have for over 30 years?â€Â
No. You would want your children to keep in touch with their roots and enjoy the climate which is summer throughout the year and no freezing winter to put up with – no pedophiles running around or lurk in corners to pounce on your children, no thirty- year old female teachers having sex with your under aged boys after school, no classmates dressed in trench coats murdering other classmates with guns their parents keep at homes or classmates coming to school and shooting and killing their favorite teacher.
#19 by undergrad2 on Monday, 19 March 2007 - 9:49 pm
Not to mention your 85 year old grandmother who is less likely to be raped and robbed.
#20 by shortie kiasu on Tuesday, 20 March 2007 - 8:59 am
“As for being a slave in the foreign country, I am a happy ’slave’ earning a good income as an IT project manager.” Darkhorse.
So what are you trying to rationalize so vocally?
#21 by kiki on Tuesday, 20 March 2007 - 9:09 am
it is normal for people to move higher ladder,
since our is not developed,
elites move to developed aussie…(include politicians to perth”)
indo/ pakis move to better bolehland here…
at the end, this land doom.
prepare your PLAN B”.
(the majority votes lied in kampong folks,
and they are not going to CHANGE.”!)
#22 by mug on Tuesday, 20 March 2007 - 5:48 pm
We have students who has 18As in SPM but cant learn how to say “Dont touch me down there”, thats the kind of mentality we have cultured in NEP We have the best of almost everything, yet we are not quite there. I just started a family and not a day goes by I am not worried about how they will cope with our education system, government policies…….. And I am too considering migration…………..
#23 by DarkHorse on Thursday, 22 March 2007 - 7:43 am
Shortie Kiasu:“As for being a slave in the foreign country, I am a happy ’slave’ earning a good income as an IT project manager.†Darkhorse.
You have wrongly attributed that comment to me.