When a few leaders in my community, which many people including historians have acknowledged as having settled in Malaya a lot longer than most others, approached the government to consider our unique status in Malaysia, all they received as a reply was ‘Apply for membership to UMNO first’. My ‘chin nang’ who were proud leaders of not only our community but also the Chinese in general and who have helped negotiate for independence would be ‘turning in their graves’ at such an expression of bigotry.

It is not my intention here to gloat, but merely to accentuate the contrasting treatments certain groups of people in Malaysia and perhaps in Australia are receiving, as have been brought up by madmix, ngahc, AhPek and several others above.

I am not, by any stretch of the imagination, trying to compare my situation with many other noted Malaysians or rather ex-Malaysians living here in Australia. My family and I have lived a modest and almost anonymous life here. But that is not saying I have not participated in the debate of issues prevalent before the recent federal election. In fact, I can say that I feel satisfied in having done my part in helping put aside a government of 11 years that has been out of touch in recent years.

It was against the backdrop of Ops Lalang in the late 80’s that, as a young family, we felt there will not be much left around for our children and theirs in Malaysia. We agonised for months over deciding between keeping our relatively cushy jobs in Malaysia and the sacrifice we ‘ought’ to make for the sake of our children. Top in our minds then were concerns which are best described by Jeffrey eloquently in his post in the other thread ‘Crime – increase by leaps…’ . viz

“…that is a structural problem and increasing day by day due to misgovernment and political and economic mismanagement. There is direct relationship between crime rise and ill performing economy in which more and more are unemployed, not equipped with English or employable skills or whose income is insufficient for keeping up, exacerbated by the drift from rural to urban centres. Compounding this problem is inundation by “legal “semi skilled foreign labour and illegal immigrants, a problem that cannot be ameliorated when many in enforcement agencies are on the take and view these vulnerable group of people without rights ……”

My children, who are now young adults, often wonder what their daddy is doing on the Internet, day in day out staring at this white screen with endless text in it. But when they read what bloggers have written here they stare with open mouths shocked that such ‘unspeakables’ can still occur. I don’t blame them as their upbringing and nurturing here in Australia have always emphasised on giving everyone a ‘fair go’.

My daughter earned a place for tertiary education in University of Melbourne (a humble number 27 on the QS-THES university ranking) on the merits of her academic achievements alone. No questions were asked of her race, ethnic origin, religion or political affiliation. Compare this to my struggle to get a place in Universiti Malaya in the 1970’s after the quota system was introduced. Despite doing far far far (intentional three times) better than any other student in the privileged group I eventually managed, after desperate appealing and pleading, to get a place on the 2nd round entrance. Unlike other privileged students who received scholarship from the government, I only managed to get an FAM scholarship (father and mother, that is).
But here in Australia, my daughter need not pay for tertiary studies at least until she has started work and earning beyond a certain level; even then in small instalments through the tax and interest free too.

Some bloggers here have mentioned, perhaps ill-informed due to gagged MSM, of racism. Well even if it is true, it is my choice to be in this environment. Unlike in Malaysia, the law can punish those guilty of it.