Desiderata's GUEST BLOGGER SABRINA TAN on this Special Sunday is someone who needs little introduction because she has been my most constant guest contrubtor as well as Conversationist. Final-year dental student resident in NEW ZEALAND SABRINA TAN sometimes infects this mentor's oulook and style to the extend I fall into the trap I was still a teenager like her, ranting and raving, although I'm 40plus + going on to 40 minus - next year, then 40 minus - 2 the year after. TIME IS MAGICAL WHEN YOU TRAVEL AT FASTE PACE THAN THE SPEED OF LIGHT, as some nutty poets do. Sabrina likes to make her readers go nutty, more than once! Travel lightly to http://sabrinawstan.blosgpsot.com and see if you agree.
Sabrina, who somehow reminds me of an early love of the same namesake plus another which rhymes with hair of auburn, explores the National Day Project subject UP CLOSE AND PERSONAL, via:
A NARRATIVE
She comes into the Dental School. Warmly greeted me with a big smile after not seeing me for a year.
“ Time flies, isn’t it, Sabrina?”
“ Yea Mrs xxx, it sure does…it’s August already…”
“ So where are you going to end up after you graduate? Going home? Stay here?”
“ Probably not home, either here or Australia, depends on which one pays better.”
She looks at me with a puzzled look…
“ Why not home?”
“ It’s a long story…”
“ Go to Australia then, they pay better…”
We ended up chuckling together.
This is not the first time that I have faced this situation over the past few years of seeing patients in Dental School.
Why not home…?I myself wonder why.
I am a Malaysian, yet I sometimes find it hard to call that home.
It’s home because my family is there, other than that I don’t see why is there a point for me to go home.
Where do we go from here? Where are we going to end up?
Chatting with my fellow Malaysian colleagues who are out in the workforce, most of them are either here in New Zealand or Australia. Most of them are comfortably settling down, working in hospitals or private practice. Earning heaps of money too, for some of them.
Yet do they see themselves in Malaysia in the near future? Not sure or, just a plain NO.
Most of their families are residents or citizens of these countries.
They spent most of their high schooling here.
They love Malaysia’s food and cheap shopping options. Yet if you ask them what else they love about Malaysia, most of them can’t even say more than five reasons.
“ My dad has a dental practice in Kuching, yet I don’t want to go back.”
How ironic does that sound. Most fresh graduates would be beaming with delight when you can work with your own practice once you graduate. Yet he doesn’t find any motivation to go back. Why? There is a better market here. The government appreciates us better here.
Dentists are one of the highest paid profession in Australasia.
We have student loans to pay off. Those who are not under student loans have to pay off their parents. When the students graduate, they have to pay off their student loan of a total debt of more than NZD 300,000 with a 7% interest annually and increases with time, if one gets a higher salary bracket.
Most of them just think about paying off their student debt once they graduate from Uni. They look for the option that pays them off the highest, and most would choose the path of being in a private practice. So the next time if someone complains about the health professionals charging sky high prices for their consultations fees, think again. I can guarantee that by the time we finish our courses, we can afford to buy a nice villa alongside and nice and shiny ‘bimmer’.
Their parents do not have anything to do with their student fees or expenditures. Hence, they have to rely on themselves for going after the best option.
These are Malaysians, who once ate and breathed in Malaysia, yet they are sucked into the Western soil.
Better still, these days the immigration for New Zealand has been made easier for health professionals. So does a Malaysian get tempted into being a resident of NZ, why not? It helps them a great deal!
How does it help, you would ask. Let me point out a few reasons why:
Being resident of NZ, I can get a cheap housing loan scheme
I get to be on a cheaper health scheme
When I am old, the government can take care of me
If I chose to opt out of the workforce to take care of my babies, the government can sponsor me
If my socioeconomic status is low, the government can sort out my children’s education
If I am out of job, the government can pay me weekly allowance
The most important thing is: I get these benefits regardless of what colour I am.
Where does the dilemma come in?
If the Malaysian’s parents requested them to come back and stay with the parents.
Not sure how many educated and informed parents out there would choose to do this, perhaps they might have their reasons. So far, most of my friends’ parents have encouraged them to go abroad and spread their wings.
So this comes to the question of why do we have this situation over and over again? Isn’t it more prevalent now compared to before? We always see an exodus of people emigrating out of Malaysia, yet with each phase the number of people emigrating seems to get larger and larger.
We know - You know why. Yet is there change? Will there be change?
I have my doubts about it, especially if I see news like “Selangor bans cinema” and "Fomer CM loses RM...Million at Casino" and other "funnies" appearing in The Star headlines. Makes me shake my head and wonder what on earth is going on back home.
When people shout out brain-drain, yet we don’t seem to have done anything about it. New Zealand has brain-drain too, but they are doing their best to put a stop in it. As for our mother land Malaysia, seems like the government is doing their best to drive the people away.
What have you got to say? Can you beg to differ?
I am just going to continue to shake my head.
DESIDERATA: A truly speaking from the heart -- and that's Sabrina for thee. I may or may not agree with some of her views. Indeed, many of our readers are CHALLENGED by Sabrina herself at closing to share their views -- nay, even rebut her views, which is fine at Desi's Place. This subject of Immigration is going to emerge on the slips of many Malaysian students studying overseas, not just those financed by their home ministers, but also officially sponsored by the Government's treasury. Yes, I know of parents "selling off a house" just to enable their child to study in Oz or the UK or the US of A, and also of students generously monied by tax-payers' dollars who break their bonds on graduation. No wonder some Malaysians shake their heads!
My EsteemedReaders, the mike is paased onto to you, and when you're tired , go onto Desi's LATEST CHALLENGE for some leisure usuallly opposed to Never on Sunday.
17 comments:
thats pretty bad and pretty sad...
but they're the truth and it is kind of negative whirpool we fall into...
the only way out falls on our government...
but it is unlikely to happen on a gov that treasure more on Votes than Welfare...
chinese, indian and other races are the most pity group...
we have UMNOputras, Bumiputras, and NON-Bumiputras...
we're 3rd class citizen...
happy blogging dude
Hey...it made me think to what if I was posed the same question my my viva examiners: "So where are you going to end up after you graduate? Going home? Stay here?” What will be my answer then? Could it be:
1. " Oh...I'm definitely going back and be a lecturer and earn 300 pounds' equivalent of monthly salary. No, don't you worry about the money...you can still survive in Malaysia. I should sacrfice myself to the education of our younger generation." or
2. " Of course I'm not going back. What? You want me to earn a salary of a Big Issueseller? And if you happened to read last two weeks' Nature article, you may have noticed that we have race-based science policies. Blimey! Blame that on my ethnicity then."
Sometimes it is not the money that always matters; it is the X factor in Malaysia. I guess you all know what that X factor is if your colour skin and religion is a bit different.
Leaving your comfort zone to another part of the world makes you view your own country differently. My friends were blaming me for being 'unpatriotic' and 'a traitor' when I try to blog something about politics. They do not know that they are in their comfort zones and do not realise how people from outside of the world viewed us Malaysians when the read headlines like "Malaysians told to pray for rain (to conquer haze)" and "Space gourmet for Malaysian space mission".
All the best to Sabrina and perhaps Malaysia is your place for vacationing, meet up with some old friends and enjoy the food there.
Hi Sabrina
I have a friend that attended Newcastle Uni and yes after receiving her degree she went back to Malaysia for a short time then sold up and returned to Oz.Why bcoz she loves Oz and the ppl.She told me that in Oz ppl are so different to Malaysians for aussies don't care about what you own or don't own.Where you work what level of education you have ,where your husband works ect ect ect.Oh yes and
she and her husband could make much more money here and give their children a better lifestyle.Most of all they love Oz and the lifestyle.
As for me i love them becoz they are loving ppl and i would never want them to go back to Malaysia.
So Sabrina come back to Oz and we'll do lunch ;)
Desi
you can't have them back hehe
cheers tcz
Being a foreign graduate like sabrina, I too face this major decision. I gotta admit, it's not an easy one. I'll be completing my degree in another 3-4 months time and yet when people ask me what are my plans...I have no definate answer for them.
The thing I'm most afraid of about returning home is I won't be able to get a career I've been hoping for. I’m afraid I’ll end up working in a job which is totally different from what I’ve studied and I feel that if that’s going to be the case, I’m better off to stay here. At least I’ll get paid more!
The only reason why I would choose to work at home is simply because I want a career in the line that I’ve studied, and this requires me to work for a MNC. And MNCs in Canada are very difficult to get in, so my best option is home I guess. I well aware about the pay differences between here and back at home, but I feel that as long as I have enough money to cover my commitments and responsibilities, that’s good enough. I’m not interested in making money to be honest; I’d choose happiness and my well being over money. Sure over here I’ll make a lot of money, but I’ll also be farther away from home, and yes I come from a very close knit family. And Canada is FAR from home if you’re comparing to countries like Australia and New Zeeland. Flight tickets to go home are almost between Rm4500-Rm5000!!
Besides that, I’m only in my early 20s, I don’t have commitments over here and also back at home, so I can afford to choose to come home without paying such a high opportunity cost. And if things aren’t really bright at home, I can always choose to come back here. Doesn’t mean if I return home, I’ll be stuck here for the rest of my life! My options are always open…
I notice foreign graduates who return home in the hopes of trying to “make a difference” often find themselves being disappointed. Their efforts to make a change go into vain and they end up being dejected. And since these people have foreign experience, it’s not surprising that they will start making plans to leave the country.
Why does this problem occur? Well simply cuz like what Sabrina said, the government doesn’t really do anything to lure and attract back it’s foreign graduates. I remember reading about a year ago how the government is trying to lure back foreign based Malaysians back into Malaysia, but till now nothing has been done about it. It’s just another typical No Action Talk Only scenario style.
My fear is if the government does not see to this problem ASAP, it will face serious consequences in the future, and it might halt our progress to being a fully developed nation in 15 years time. Brain drain is occurring everywhere, but at least these countries are doing something to curb this problem….Malaysia better act fast too.
Hi all
Thanks for your responses and comments.
It's very much appreciated!
Well the thing to bear in mind is that when you have an option, money is not the factor.
Sure I have been advised time and time again that money shouldn't be the factor that we get into our courses.
If you love your job, money will come after that.
However these students over here, don't have that option. Their parents are not millionaires, and they are not of the right colour to get aid from the government.
They have to borrow loan from the NZ government to help them in their student fees and their living expenses.
Fortunately they came into NZ and Aus at the right time where immigration was more lax.
Now, we are all silently hoping that Labour would win ( Helen Clark's party) in the upcoming election. WhY? HOPING very much that they would write off the student debt interest, as promised. I won't elaborate here to bore you with the details. However you are more than welcomed to do your own research and if you want a personal consult, I would be glad to tell you! :)
For those of us that don't have the burden of paying off student loans, then we can opt to come back.
But to what?
What if the political scenario gets worse later?? What if someday ( and let's seriously HOPE NOT!) we would end up like Indo?
It would be too late to go back to Aus, NZ, UK, US or Canada etc then
Once you get out of the country, it's more difficult to get back in.
I am not asking you to betray your country. It's after all, Malaysia.
It's where we grew up, where we shaped ourselves, where our forefathers have fought to stay long time ago.
However if the country doesn't welcome us NOW, how can you guarantee that it would welcome us in the future? What if they truly are going to drive us away?
In my earlier posts in this blog as well, China did a GREAT job in getting their own graduates back. THey vowed to stay loyal to their country. Yes, they might have Perm Res elsewhere, but they still come back to China at the end of the day. They told us with a pride in their eyes:" China is my home. I will go back to it no matter what."
I wish I can say that about my own country.
Miscellanous
SSspirits: Yes I wanna go bk to Oz!! Sure, we can do lunch!! Hehe...man, I miss the gelatos and gelaria ( is it? I think that's what they have in Perth) and most of all I miss the weather!! It's freeezzzzinn here!!!
And to the others: Malaysia is my vacation place, and also the place where my family lives. But it's also the place where I hope I can bring up my kids, if things improves. So far, I am a bit skeptical about that.
If you have the chance to work/ stay in a foreign country, do so.
Enrich your experiences.
Live life.
And when you are satisfied and when you are ready to go back, go back. Malaysia needs you.
But just remember that you musn't live life with regrets in whatever decisions that you make.
Dear Sab,
What you wrote in your essay is true and it's really sad and bad.
*sigh*
How I wish things were different. But I don't think that is going to happen anytime soon...
But great post Sab. I love it. Keep it up!
*hugs*
Cheers!
SsssssSpirit(s):
I put an "ass" after the normal moniker because you're "converting" too many of my countryppl to Oz Land -- I'm still trying to raise RM20million, or AUSD20million divided by 2.5 (with thy help, plus Sab's2...) and I put up even Desi's Place for sale at Howsy's for RM20million divided by SEVEN pounds Sterling in order to set up that OUR I-LAND, remember? Now I've even decided on a BEAUT name ofr OUR I-LAND, and if you could read my mind, luv, you'd get a CHALLENGE TO LOVE!
So SsssssSpirit, have u asked you Mt Howard and Mr Downer not to "pinch" too many of OUR MALAYSIAN TALENTS? If Oz sttill wants em,charge em each RM100,000 each, OK and set up the I-LAND FUND -- fisrt step towards merging our two lunck bloody countries, AUSMALTRAYSIA? or isit MALAUSTRAYSIA??
I got back from a douible CON BF and yet ou fellas have not gotta on the CHALLENGE 4! Hey, nicolekid, I'm surely you don't have no assignments on a Never on Sunday?
Did you grasp answer, mGf, that has been stopped by your wind to Challenge 3(b) -- now I hear kyels telling: Unfair, she still hasn't seen it through the Haze. Some1 like Sab has also lost her way thru the Perthian Haz-ey-Nuts et al.
So SssssSpirit -- you had a GOoD nite;s rest I4, send me over that Poem about the heArt to share with my poetic readers like Moses&IM,can?
I'd reserve a few TTarik kurang manis for some1 toomanis from DU -- add an "H" plus an Exclamation mark ! for seducing all mGf in the plural to hide a away DUH!:)
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I am really impressed with your blog. Thanks!
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Come and check it out if you get time :-)
Desi
I'll give you Johns email n you can request he stops stealing the talent hehe.As for ass tsk tsk.. Quoting you
"and if you could read my mind, luv,"
is that relevant to the challenge?
Assignments on Sunday Desi yes indeed as most of my modules are online.
As for challenges Desi im with the one that said he gets more confused by your writing everyday he he..Sorry but im Aussie and we're straight forward to the point , you just lose me in thought at times.
Okz im off to cyberspace
cheerz tcz
Hi Sweets:
If you have lost me, like bruddder Inran, I only only blame it on The Haze!
But you can follow Sab & Kyels, go break a leg! That was what YoungKyels advised me when I too was getting overly tired and challenged.
Maybe I'll "close shop" for some time if NO ONE wants to accept Challenge 4 -- took me a lot of time to create the puzzle tho.
Ne'er mind, I might be surprised yet! Both of us sem to have digresseed. Talk about poem -- may be Desi's getting a mite too pompous, Sweets, eh?
Every you go, it will be the same thing - you WILL face competition from others - foreign and local. You will find that more often than not, because you are a new-comer, things will actually be harder for you compared to back at home.
Instead of looking at it as "they have the easy way out", how about looking at it this way? We have it the better way because thanks to NO assistance whatsoever, we have strived to be better, if not the best, in our society. Can you imagine what the Chinese community would be like if we were given NEP policies similar to the Bumis? I can see us stagnating and suffering from plenty of issues from laziness to incompentency.
As Bill Watterson wrote in Calvin and Hobbes, "it builds character" - what doesn't kill you WILL make you stronger. Of course it isn't fair but life was never fair to begin with. Otherwise, you could have chosen - in Heaven (if you believe in it) - which race you would have been born into, which country, wealth (and all that jazz) and take the easy way out.
With Merdeka looming just around the corner, much of educated society is trying to get rid of the 'racist' mentality and the hang-over of the previous bumi policies and Malay special rights. We are not trying to blind ourselves to reality but we are trying to see it from a different light because when we start saying things like "why should they deserve it? it's not fair and etc" we stand the risk of becoming racists ourselves.
Besides, why look at everything from a racial point of view? Are you going to tell your wife this: "Make sure no Malay doctor delivers our babies. Make sure no Malay person registers my son/daughter. Make sure no Malay teaches them. I want only Chinese to do all those things..."?
Why be in competition with our family members when we should ideally be in competition with outsiders? That's right...Malay, Chinese or Indian...we are part of one big family. I'm sorry if you don't see it that way but your ancestors made that choice for you by immigrating to this country and giving birth to you here. And that can never be undone.
Be proud of who you are - good and bad. No one is asking you to ignore the flaws...instead of complaining, why not work hard towards changing it?
FYI, I'm one of the few who got my education abroad sponsored by parents AND returned in hopes to contribute something in return to my country. I never regretted coming back - I did initially - but then I changed my perspective and discovered that my coming back, I actually gained more than what I had initially bargained for.
My train of thought is this: If you must go, go...it's your life. Of course there will always be a price to pay for your decision.
BUT If you must come back, then come but don't complain about your decision. You must lie in the bed you made.
the scarfer:
sobering thoughts which the YoungerOnes about to graduate from Uni or going on to Uni studies overseas on their Home Ministers (read: parents!)scholarships, pls take serious note -- from a senior who has gone before thee and sharing good points to weigh.
I believe all of us come from differeent home environs of differing financcial levels -- the less lucky ones don't evn consider a chance to go oversae withough gaining a Govt scholarship, the luckier ones (like Sab, and the scarfer, who volunteers her own account of getting to where she's today...thanks!)...I won't say much here as I'm poishing up my piece for tomorrow (as usual, working a jouno's deadline with last-min adrenaline flow...), I do agree with one point.
What your decision is, always remember Malaysia is still Our Country, we may have grouses against the Govt of the day, please stay to fight a good fight if you can (DESI does, with all his might, and resources he can garner...). If you decide to stay, even get a PR overseas, work there, but there's no reason to go the OTHER EXTREME of just finding fault with Malaysia and go on a blasting campaign. I've seen such empty dickheads (ooops i learn some pfofUnity from a YoungOne like kyels!)throwing brickbats without any consy\tructive reflection --- hey, remember, don't burn the birdges behind you after you've used them to cross to other shores ... there are many fellow Malaysians staying behind who may need to use those same bridges.
Thanks scarfer, fro visiting, first time, I believe, so here's a Teh Tarik kurang manis to thee for finding the time to share. Food for thought, and I hope Sabrina (art thou still half lost in the Perthian Haze?)comes back to re-engage the scarfer in conversation?
Hmm... its seem that money comes first??
Don't worry, I understand and for a lot a Malaysians that could not 'make it' in their homeland and comprehend what's life in Malaysia is all about, they prefer to stay away and give/find excuses.
When one get their life priority rite in later stages of their life, everything will fall into places and realized what truly matters. No matter which country you are in.
Good luck young ones. :)
Hey, I like your style, thanks for the posts,anyway, keep bloggin.
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