Young&Articulate ... Part 5 (Post-Final)

Sub-title: THE MALAYSIAN DILEMMA- LAMENTS OF THE YOUTH TODAY

More SPECIFICALLY through the eyes of a University student abroad:The Malaysian Student Dilemma

GUEST BLOGGER: SABRINA TAN


Recent events led me to think that being a student abroad, there are many things we come across that made us who we are today, and perhaps with hope that we will be the future leaders of the country?


It’s the time of the year where future graduates are out job hunting. They are frantic on trying to secure a decent job interview. They searched high and low for an appropriate referee. They get news from the referee that the future employer called them up and asked them about their opinion towards this future employee.

I looked at them and can’t help wondering where I will end up next year, same time round.

Some of you will say that I am just worrying about nothing. Dentists shouldn’t have a problem with getting a job. Yet I hear some people who still haven’t got a job at the moment.

As for my Malaysian counterparts? They are definitely NOT going back to Malaysia. Most of them end up in New Zealand, some are ‘lucky’ enough to go to Queensland, Australia.

I have stressed many times in the past on why the Malaysian students here are not going back to serve the country. Google my name and you can find the entries at desiderata and Jeff Ooi.

As for me, I think I will be following the league of my seniors and would hope to land a job either here or Australia. My patients will ask: “Why?! Why not go home?” I often smiled at them nonchalantly and said: “It’s a long..long..story…”

They still looked at me with a puzzled look but were respectful enough to not question about my rationale behind it.

“Patriotism is to support your country all the time and your government when it deserves it.” — Mark Twain

I copied that phrase from Desiderata on his post (yesterday...I highly suggest one should go read it as it’s about Institutionalised Racism, written by John Ling who originally had this written for Think Magazine.)

For days, months and years my head kept coming back to the question of why am I not patriotic. I have often had comments like:

“Oh you really should come back and serve the country...the country needs you...”

Does it really need me? Then why do I keep feeling that the people who run the country are using all their might to prevent me along with my other colleagues from coming back?

“You should come back because your parents are here, you being the only child, really should come back and look after them...don’t be so selfish...”

My parents urged that I don’t come back. They don’t mind me not being there with them, as long as my future generations and I have a better life (not in monetary terms). They would rather come and visit me more often. Perhaps someday they’ll retire with me over here.

“ Don’t you miss home? Why are you so anti- Malaysian? Surely we are much better off than many people around the world..take Uganda, Etopia for example...”

First of all, I am not anti Malaysia. I love Malaysia a lot. In fact I am very sentimental towards it. It was the place where at least, I got a decent primary and secondary education. It was the place that taught me my roots, many thanks to the still strong surviving Chinese public schools in Penang. It was the place where my parents were born and bred, and they taught me everything that they know to make me who I am today.

Yet on the same level, I feel that Malaysia has soooo much potential to be a much better country. No, we shouldn’t benchmark ourselves against lesser/poorer countries, if anything we should strive to be like our better counterparts, eg Australia, NZ (and we don’t even need to look far for that).

Am I not being patriotic? Well when Mark Twain said the phrase above, he was in United States of America. That, is the land of freedom...the land where dreams can come true...

Can you tell me that this is also the case for Malaysia?
The way I see it is that at least I care about Malaysia enough to try to echo the sentiments of the young. At least I want to know what is going on with Malaysia, and voice out certain concerns if something doesn’t seem right.

Many of Malaysia’s residents and citizens don’t even own a newspaper. They litter rubbish on the ground (especially Penang). They discharge bodily fluids without discretion. Aren’t these actions of un-patriotism?

I have always admired the Scandinavian countries for their wonderful social benefits and governance. Sure, they pay high taxes, but at least their tax is fully utilised.
Many of the research projects in the health field come from the Scandinavian countries.
Whenever I read on research projects like these, I can’t help but let out a big sigh and just dream that someday Malaysia will be like this:

1) their citizens get dental check ups ( every 6 mths, on the government)
2) they get regular scaling (mechanical removal of plaque and tartar from tooth surfaces) from the government, and often a dental hygienist would be their first port of call
3) if you want to extract a tooth, they will do with all their might to prevent that from happening
4) each citizen is guaranteed having a house by age 21, be it you purchased it or you obtained loan from the government.

These are just a slight insight on how they run their government.
I have never seen any issues like AP, NEP or whatever P in the Scandinavian politics so far.

Yet people say that I am being too pessimistic towards the hope of Malaysia. Am I? Or am I just being realistic?

If I am being pessimistic, why am I not the only one who shares the same sentiments?
Why are there millions of other Malaysians around the world,that are fearful to go back?

Once again, I give up..


DESIDERATA: I won't re-introduce Sabrina Tan, except to say that she must rank as the first "awesome" YOUNG&ARTICULATE who caught Desi's eye in blogosphere, and it was my greAt privilege and pleasure to have her all the way from New Zealand ... (landscaping so familiar when you saw The Lord of the Rings...?) as the Maiden Guest Blogger here. This post fits in so well with all the previous FOUR PARTS in the same-named SERIES I had to re-open the runway, walkway, or writeway for this shAring ...For more on the dentist-to-be -- Desi has teAsed her she can always have Journalism as her fallback career option!-- please visit Sab's Place at http://sabrinawstan.blogsome.com.

AND I do strongly urge my EsteemedReaderers to ENGAGE Sabrina (hey, Sab, you play host today, play goalkeeper for a change, I'll help Haridas with the tehtarik!) in her tjoughts frankly put, even challenge her maybe, rebut any controversial claims even, but don't get personal, for we want a platform for civil discourse. You can use sarcasm, innuendoes, wordplay, fore- or post- Desi won't care, just be careful you don't make Desi call in THE BOMBA!

IN CLOSING, as Tuesday night waltzes into Wednesday morn, this writer by destiny's walk hears the strains of Moon River whispering from Breakfast at Tiffany's recalling another "Sabrina", transported into another era of KATE & LEOPOLD's olde world of a duke and his bridal-duchess, and I wandereth/wondereth into Life's strange twists and turns, seeking the meaning of meandering threads in Blogosphere.

Then I understand why ... please if you don't know what Desi's talking about, it's another Challengia to which Desi's not aloud to give an answer ... yet, from the stars that lead some one here, she yet finds a soulmate at the end of a rainbow ...it always comes after a storm. Desiderata like a DJ caught in a midnight reverie, dedicates this Mark Twainesque drift to mGf:

"Moon River"

music by Henry Mancini,
lyrics by Johnny Mercer
Hear Audrey Hepburn sing:

Moon River, wider than a mile,
I'm crossing you in style some day.
Oh, dream maker, you heart breaker,
wherever you're going I'm going your way.
Two drifters off to see the world.
There's such a lot of world to see.
We're after the same rainbow's end--
waiting 'round the bend,
my huckleberry friend,
Moon River and me.