Anak Malaysia – Expats Mushrooming in KL dated 11/6/11

By Long Wong

The first thing that comes to mind is what’s wrong with these expats? They are after all, better educated than those unskilled and semi-skilled imports that we have today, including the illegal ones, with many creating fear in our everyday life insofar as safety is concerned.

This is a typical cry of someone that is brought up in a “handout” culture. Come on, have some lateral thinking my friend. This won’t work for our country if we continue to want to protect ourselves. Isn’t it the same as bumi privilege? Just that now it is “Malaysian” privilege? What? You want 30% Malaysians to be employed?

Let’s face the fact. Malaysians are not that great anymore. They are an inferior nation! Firstly, we have a huge brain drain away from the country. Secondly, what makes one think we have the capability to manage such an organisation. The good ones left are generally those above 40 and many of them are already holding good positions in the corporate world which, anyway, is starved of good people.

You think HR can be handled by someone local? Maybe, maybe not. Firstly, the command of the English Language for this job must be good. Without effective communication skills there is virtually no hope for the local to fulfill this position. Secondly, even if there are (please forget about Malaysians overseas. They won’t come back and that is a fact. In other words, just look at what’s left in this country), these people would be holding steady jobs here in Malaysia that are paying well (I personally know of an HR manager that is being paid very well and who always laments that there are not enough good people around). Additionally, this someone has to be above 40. Anything less is not good enough. Then comes the other positions, which basically require the same level of qualifications and communication skills.

Your point obivously is, aren’t there any Malaysians at all? My point is a big No! Just look at the corporate world around you. Almost every profit making corporation out there is saying they do not have the right kind of people for the right job. I have been an entrepreneur and professional for more than twenty years and I am beginning to give up doing business in Malaysia, simply because we do not have the right people here in this country anymore. Good ones who are educated overseas won’t want to come back, leaving only rotten apples behind that do not have the calibre at all to be in the big league.

I should say 80% of the graduates in Malaysia today are not even of the same standard compared to those who passed out from MCE and HSC some 30 years ago. In those days, if one passed out after Form 5, one would almost certainly have a good command of the English Language and if they fast forward to today, they will definitely get a good paying job – and without a degree! Say what you want, but communication skills is the number priority, not just locally but globally. Without that, there is no way one can ever progress.

Just look at the quality of our local graduates. They cannot express themselves well enough, even in their own mother tongue! This is the reality in our country. It has been purposely engineered so that those who are in power will continue to be in power. Malaysia is a feudal state and in line with the history of feudalism, this country is doomed and will need at least 60 years after a revolution (i.e., at the lowest point in feudalism whence a revolt will start) before it can come back up. There is no guarantee that if the opposition wins tomorrow, we can come back up. In fact, it may be further downhill after that. This country is suffering from tertiary cancer and there is no recourse other than death, which is a matter of time.

Back to your cry of too many expats. Isn’t it good that they earn big dollars and spend it here rather than the semi and unskilled labourers sending our money back to their home countries? After all, the money these expats earned here is actually foreign income. As a matter of fact, I do not know whether you realise that but the money they earned is oursourced from their regional and/or global operations and therefore is foreign income and does not have anything to do with Malaysia at large.

They may be chauffeured driven, go to expensive restaurants, rent expensive apartments and live an expensive lifestyle, but remember, they are contributing to Malaysia’s economy and that’s what we want from the little we can offer at this stage. I think you are barking at the wrong tree.

The crux of the problem in this country that we have is not the expats. It is the system in which we are living in. It is a corrupt society and in a corrupt society, only a handful will eventually benefit, leading to general mass discontent. The current scenario is, they have created racial disharmony so much so that when the situation explodes it will be one layman versus another layman. This is what the ruling elite wants us all to see and eventually react to it and I can safely say that the elite is winning from this perspective.

In my opinion, the only change that we can see is all the poor, whether they are bumis or nons, come together and vote the current corrupted Governement out. The majority of the poor are the local indigenous of East Malaysia and the Malays of West Malaysia. Unless they can overcome this oppression by the elites, we will not see daylight. Even if that happens, do not be too happy as we will definitely see the country going further downhill before it turns back up. In the absence of a revolution, maybe 20 to 30 years. In the event of a revolution, we can expect two generations of sufferings before things can turn around.

Until then, enjoy your life and savour whatever little left in Malaysia as you may not be around by then. I know I will not be around for sure.