Wake up call‏

Perhaps, like me, you will discover that friends and relatives around you are getting fewer and fewer. We used to have tight schedules for all sorts of new year gatherings in the past, but things seem to quiet down a lot this year.

Even on a normal day phone calls are getting rarer, and not too many people for us to meet nowadays. Perhaps everyone is engrossed with his own stuff, or perhaps people are beginning to adopt “homeward” lifestyle and avoid unnecessary trips.

Not so!

Many of my old friends and relatives are no longer around. Don’t get me wrong, they are still very much alive and kicking, only they have chosen to leave this land.

John has set up a factory in mainland China; Peter has quit his rewarding engineering job to run a small food stall in Australia; Robert quits local university to lecture in Hong Kong; Dave is in Taiwan to explore his career while some others have gone to the States, UK, and... oh yes, Indonesia.

I used to think this is just an isolated case. I slowly discover that such thing happens to other people around me as well. This is not an isolated case, but a widespread social phenomenon.
It involves not just a handful of people, but quite a multitude of them.

Some recent statistics disclosed by the foreign ministry have testified the fact that this phenomenon has been very real and close. From last March to this September, around 300,000 Malaysians looked for greener pastures beyond our shores, two thirds of them did so in the first eight months of this year alone.

The cumulative number of emigrating Malaysians has now exceeded two million, close to the number of Indonesian workers in this country.

The different thing is: those who have left the country are mostly middle-class professionals.
They are have a host of reasons to stay away from this country: to pursue further career advancements, to seek brighter future for their kids, to enjoy more freedom... In short, they have all grown disappointed with Malaysia.

50 years ago, everyone said Malaysia was the best, even better than Hong Kong and Japan.
30 years ago, they said Malaysia was not that bad, at least we were as good as Korea and Taiwan (Hong Kong and Japan were no longer mentioned by them).
20 years ago, they said Malaysia was still quite okay, at least we were better than China and Thailand (Taiwan and Korea were no longer in the same league).
10 years ago, they said Malaysia could never be like Vietnam or Indonesia, no matter how terrible it was (China was not in the same category any more).
Today, Vietnam and Indonesia have far outpaced Malaysia in economic development, the gap is fast closing in.

What to worry? We still have Philippines, Cambodia and Myanmar!

An economist who recently visited the Philippines said Malaysia could overtake her neighbour as the prime exporter of domestic maids in 20 years’ time.

Over the past half a century, Malaysia has been locking itself inside a huge courtyard house, distributing its wealth in antiquated ways and exhausting its rich social resources, forcing its best talents to look elsewhere. The country shuns competitiveness, ignores productivity and abhors meritocracy.

When the regional financial crisis struck, we locked ourselves in and escaped the massive destruction. Some people have taken delight in that, thinking we were geniuses.

But when other countries walked out of the crisis, they implemented substantial reforms and made bold advances ahead while our country stays largely stagnant.

It’s time to wake up, Malaysia.

FROM: mysinchew.com