Malaysia says 'Go Forth and Multiply'...and we did. .

Malaysians who migrated now number in the millions and counting. Each and every migrant will have their story to tell if asked why they left Malaysia for Australia, America, Canada, the United Kingdom, Europe or to any other parts of the world.

They will tell you that migrating to another country is no easy task. It is an exhausting process that takes many years to run its course and you are required to prove that you have the means to take care of yourself and that you are able to support yourself and your family once you are granted permission to migrate to the country of your choice.

In short for every Malaysian who leaves Malaysia to live abroad you can be sure that Malaysia is the poorer in terms of actual cash leaving the country and in terms of manpower. …and you can multiply that for every generations that will henceforth be born, grow up, work and live in the country of their choice. If they number in the millions today, in the decades to come Malaysia will be the poorer by these millions for not having them help Malaysia grow in every sense of the word – as a country and as a people united in diversity.

I migrated to Australia over two decades ago…and already my grown up children are settled – one in Canada and another with us in Melbourne – in the country we now call home. My children have much affection for Malaysia. To them Bangsar, roti canai, satay, rambutans,  langsat and KL are still terms of endearments and words that needs no explanation.

For the next generation – that is my two grand children growing up in Canada -  their parents will have to explain to them where Bangsar is and what roti canai, rambutans and KL means.

By the coming of my third family generation, Malaysia will just be a place that their grandfather and their great grandfather came from. By the time the third generations of these Malaysian migrants become adults, Malaysia will be as foreign to them as Peking is to the Chinese of today who now call Malaysia their home…or as Kerala is to some Indians who have, by the passage of time, become Malays!

It has been close to three decades since I first migrated to Australia. I am a Malaysian Malay living in Australia and this will never change. I could try and be more Australian by speaking as they do and living as they do and socialising as they do but then that would defeat the very reason why they gave me permanent resident status in the first place. They gave me PR because my wife (who is a Greek Australian) choose to marry a Malay. Australia accept this Malay to come and live in Australia as a Malay.

It has not been always this way for Australia. There was a time when they had the “whites only” immigration policy but all this has changed with the passage of time and as the people understood that these immigrants could add and contribute to Australia…and for these contribution Australians are grateful.  

There are no attempts to make these Asians, Europeans or Africans into white “Australians” – but Australia insists that they respect and celebrate the diversity that  comes with multi ethnicity. We have many Malaysians here in Australia. Malaysia’s loss is Australia’s gain.

We miss many things of Malaysia but for many of us we would rather endure a decade or two of adjusting to life here then to take the chance of having our children grow up in a Malaysia where race, religion and who you know, dictates how you live your life and what you can make of it.