Amran Ariffin : The Latest Arrival : (ONE)

steadyaku47 comment : I do not know Amran Ariffin. This morning I came across his posting which tells us about his arrival in Perth two years ago and his life since then as a new arrival - and it brought back to me memories of my arrival in Perth over 30 years ago in Mount Lawley and what I and my family went through in Perth at that time and our life in Australia since then. Interesting reading and he tells it well. His story will be posted here in three parts in just as many days. Here is part one.

AMRAN ARIFFIN

The Latest Arrival: Looking back at my 24 months in Australia

In a land of immigrants, one was not an alien but simply the latest arrival - Rudolf Arnheim

First, a confession; I miss Malaysia every single day especially those mouth-watering flavorful fat-laden cholesterol-busting artery-clogging local food available from every corner of the street at any time of the day. Food here is generally tasteless and national dish is Fish and Chip, enough said!

We moved to Perth on 27 December 2014 with eyes wide open and no friend, family or job. The only thing we have is hope for better future for our three kids; Aimi, Nadya and Adam. I must say this was one of the most gut-wrenching decisions I had ever made in my life. It didn’t feel that way at all when I first put in my permanent residency application after the 2013 General Election. I didn’t even feel tinge of sadness when we broached this idea in late 2012. However, the actual move left us in turmoil. We were granted Permanent Residence status on 6 December 2013. I kept finding excuses not to move and keep convincing myself that there is nothing wrong with Malaysia. Even though the only reason we decided to leave is we couldn’t see the light at the end of the tunnel for Malaysia. UMNO is corrupted by power and sadly, it doesn’t take power to corrupt the fragmented opposition. I must give credit to my wife; Faz who actually made me sat and booked our one-way-ticket to Perth. This is the very first lesson you learn when you plan to emigrate or moving abroad, everyone in the family especially your better half must fully supported your plan or your migration is doomed before you even pack your bags.

The actual move is no less emotional or strenuous than the act of buying one way tickets to the place which will be our new home for unforeseeable future. Deciding what to bring and what to leave behind was not easy as it seemed. As a simple man, I hate clutter and decided to just bring only essential clothing and personal items. However, my definition of personal belongings is very much different from my wife’s. For women, everything is personal including dining table. So here a lot of compromise and cajoling took place. We finally agreed on the items to be shipped and I managed to keep it to minimum. It is very important at this stage to have mover with international experience, credential and presence in your destination port. Most people made mistakes by engaging the cheapest mover and saddled with a lot of problems claiming the belonging from custom because Australia has unbelievably strict custom and quarantine procedures in place. That is the second lesson to keep in mind for shipping your belonging abroad, don’t be penny wise and pound foolish. Choose your mover carefully.

The actual moving day is the most emotional of all. Up to this point, we were basically keeping our migration plan to really close family members and trusted friends. The reason was we don’t want to hear a lot of negativity or unwanted “noise” from people around us. It is so easy for anyone to open his/her big mouth just because talk is cheap and opinion is free. Even for average Malaysians who never live outside their Malaysia’s Tempurung, these people seems to know more about Australia than those who are actually frequent travelers there or at least study extensively about Australia preparing for migration. These people will want you to have second thought about your plan and doubt yourselves on your success. So it is very important for you to keep your migration plan to people that are supportive of your plan. Keep all the negatives thought away and keep all the negative people at bay. Saying goodbyes to your loved ones at the airport is not for the faint-hearted. You’ll have to keep it short and simple and keep reminding yourself why you are leaving in the first place.

We arrived in summer. The sky is bluer. The sun is brighter. The air is fresher. Less people, more trees. Less cars, more bicycles. Less buildings, more parks. Perth is quiet, in fact, very quiet.

steadyaku47 comment : To be continued.