Thinking about NOT migrating

By Sim Kwang Yang

We all know more than a few relatives and friends who have migrated overseas to seek greener pasture there.  The number of people must be very large, and most of them must have come from the Chinese and the Indian communities.

They are mostly wealthy professionals and businessmen, for that will help them apply successfully for permanent residency in those western developed countries.

We all know roughly the reason for their life-changing move.  The racial politics in Malaysia discriminates against the Chinese and the Indians; they are much better treated in Australia, New Zealand, the United Kingdom, Canada, and the United States of America.  There, they can develop their career and enhance their professional skills, which is what all professionals dream of.  Of course, they also make a much better living on a level playing field.

We also know their argument for moving overseas.  They are not there to enjoy the higher standard of living merely.  At their adult age, they would have a problem really assimilating into the local foreign culture.  Still, they have to uproot themselves from their homeland because of their children’s education.  There, in a foreign land, their children will not have to face any racial quota.  Often, it is free right up to the university level in those developed countries.  Naturally, the academic standard of their university education is far higher than in Malaysian universities.

When I left Canada for my home town Kuching in Sarawak in 1978 to visit my family, I had already studied and worked in Winnipeg in Canada for almost 8 years.  I was a Canadian Landed Immigrant, their equivalent of a permanent resident in other countries.  I was completely assimilated into the Canadian way of life, including their infamously cold winter.  I had a fat scholarship for a post-graduate degree in philosophy leading to a Ph D.  An academic career as a university professor awaited me.  Some of my classmates had in fact moved on to become important professors in Canadian universities.

I suffered a reverse cultural shock upon my return to Kuching.  The food was great, but I had running stomach everyday.  The drains were smelly.

Then I joined a political party, and decided to stay back in Sarawak instead of pursuing my life in Canada.  After six months of not reporting back to Canada, I lost my status as a Landed Immigrant.  I had re-migrated back to Malaysia.

Thirty years after that move, I have often been asked by close friends if I ever regretted that decision to give up that comfortable life in Canada pursuing a noble profession.

All of us make all kinds of important choices in life, whom to marry, what business or profession to go into, where to live and so on.  We cannot roll back the time.  There is no point to regret those decisions.  If we have to pay a personal price for those decisions (How many people have found the “right” spouse’ anyway?), then we have to bite the bullet, grin and bear it like mature adults.

But I have thought deep about my youthful decision to re-migrate back to Malaysia often since 1978.  This is my take.

Of course a life in Canada would be much more comfortable materially.  But I was not that happy in Canada.  Canadians are really nice people, but they are also very inward looking.  They are not interested in what is going outside their country.  I felt like an alien there, like a word without a page of context.

There was also this ethical dimension in this question.

I could argue that I was able to migrate to Canada because of my ability and my determination to pursue tertiary education.  I did not owe Malaysia a thing.  In fact, I could even boast that I voted against Malaysia’s racial politics with my feet.

That argument is flawed.

I could pursue higher education in Canada because of what Sarawak had given me.  There was the struggling business world in Sarawak in those post-war years.  The economy was primitive, but it nourished my family and me.  There were schools for me to go to, and without them, I would remain illiterate like many African children.

I hated the politics in Sarawak since a young age.  But I still enjoyed the protection of those laws that gave me a legitimate identity that allowed me to obtain a passport.  During all those years of growing up, the laws have always nurtured me.  The political system was imperfect, but at least we had a system, unlike many Asian countries at that time.

In short, I owe my country and my home state of Sarawak.  That is why I decided to dedicate the best years of my life to political agitation, until I got sick and retired.  Even now, I try to contribute what I can through writing.  I am just paying for my right of passage through life.

I am not alone in this line of thought.  After I retired, I bumped into Richard Teo, my classmate in St. Joseph’s Secondary School in Kuching.  He was a quantity surveyor and had earned a law degree on the side.  I asked him why he did not migrate to another country.  He replied that if everybody with good qualification left Malaysia, where would that leave our country?

People always thought that political engagement on the frontline demands a great deal of personal sacrifice.  I do not think it that way.  I had the privilege of serving the people of Kuching as their MP for three terms.  Though I made many mistakes, I still tried my best, and made a difference for the better in the life of many individuals.  I learned a lot about human beings in that process.

I fully understand those who feel they need to migrate to another country.  Some racist would say, “Good riddance”.  I will not have a single negative comment to say about them.  They have made a very personal choice, and that kind of choice is indeed a personal one.

But I think my line of reasoning deserves a fair hearing too, especially for young Sarawakian businessmen and professionals who are unhappy with the racial politics of our country.  It is also alright to stay back and work to make our state and our nation a better place for our children.

After all, man cannot live by bread alone!

(SKY can be reached at kenyalang578@hotmail.com )