Malaysiakini : You will not be the first to stay put. I am aware that there are at
least 1,000 Malaysians working in London’s financial district, better
known as the Square Mile, who are permanently domiciled in the UK.
Almost
all systems in the country are skewed and the administrators in the
government see ethnicity in everything - from selection and appointments
to promotions.
The government is aware of the large number of
Malaysians emigrating but does not want to address the elephant in the
room. Instead, a lot of rhetoric is dished out from the prime minister
downwards.
The promised reforms have been put on the back burner
while the country is spiralling to the deep end with race and religion
being the pivotal subjects for political support.
At every turn,
race and religion dominate - not knowledge, skill, or experience. The
meritocracy that was promised has been thrown out of the window, and
nothing - zilch - has changed.
No one wants to address such issues
for fear of losing votes from the rural vote bank and we even have a
religious man seated in important decision-making positions.
Even the budget and our laws are scrutinised by these people so that they comply with what they perceive as God’s laws.
The
promises that your father and I believed (or rather fell for) a year
ago were just empty promises and they had no intentions of fulfilling
them.
As one commentator said about Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim:
“His promises falter, his stance falters; his promises of change appear
to be only loud chatter.”
Instead,
we are given excuses for non-implementation of the promises and we are
at wit’s end on how to ensure the promised changes take place.
But without fail, every year, there will be a ‘rombongan’
(delegation) of senior government officials and recruiters who would
come touring like a rock band on tour, tempting you with all kinds of
incentives to return and “serve the nation” as they would put it.
Finally,
your British wife may well adapt to our lifestyle but she cannot work.
So, all her years at medical school and then as a general practitioner
will go to waste. She cannot even work as a locum. Besides, there are
language and cultural barriers to cross.
What about your two sons?
What kind of environment would they grow up in their formative years?
They will end up in an education system where there is a class division
based on race and religion which rule supreme over studies.
They will grow up facing hatred and abhorrence at every turn.
I
will certainly speak with your father, who I know misses you but the
solution is simple. You earn enough as a medical specialist to come home
at least once in six months or buy flight tickets for your parents to
spend time with you in London.
All the best.
Uncle Nades
