In this post, I wish to share on some considerations to make before deciding to migrate and give up our citizenship. Malaysia does not allow its residents to hold dual citizenship. Hence if one wishes to be a resident in another country, one would have to give up the Malaysian citizenship.
The most two common reasons I often hear for those who wish to migrate to other more developed countries are:
- to earn a better salary wage and better standards of living
- for the children’s education
However before one decide to migrate and eventually give up citizenship, one would need to seriously consider this on a long term basis…… ie all the way into one’s old age. I would like to share with you the story of my own mother, followed by examples of others for your consideration.
My mom had given up the chance to migrate twice
My mom was a trained nurse under the older nursing syllabus developed by United Kingdom. That time Malaysia had gained independance and for many years, the healthcare professionals were trained under the British syllabus. Hence, her nursing qualification was recognized in all Commonwealth countries.
When my mom was single, she had friends who decided to search for a better life in England as there was a huge demand for nurses that time. All they had to do was to resign from their position here and buy a one way ticket to England. They were more or less assured of being able to find a job.
My mom really wanted to go to England to try out. When she came back (that time she was working in another state after she qualified), she had wanted to tell my grandaunt, an unmarried servant lady whom my mom’s birth mom sold her to……only to find my grandaunt having a black eye. She was beaten by a relative who shifted out with his family on the eve of Chinese New Year taking everything with them.
Seeing this condition, my mom could not bear to leave my grandaunt (the servant lady) all alone by herself. Even though my mom was not related by blood to my grandaunt, but this lady had worked hard to raise my mom up and due to good foresight thinking, was determined to give my mom an education. And of all things, an English education which that time was not common.
Hence, my mom gave up her dream. Throughout her life, she had made a lot of sacrifices to fulfill various responsibilites in her life….. as a nurse, adopted daughter, a wife and a mother. In the shorts video below, she also gave up love:
Fast forward many years later, I was in my early teens when again the consideration to migrate came up. This was to Australia. My mom had planned to opt for early retirement, then move to Australia alone first to seek out a job and settle down with a proper place before taking the family there. It meant she would need to leave the family for a period of more than a year. She cited the reason was to give the children a better chance of higher education and a better life.
Frankly I was not thrilled by the idea of moving to another country. But my time was before the internet existed and us kids were usually obedient to our parents and adhere to what they say. But I felt a sense of belonging in Malaysia and frankly had no interest moving to anywhere else.
What made my mom decided to give up the idea was because she was concerned that we would turn out badly under my dad’s watch. My late dad was kinda laid back and would let us have our ways. My mom was especially concerned about me, whom she knew intuitively required to be disciplined and monitored since I was a bit of a rascal if I am being honest.
In the end, due to circumstantial and responsibilities, she stayed back and we ended up not migrating. I got into a local university and my mom opted for early retirement in order to come out to work in a private hospital to put me through university. My brother also got into a local college. When I came out and started working, I wanted my mom to stop working and enjoy her retirement. We had so much of plans to travel and go holidays together.
Right after my mom retired from working, she was diagnosed with tonsil cancer. From then, my mom had some illness now and then including liver cirrhosis, glaucoma, and now, Alzheimers.
The government healthcare system took care of my mom
In Malaysia, healthcare is heavily subsized by the government if one visit government hospitals. To see a specialist, one only have to pay about RM5 including consultation and medication (that was till years ago, now I am not sure if there is any price increase).
In the case of my mom, as a pensioner, she was entitled to free healthcare service in government owned hospitals and clinics. Hence my mom’s cancer treatment cost was borne by the government. As she got her cancer not long after her retirement, she still knew many nurses who were still in the hospital who made she was being well taken care off.
Just get a degree would do
During my time, we can only get a degree either by getting into a local university or going to overseas. If we cannot meet the qualification and quota to go into local university, and cannot afford a private college, then there would be no degree. So I had a lot of pressure to study to be able to make it.
Fortunately I was able to get into a local university. As I studied in another state, my mom had to cover for my course fees (about less than RM1.5k per semester) and my living expenses including apartment rentals as I had to move out and rent a room (shared with other friends) by the time I was in second year.
But then, no long later, the government had opened up the education system and private colleges were able to have 4 + 0, ie getting a degree without going to overseas.
Frankly speaking, until today I do not understand what’s the hype about getting good education, which made many who chose to migrate. My only purpose in getting a degree is to land on a reasonable job because as they say, a degree holder gets a different tier of pay. Which is quite true because I used to have a boss who was very capable and intelligent but she did not have a degree, hence her career progression was severely limited.
I had a Science degree but ended up working in commerce sector which had absolutely nothing to do with my major.
In overseas, I heard that those who went to college gets saddled with huge student loans which they need to pay off. All in all, my degree education cost about RM30k and it would be much cheaper had I been studying in my own state (then I need not pay for rental and food).
But I digress because living in another state and taught me independance and I got to know a wonderful bunch of friends, and whom I still remained friends with.
On the other hand, I’ve had friends who went overseas and got influenced into drinking and doing drugs.
Therefore in terms of education, unless one wants a specific skill kind of career like being a doctor, pharmacist or engineer which would require professional skills, all we would need is a degree, doing a course on a topic that we are interested in. The qualification only help us to get our first job but after that, it would depend on our skills and experience.
Healthcare when old age
We need to consider if we migrate, what would happen when we get old with health issues. I have heard in other countries, the healthcare is not as heavily subsidized as in Malaysia. Most of the time, it would be a couple who migrate and have their own children. Their own parents and relatives would be back in their original country. When they get old and got into chronic health conditions, their grown children would likely not be able to afford to give up their job to care for them because they need to be able to work to pay for the high standards of living.
Also, the value system is very different in the West than in Asia. In the West, kids are supposed to leave their home at 18 years old which used to be a baffling concept. Whereas in Asia, our culture is we stay with our parents and even if we move out, we would be responsible to care for our parents when they are old. The old then spend their end days in nursing homes where they are at the mercy of underpaid and overworked caregivers. From private facebook groups, I’ve read a lot of nursing home horror stories in the West…. on the abuse, neglect and quick decline of the elderly when sent to these homes. And these nursing homes are not cheap either, they cost like USD10k.
It is an irony to work hard to earn and save money, then in the end to have to spend it all to pay for medical cost and healthcare.
I know of a lady who decided to give up her Malaysian citizenship after moving to Australia. She was single and stayed alone in Australia while her sisters were in Malaysia. When she retired, she had brain tumor and required a lot of care. While the healthcare system took care of her, she still required someone to look after and care for her. But she was all alone without any relatives there. And when she had to come back to Malaysia where her sisters could care for her, she had to come in on a tourist visa which would expire. The sisters also could not afford to take turns to go to Australia due to high expenses incurred.
Conclusion
My thoughts would run contrary to the flow of thoughts in society. Most still feel progress is important and one wants to move for a better life. One need to plan for one’s old age as well.
When the pandemic hits, many people in countries like Malaysia and Thailand lost their jobs when the companies fold up. Without jobs, they moved back to their hometown where they could survive on a simple life, and some even plant their own crops for consumption. Whereas when we are immigrants from another country, where could we go during economic crisis when we are being laid off?
In the end, it is dependant on our values and sentiment. Even though I’ve worked in public listed corporate companies for many years, the idea of material comforts and climbing the corporate ladder is not something for me. I cannot imagine how I would be able to survive by working in that kind of environment in another country.
Now that I am a full time caregiver for my mom, I have to scaled back drastically in my life and could no longer able to afford to spend and splurge like I used to. Yet, I have not feel more at peace and contended with my life.
In my mom’s case, it was fortunate that she did not go on with her migration plans when she had the opportunity. Because she would definitely not be alive today given the host of the health conditions she had after her retirement. I would definitely not be able to afford to resign without a job to care for her full time because I would need to continue to work to survive.
Having said that, on the final point, I also believe that we may have an affinity with another country which would cause us to eventually move and settle in the country. Usually if there is a karmic affinity, we would tend to form many close bonds there and have a stronger support system, one that is much stronger than where we are from originally. In these cases, there is usually a sense of familarity and a sense of kind of ‘going home’ when one go to that country. Not the type where one feels constricted, depressed and alone.
