Job Discussion Forums

Polina · Joined: 04 Dec 2003 Posts: 71

I am thinking of moving to one of various other countries, and Malaysia is one of my considered options. I was wondering if any Western female EFL teachers in Malaysia, or friends of one or more, could tell me how well you get treated, particularly if you travel there alone. Are you treated with equal respect - by companies and students? Ever bullied? Also, what is the social scene like - as in, how easy is it to make friends with both expats and locals? And are men there interested in Western women in a sustainable way? Do they respect us, or are they terrified?

Also, how are the adult students? Are they motivated? Is it easy to get them to speak in class? Do they have opinions? Do they improve over time? Do they require entertainment? How many of them have "attitudes" to female foreigners?

Any ideas would be appreciated.

Hod · Joined: 28 Apr 2003 Posts: 1613 Location: Home

In the absence of any female replies, this man will have to do. I�ve just done a year in KL. The majority of my colleagues were western women, and most had a great time. Students and local colleagues will treat western females with respect. Places like KL and Penang are OK, but be very careful travelling in the conservative north east of Malaysia. I wouldn�t even consider working there.

I've nothing but praise for living and working in Malaysia for men and women. Saying that, I've got to be honest and say that most females had some problems. Bag snatching, usually by motorcyclists, is rife. Some of my colleagues were molested by Malaysian men, but it never escalated further. Hopefully, this won�t happen, but you�ll get a lot more attention than in the west. As for dating, the amount of local guys I�ve seen with western women could be counted on the thumbs on one hand, but there�s no reason why this shouldn�t happen.

Despite all that, it�s a top place. Go for it lah.

Polina · Joined: 04 Dec 2003 Posts: 71

Useful ... thanks for that.

bisca · Joined: 16 May 2004 Posts: 13

In terms of pay etc, Malaysia is one of the few places in the world where women and men of the same qualifications earn the same amount of money.

Snatch thefts are getting more and more common these days but there's some campaign going on so it MIGHT stop for a while. That said, I think snatch thieves target western women less than Malaysian women

cheekygal · Joined: 04 Mar 2003 Posts: 1987 Location: China, Zhuhai

I haven't spent much time in Malaysia - I was there in 1998. But I noticed that in big cities you are just like everyone else. If you are teaching in more rural areas you might get stared and whistled at (not that often - they could be young boys. Natives - iban etc - are very friendly though).

Polina · Joined: 04 Dec 2003 Posts: 71

I just saw a link to an expat site for Singapore:

http://www.singaporeexpats.com/friends/index.php

and I was wondering if there was anything similar for Malaysia.

Gordon · Joined: 28 Jan 2003 Posts: 5309 Location: Japan

KL would have a big expat crowd, but not much in other cities. Penang would be pretty good too.

Singapore and Malaysia are 2 different worlds.

AsiaTraveller · Posted: Wed Oct 13, 2004 4:45 am Post subject:

There are a couple of Web groups for expats in Malaysia. One is called, fascinatingly enough, ExpatMalaysia.

Why not do a Google search and find them?

Doh! · Joined: 11 Oct 2004 Posts: 5

KL is jam lah, taxi bargaining - "jam lah 50 dollar ok lah?!", shopping malls, expensive beer, cheap and relatively good food, expat rugby players dribbling over tiny local girls, expat engineers with arms around local girls talking about how many roads go...(fell asleep after that), motorcycle snatch theives, KFC, MacDonald's, Condos, air con, Chinese girls shading themselves from the sun as they scamper across the street(is there a sniper out there?), oh and shopping malls too...and traffic jams...and oh did I mention shopping malls. Great places to hang out at the weekends and any other time too...oh and censored films and erm, maybe I mentioned this before, shopping malls.

But scratch a little and you could be pleasantly surprised, if you're an expat rugby playing engineer, that is.

If not there are some great shopping malls.

JosephP · Joined: 13 May 2003 Posts: 445

Doh!:
I lived in KL back in '93-'94. Seems like things haven't changed much.
Superb description.

Tiger Beer · Joined: 08 Feb 2003 Posts: 778 Location: Hong Kong

micropiglet · Posted: Mon Aug 01, 2005 10:03 am Post subject:

I live here in KL and have a female western wife. She has no problems, and gets treated with nothing but respect. Someone flashed her on a moped once, but thats about as heavy as it has got. Nothing but praise for living and working here, apart from the length of time it has taken to get a gold card. Currently 7 months and counting..... Very Happy