Job Discussion Forums

[gloomyGumi]

Foreign investors as well as foreign workers are worried that any groundswell of anti-government sentiment could delay economic reforms seen as essential to draw investment. This commotion could very easily curb the issuances of work visas for foreign workers and teachers.

"Malaysian civil society is showing the government that intimidation will not work," said Ooi Kee Beng, a political analyst at the Institute of Southeast Asian Studies of Singapore. "However, there is no confidence that the government will be willing to compromise on anything. Therefore, the opposition has and will continue to grow stronger, which can quite literally lead to violent civil unrest as 2013 approaches."

[KayuJati]

Really? I will note that as I begin my 16th year of teaching tomorrow morning.

[Soupman]

The above (except visas) would not affect any teacher based there for the duration of a normal contract. As for visas, the link between cranky politics and issuing of visas is a tenuous one.

Malaysia�s future is no bed of roses, can�t argue there.

Years ago, Mahathir, presumably on a break from building towers and shiny bridges, dreamed up a Vision 2020, which would see Malaysia fully developed by that year. Clearly that�s not going to happen, and the Wawasan 2020 signs are long since gone. The 9 July 2011 demonstrations, meanwhile, go some way to show the depth of feeling amongst opposition parties. A bigger concern should be the racial divide, which has gotten bigger.

It�s no secret that Malaysia operates a privilege system for ethnic Malays. Not quite apartheid, it offers benefits such as certain university places, jobs and housing, for example, to Malays. We�re not talking pocket money here, but without this system, there would have been big problems long ago, e.g. the Malaysian Chinese would now own the entire country. I say that, there would actually have been bloody civil unrest way before then. Peace has been maintained, but do we really think the Malaysian Chinese (about 40 to 45% of the population) are happy? (Tip: Don�t go asking one as a conversational icebreaker.)

[gloomyGumi]

[KayuJati]

[gloomyGumi]

could be more smoke and mirrors than Im saying it is, but Malaysia is rapidly being infected with the same sentiment causing massive civil unrest in Thailand and Indonesia. With the ethnic tensions as they are, its quite easy to foresee civil unrest there soon, too. Who would've dreamed Mubarak and company in Tunisia, Libya, Yemen and now suddenly Syria, etc, would be dethroned/that the people would suddenly demand racial and political equality so unexpectedly?

I see that happening in Malaysia before Christmas. Just my take on it.

[KayuJati]

[wailing_imam]

The Chinese now make up only 23% of the population of Malaysia, down from around 50% at the time of independence. If Singapore had stayed in the union, there would have been more Chinese (at that time). However, the Malays breed like rabbits and the Chinese barely breed at all so the demographics have shifted enormously in the past 50 years. In Singapore the Chinese also don't breed, but the government seems to have got round this (want to keep the Chinese dominance alive) by importing plenty of fresh and willing Chinese from the mainland.

[gloomyGumi]

its a deal. Hey I don't WISH for any bad stuff, Im a political atheist. Im not a right or left or center person. I just call it the way I see it, like a doctor that gives you a prognosis.

[Kana65]

[gloomyGumi]

[Soupman]

I�m married to a Malaysian (Chinese), which is irrelevant. Unlike Kayujati, I had no inclination to wiki for the percentage population of Chinese.

No one with sixteen years in Malaysia should be disregarded, but neither can those who chose to move on. My wife and I settled happily elsewhere. As a non-Bumiputra, she can do better overseas. But unlike anyone of us reading, she grew up in Malaysia, goes back regular and has extended family there. She sees those subtle changes in her own country over four decades. None of us can say that. It�s not our country.

I left Malaysia because I was sick of being the white face. I was professional and good at my job, but if I�d been a Malaysian who grew up in the west with perfect English, the same opportunities in Malaysian English language education afforded to me would have been minimal. I defy anyone on here to defend that; having a white face as a door opener?

I�m now a foreigner in a country of other white faces, a country where I have to use a second language and be judged on my merits. Pretty much every English-teaching expatriate I met and still meet in Southeast Asia will never be able to say the same.

Many Malaysians study in English-speaking countries to at least undergraduate level. A lot, not all, of those speak English to native-speaker levels. ALL will speak Malay and/or Mandarin, Cantonese or possibly Tamil. And yet the Malaysian government gets one-language white faces in to mentor Malaysian teachers. It�s slightly bizarre and not the white faces�s fault. However, when I look in the mirror each morning, I like to think I go to work for a reason and have a purpose for being there, and not just this white face.

[KayuJati]