No getting back citizenship if you give it up
http://thestar.com.my/news/story.asp?file=/2007/7/11/nation/18268076&sec=nation
PUTRAJAYA: Think hard and long before giving up your citizenship.
Prime Minister Datuk Seri Abdullah Ahmad Badawi warned that Malaysians who did so could not hope to get it back again.
Dear prime minister, why are you "warning" us? Is it a crime to migrate?
“The Home Affairs Ministry has made a decision to allow citizens to surrender their citizenship. The ministry has its own reasons to give their approval for this.
Typical government speak. Talking in generics but not providing any specifics.
“However, there is one thing that Malaysians must know and which I want to stress here. Those who have given up their citizenship cannot get it back if they suddenly want to become Malaysians again,” he told reporters after the Internal Security Ministry's monthly gathering here yesterday.
I would think that those who have migrated or are contemplating migration would have considered all the pros and cons and all the repercussions of their actions.
According to Deputy Home Affairs Minister Datuk Tan Chai Ho, some 106,000 Malaysians had given up their citizenship between 1996 and April this year.
Wow, that's around 10,000 per year, or around 800 per month!
Of the figure, 70% or 79,100 were Malays, 25,107 Chinese, 1,347 Indians and 350 of other races. Marrying a foreigner was the main reason given by women while most men cited better career options.
Well, the statistics match the ethnic distribution of Malaysian population, so no surprises there. However, this statistic disproves the many examples given by detractors that majority of those who migrate are the non-privileged (non-Malays). In fact, all ethnic races are equally displeased by the discriminatory practices of the government and the lopsided advantage given to the well-connected UMNOputras.
The preferred top five destinations of ex-Malaysians were the United States, Australia, Taiwan, Singapore and Indonesia, according to Tan.
Umno information chief Tan Sri Muhammad Muhammad Taib said the high number of Malays emigrating was not a cause for concern but it would be good to know why they wanted to leave their homeland.
Muhammad said the need to “move around and see places” was in their blood as their forefathers were seafarers.
“In a sense, the Malays are just doing what their forefathers did. Travel and see the world. Venture into new areas and the unexpected,” he said.
Oh my god, what a pathetic excuse to defend the indefensible!
“Individuals of other ethnic groups also emigrated to other countries. Even the Chinese and Indians surrendered their Malaysian citizenship, so it should not be an issue if the Malays did so too,” he added.
This is probably the stupidest thing to say. Just because other people are doing it makes it OK for you to do it too? No wonder the Malays under the patronage leadership of UMNO will never progress. They are always bogged down by stupidity!
BLA BLA BLA!
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11 comments:
yeah quite surprising to finds out that malays are the most that surrendered their citizenship..and thanx for using the term UMNOputra, simply because u are not accusing all Malays are the same.. Them UMNO is totally taking care of themselves and their crony contrary to their bullshitting about fighting for Malays..
Umno, which effectively runs the government, is riddled with corruption and cronyism.
Members crave for the award of lucrative government contracts given out under the pretext of the NEP. But the party is filled with bureaucrats with no management skills and no productive economic skills.
In a freely competitive market, they would be in the lower rungs of the public sector or would have lost their jobs altogether. To maintain their way of life, they have to ensure that the NEP is continued at all costs.
A large segment of the malays are still poor after 36 years of the NEP and on top of this, the income disparity between the poor and the rich has widened. Clearly, the NEP as a method of equalising economic disparity has failed.
The benefits of the NEP to the poor malays is a pittance compared to the benefits to the rich and well connected malays. It is in reality a facade and tool for the elite and rich malays - who are in the minority - to continue their extravagant way of life at the expense of the rest on the country.
The cost of the NEP so far include a government which makes decisions first and studies the impact later, an incompetent and inefficient public service, bailouts of well connected companies, brain drain, declining education standards, increased racial polarisation, unemployable graduates who are mostly malays - just about everything that is wrong in this country!
The problem in Malaysia is, we shouldn't have independence from British at very first place. How nice it will be if Queen appoints someone calibre person in Malaysia like Satyanand. God Bless Malaysia!
No need to look so far. Even our neighbour down south has an Indian for a deputy prime minister.
Man, don't forget the same southern neighbour is also having an Indian as president. Not for a single term. Now he is on his second term as president. This is called transparency!
The so-called unity in this country is very much superficial. There are only two reasons why it appears this way to the outsider.
1. Anyone that says anything about the Umno malay deems racial will be thrown to jail under ISA.
2. As general, people appreciate the harmony and peace in this country. Especially with all the terrorist attacks and wars all over the world.
As for a reason a true "Malaysian" race will not happen, there is only one. As long as the discrimination and separation of "bumis" and "non-bumis" exist. People will be automatically very conscious about their ethnic race.
The logic is simple, the more discrimination, the more conscious about their place in society and the more conscious about protecting the benefit of their ethnic race.
Once this "bumis" and "non-bumis" status is abolished and everyone is equal, citizens will automatically merged into one Malaysian race.
The cause is that Malaysia and Malaysians still prefer to have race-based political parties to rule this country.
Then, what you get are politicians who gain power using race-issues, and politician-wannabes like the upstart son-in-law playing dangerous claptrap racial politics to be in the limelight.
In a multiracial country like Malaysia, where Malaysians political maturity is just out of infancy, Malaysians become easy suckers and convenient victims of dangerous racial politics, including the manifestation of keris-wielding dramatics in public by minister come from these race-based political parties.
Initially three main component parties in BN were formed to show British that we, as the citizens of this land are unite and we want and can be independent.
After the 513 incident and the introduction of NEP, the focus of each party changes to protect benefit of the race that represent under the segregation "bumis" and "non-bumis" status.
To me, Pak Lah focus on wrong direction, he is more like a "ketua kampung" than a prime minister. Prime minister should focus on making the country strong and able to compete internationally, and let the real "ketua kampung" worry about asking people to be polite, etc.
Can anyone blame those dissolution people for not flying the flag on independence day? To me, there is really nothing to celebrate about. We seem to be worst off in terms of racial polarization with each passing year.
The weaknesses in NEP are only two fold:
(1) failure to set and adhere to a deadline (so that malays knew that they have to work for self-betterment within a time frame and this would only benefit malays themselves and fellow Malaysians)
(2) weakness in execution as the benefits did not flow onto malays equally. That is why we can see a Dato spending much on divorce and marrying while many malays are still in poverty
I would say that certain malays are powerful and rich; emerging as the prime pillar of economic strength in Malaysia. Chinese businesses may be more numerous but they are mainly of smaller scale. The biggest companies in Malaysia are Petronas, Sime Darby, Telekonm, Tenaga, and I think most of them are controlled by malays.
Majority of the voters do not have access to a balanced media reporting channels to debate the cons and pros of the government. So long the BN buys votes with handouts and nice slogans, I think the majority ignorant voters can be swayed away from seeing the real issues.
I agree malays must adopt a "charitable culture". You already have the Zakat mechanism here but since when we hear rich malays donating and helping poor malays? If malay poverty is a national issue, patriotic and rich malays should assist their fellow Islam way but I have not heard the likes of AP kings donating like what Bill Gates did.
But don't forget, we have poor Chinese, Indian, Kadazan, Orang Asli……….so poverty is race blind. We should help all poor peoples, not only poor malays, but poor Malaysians.
We have to move beyond Chinese vs. malays and all that crap. It is Malaysia vs. Singapore, Thailand, Vietnam etc, for economic survival.
This country would be a great country if there is no division of races. With its richness of natural resources, Malaysia should be one among the most developed nation in Asia.
Bitter to say, all those money lost to corrupt politicians and cronies, and unprofitable projects.
This is what saddens me as Malaysian.
However, I do believe the brain drain is inevitable. I believe it is happening. As a student in past school, I see it every year. Each and every year after the holidays, there are a few less people in class. Why? Their parents emigrated down under West.
I left the country in the 90s because of the injustices in Malaysia perpetrated by Umno. I made my fortune and no returned home but I thought Mahathir had somehow managed to turn the mindset of Umno around into focusing on global competition, instead of petty race-based competition.
Now I am certain that those in power want the affirmative action policies to continue, not because these policies benefit the general malay population, but because these policies give Umno the right to continue to plunder the country.
Legalised theft is what they are after, and if anyone dares speak out, they just tell you to leave the country so that they can continue their plunder.
It is sad, but my children don't have to live through this injustice. They can go anywhere they want in the world, and I encourage them.
There are many people who made big names as Malaysians only when they are treated better in other countries, not because they are Malaysians but because they are treated as one of their own.
That is explain why they choose not to come back. Treatment was so good that they offered their family to emigrate over there.
Since Umno is playing the race cards openly, the coming future for non-malays is suffering through endurance. How many more years should we Malaysians suffer? It is not only the non-malays but also the poor malays struggling for survival in isolated villages.
Anyway, these people voted with their feet and wrote about their experience. They wanted to tell you about this country and how its government discriminated its minority people.
I can feel they love this country too but this country or rather this government did not love them. I can also feel their sadness and how things are turning for their malay brothers and sisters who are getting weaker and weaker in this globalised world, and all this is Umno's fault.
They realised if this is not stop immediately, this country will eventually go down the drain like those fourth world banana republics.
Their ancestors have helped this country to fight for independence and even fought off Japanese invaders but our government has never been grateful and instead discriminated against them to the hilt.
They also saw that they have become second-class citizens in their country of birth, and were very disappointed when Indonesia labours can become first class citizens whereas foreign spouses of non-malays took years just to get a PR. Even terrorists like Abu Bakar and Hambali can become PR holders easily. Something is definitely wrong with this country.
Here maybe you are malay and oblivious to others who are suffering and as a Muslim yourself, is this injustice reconcilable to the tenets of Islam?
Tony Gunawan also voted with his feet and went on to become USA first world badminton doubles champion. Instead of helping his original country to badminton glory, he helped another country to become a potent rival.
The same could be said of our citizens who voted with their feet. Many went to Singapore and worked for companies that became our competitors. If our country and government have been kind to some of its citizens, this additional competition wouldn't has been created. I hope the present government will realise its folly and there is no substitute to real meritocracy.
The non-malays don't want everything but only fairness and social justice , a very tenet of your malays great religion. If you can't even subscribe to the tenets of your own religion, I am afraid you may be branded a hypocrite and a very racist one at that.
It is not true that there will be no policy that can keep every race happy.
Only the person who thinks that he should be treated better than others would object to a policy that is fair to all.
That feeling of 'entitlement' is created by politicians who have found a convenient way to retain power in parliamentary democracy.
As a grass root, I hope that all Malaysians will live in harmony and work towards a better tomorrow, a better environment for the children.
Help each other with basic compassion of a human being.
When you see a blind woman trying to cross a busy road, you jump forward to guide her. You are not helping her because of her skin color or her religion. You help simply out of compassion of a human being.
Extend that spirit to our fellow countrymen. Give all those lagging behind with a helping hand, you won't miss a malay who needs help, neither will you miss a non-malay who needs help.
Malays are a race of people who still live under a coconut shell. To us, the world is as big as the shell we live in. We are fortunate because we are princes of the land, our land is fertile, anything can grow on it.
When we want to cook curry, coconuts are there. If we want chicken meat, all the kampung chicken run wild. If we want to eat fish, we can easily catch one or two from the rivers or padi field. What more, we produce petroleum too, the only thing is we have not learned how to extract petrol and diesel from it.
"Malaysia is very advanced, self-sufficient and most knowledge in the world come from Malaysia, so all the information that we need are in Bahasa Melayu. The world better learn Bahasa Melayu in order to access all these wonderful knowledge that we have in Malaysia. Because we are world's biggest economy, other countries who want to trade with us better learn Bahasa Melayu."
We also have a lot of "former world No. 1" exporters - tin, rubber, palm oil, air conditioner, etc. How nice to relive the nostalgic yesteryears every now and then……….
We may never be big again. Never mind. "Malaysia Boleh!" We Malaysia Boleh compare with the Japan, German, America, anybody, just name them!
Funny, isn't it? The country will be 50 years after independence, the government still provide us with tongkat. We love you Malaysia!
This is a laughing stock article.
NEP - A truly Never Ending Policy!
Let us look at all the countries around the world.
Is there a country that has achieved economic equality among the races?
Let us not be fooled by the power-that-be.
Vote for change at the next election!
I applaud on what some person had said. They are presenting the real problems in Malaysia. I think any of you who say Malaysia could not be that bad is either in delusions, you are in denial or you are just got benefits from the government.
The non-malay students with excellent marks cannot even enter local universities. The standard of English is on the decline is what the newspaper says, but it only of those who study in the local universities and they are predominantly malays as well.
It is not only shocking but also disgusting to see taxpayer's money being wasted on malay students who don't even deserve to go overseas.
The malays who are spending on your tax money on scholarships are not as deserving as they think they are. Why should they be deserved to be given that much when they don't deserve it.
The percentage of malays getting the scholarships are very high. These are the so-called future generation of Malaysia who thrived in mediocrity and racism and being rewarded for it.
One mentioned that don't see malays staying oversea. You are right. So far I don't see any too. Most of them would want to go back. Because like they realised they cannot be useful enough to stay.
They know they have to be unfair to win. They know they need the government to be behind them all the time to ensure their survival. So that is why most of these incompetence people choose to go back Malaysia.
But the situation is going to be even worse because in 10 years time down the road. The local universities churning out substandard people and the unemployment rate is going to go higher and higher.
Private sectors and investors from outside would not want people like them. They would just take in enough to fill the spot of their so-called quotas that the government put them in.
That is why you see the IT industry so popular but ironically employers prefer Indians from India or people from oversea. They would even go for expats because they know those are the competent people that can work.
So in years to come, the economy is going down because people in Umno and Umno Youth reward mediocrity and based on race. The scary thing is, they are proud of it too and think they are doing it right and can help Malaysia. Man - that is scary!
Also about the political sentiment they use, if you are patriotic, give more to your country. My response is, the country hasn't given me anything, why should I give to you Malaysia!
My friends once told me, I would rather to be treated as second-class citizen in other country like the US or UK than to be treated as second-class citizen in Malaysia. At the very least, your voice is heard than in Malaysia - where every good reason falls on death ear.
So if any of malay politician ask me to get out, provide me with the PR of USA and I am on my way.
So if the current prime minister want to make things right, he must not be afraid to put someone on the chopping block. He should think with integrity not rewarding people because they are cronies. By doing this, you are sending messages that you encourage things to be done this way.
So no wonder corruptions prevail and ton of incompetent people get to sit in the thrones of power. So there is literally no common sense involved except for the sake of covering their own ass. So it is really sickening to hear them praising about progressive society while the foundations of real civilization aren't there.
The malay scholarship holders are taking things for granted. They are paid insanely a lot all around the world as scholars. But look at it this way, that is the end of their career.
Well, not career, job, where you wake up day and night forcing yourself to the job you hate.
So don't get discouraged when you see them living the life. Envious are good, that makes you strive for excellence even more and more trying to beat them.
Since even the lowest pay in Australia, will overtake the pay in Malaysia easily. If you don't believe me, ask an Australia graduate student how much they are paid a month with their fees waived.
I am sure that is a new goal you should set yourself to work on. So carry on, don't despair, and don't give up.
It is easy for one malay to say - I am not discriminating - but try living in the country as a non-malay.
Pork is banned everywhere but beef is served without any care whatsoever about others sensitivities. You cannot start a program with a Hindu, Christian, Buddhist prayer but Muslim prayer is a must.
For all the stale bulls who believe Malaysia still has hope……….best of luck, as far as I am concerned I am going to be out of this country that practices apartheid.
I believe my children deserve to have equal opportunity in this world.
What do you expect from our local universities? Ivy league breeds? Come on!
Who the hell are we kidding? We are a plain joke to the world - look at the current issue regarding monkeys harassing others in UPM or whatever university its named after - these monkeys are worthless dogs.
And guess what was their punishment? Let off with an advice……….hahahahaha. We are really in a sad state - damn sad state.
The reason why Malaysians are leaving for overseas education is plain and simple. Our system is fraud with the biasness, fraud from the get going. All in the name of bullshit policies.
Come on - if you want the best of the best breed - don't look at the person heritage etc……….look at their work.
Now who is running the country better? The Malaysians or the Singaporeans? These Singaporeans have beaten us in terms of cleanliness, economically, efficiency, financially, hospitality, productivity, religiously……….
Need I say more?
Pak Lah did not usually attend the parliament meeting, because he has breed monkeys ministers there.
Umno Youth has to ask if their reaction is mature and wise. Personally I am incensed by their arrogant, aggressive and self-righteous tone.
Is it too late for PAS to capture the opportunity? They already made their stand on issue by having their demonstration. So MIC, MCA and Gerakan cannot partner with them unless they change their stand immediately.
The Malaysia government is driving the wedge among all the races here. They make us feel like they are doing us a favor by allowing us to live here.
We must admit that the existing system is still good enough to bring about peace, political stability and prosperity. If you have the confidence to earn clean money through real hard work, just leave them alone to run the administration, even if they openly corrupt themselves.
The MIC, MCA, Gerakan, must be bold enough to address his people issue, not his race, say no if it is no.
Come on people. Do the one thing that truly makes a difference. Take a chance and vote for the opposition. Let us be serious when we say we want change!
MIC, MCA and Gerakan and some non-malay component parties of BN should have pulled out from this coalition long time ago. The most corrupt party in the world as Umno have treated them like non-existent.
They are all trainees and have not yet to reach political maturity. It may take a long time before they know how to think rationally. With the present style of administration plus our low educational standard, I doubt they can go far and will remain good in their own home only, barking up and down, that is all until such time when they realise too late, that they are halfway to heaven with no hope of coming back.
So the most logical thing for us to do is use your brain, think rationally, study hard, respect others, excel in your international standing and be honest. Then you can 'live' anywhere in the world.
I fully agree that the NEP, as it has been implemented over these years, is the root cause of the unfavourable economic and racial unhappiness that exists in the country today.
It was supposed to improve the economic status of the malays and thereby restructure society with every community benefiting.
But has this aim been achieved? Definitely not.
Instead, what we have achieved is a high rate of corruption, an inefficient and arrogant civil service, a failing education system plus racism and a feeling of despair among the minority communities. There is so much favouritism that those really deserving are not given their dues.
The NEP has also resulted in severe mistrust and jealousy among the races in the country. Unless the NEP is abolished and replaced with a policy of fairer distribution, this unfavourable climate will continue with the future looking bleak.
The NEP has to be done away with, especially so in an era of globalisation where all citizens regardless of race should be given an equal opportunity to allow them to give their best towards national development.
UM can become a top university once again as it was in the 60s and 70s. In addition to good facilities, this would require a dynamic and capable university administration, good faculty members and with English as a key medium of instruction.
USM also has an obsession with increasing its graduate student population. The trade-off has been the lowering of standards of admission. As a result, admissions of foreign students, especially ones with the means to pay, have gone up. Lecturers are given the impossible task of passing some of these students, who are not even qualified to do any graduate work in the first place.
The answer to the deterioration lies from within. Why be extravagant about hiring a foreign consultant? Isn't this itself telling of the lack of faith in the products of your own system? We do not have to wait for the annual THES ranking to know that our higher education system is long in need of a change.
We need courageous people to do this, not political party-hacks who masquerade as half-baked academics and shallow thinkers.
For all this to happen, the NEP would have to be sacrificed. Is the government prepared to do this? The recruitment of a significant number of capable non-malays as administrators, faculty members would be required.
There is abundant talent and capability in the Malaysian population which remains to be tapped in the interest of Malaysia public universities. It would be imprudent to ignore such a large pool of resources when one wants to achieve excellence.
Putting it another way, it is in the interest of the Malaysia public universities (and their large malay student population) to engage the non-malay talent and exploit their capabilities in all aspects and dimensions.
The non-malays would also benefit from such an exercise, but the far greater beneficiary would be the malay students and Malaysia as a whole. It is simple logic.
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