Daily misery

There had been some debates about Malaysian oversea students not coming back to work in their motherland upon graduation. Being one of those who fit such demographic profile, I think I can offer some insights in regards to the issue. Well there’s actually only one point that is worth pondering.

It’s not about the money, seriously.
If it was really about the money, then it wouldn’t be that hard, would it? To offer a prelude to my point, people need to aware of the fact that living in other countries is never like living in your own. For some of us, it’s not even close. There’s a lot of things to miss and at times you feel that a significant parts of your life is missing. It is after all the place where most of us are born in, have our first puppy love, high school mud-soccer game, first sex, friends, families and let’s not forgetting the roti kahwin and ba kut teh. But why all these nostalgic recollections coupled with a few thousands bucks per month (or more) still take a preceding backseat when it comes to deciding whether we should go back and serve our country? Well I can’t really speak for everyone but on top of my head, it’s because we love what we do for a living.

I love what I do so much that I just won’t settle for a higher salary back home doing nothing but rest my ass in that executive chair. It’s the same reason why I would go back for half the salary I am currently earning if Malaysia is the place where I want to build my career on. Why is Malaysia not such a place? A dive into my career will probably offers a clearer picture.

I’m a web consultant. Web is a constantly evolving field (as with any other professional fields, I believe). I develop web applications, design UI, information architecture and bla bla bla. As more people are transitioning their desktop-based application to web services, the web is turning into a very exciting place. New technologies are being created every day, new ideas waiting to be developed. I have the privilege to attend web conferences, discussion groups, and talks and learn from various networks of really bright and helpful peers. There’re get-togethers among web developers in many parts of US cities. Research papers are easily accessible and funding are, ahem, more easily and equally distributable, regardless of your skin color. Peer reviews and collaborations are happening in constant frequency. All of these are where it starts to make going back to Malaysia a less attractive proposition.

We don’t have the fundamental infrastructure and professional community in place. One might say, this is exactly why we need you to come back for! Well, does Malaysia, in all honesty, give us the necessary resources and environment to start working on that? The simple answer would be no. I do have Malaysian friends who would go back if they’re being offered competitive salary. In fact, that’s their only concern. But I really believe in doing what you love and had in fact in more than one occasion turn down higher salary offers in favor of lesser one but with the prospect of working on more exciting projects. It’s not very uncommon. And it’s almost an insult to people like us when money is seen as solely the main reason why we won’t go back.

I’m not trying to be an elitist, but merely trying to enjoy my 8 hours everyday to the fullest extend possible. It’s almost a double income when you love your job.

People read about issues like these and somehow make up their own impression on how there’s a shit load of Malaysian surgeons and lawyers working for big ass companies in foreign countries earning big bucks. Well, there’re two big misconceptions in that sentence alone. First, there’s not a shit load of us. Second, it’s not as easy as you think and getting a foreign degree definitely does not guarantee you a 50k or more per year pay check. I would like to believe most of us work very hard to come this far. And for those of us who make it big time, we want to keep doing the thing we love, keep pushing the envelopes and leading the pack, to innovate and work on exciting projects without having many strings attached, to manage a team of brilliant engineers and being able to attend professional conferences and other collaboratory forums. We would love to come back even for half the salary, if Malaysia can offer such a platform. Why? Remember the nostalgic recollections? :-)

So maybe it’s time for the politicians to stop looking for reasons on why we are reluctant go back and serve our beloved nation (it makes a good political campaign’s speech, I know), but to focus more on how to improve our country, both socially and economically. Everything sort of goes along once you get the very fundamental structures well taken care of.