Migrating to Australia, Good Meh???

This article was excerpted and adapted from the book "Migrating to Australia, Good Meh???"




The age-old adage, “the grass is always greener on the other side”, does signal unwise and unrealistic optimism. Australia is a favourite destination for Malaysians wishing for a better life, but its sparkling and seemingly rich shores, as writer Ken Soon discovers, can be deceptive.
By Ken Soong
I am a Malaysian living in Melbourne, Australia. My brother, sister and I migrated here in 2004. Our parents came along as well. We applied under the “individual skilled migrant” category and later sponsored our parents. They were given a “bridging” visa from January 2005 until July 2012 before they were finally granted their permanent resident visa. This category of visa allows “aged parents” to stay in Australia on one condition – they must have “two-thirds” of their children living in Australia. Since all three of us were here, they had more than two-third majority.
This article is not about the technicalities of migrating. Rather, it is about the “why” of migrating. Most Malaysians who have migrated or have decided to migrate (soon) to Australia told me that their children would have a better future if they grew up in Australia. Back in 2004, I would have fully agreed with them. The idea of “becoming better off in terms of education, career, family life and life in general” in Australia was a no-brainer for me – of course we would be better off in Australia.




Ten years on, I have come to realise that Australia is not as good as we have all made it out or hoped it to be. We have no one (not even Australia since it is only natural that every government presents its country to the world in the most favourable light) but ourselves to blame for our own failure to make a more objective assessment about our future in Australia as migrants. Most of us are still using a very outdated perspective, rooted in our recent colonial history, with which to see the world.
For migrants who came to Australia back in the 1960s, the 1970s or even the 1980s, their decision to migrate would have benefitted them much more than if they were to do it today. Back in those days, Malaysia was still not adequately developed, modernised and industrialised. Foreign direct investments, education and infrastructure were definitely a far cry from today’s standards. Particularly for the average Malaysian professional, his or her work would have been much more richly rewarded in Australia than back home.
If a Sudanese or Afghan were to migrate to Australia today, then I can say with almost absolute certainty that their lives will be better off. But today’s Malaysians had better think twice. Jobs are moving in big numbers from Australia to Asia; Australian educational institutions are failing many of their own students, with many schools (even public ones) turning to attracting more students from China, Korea and other Asian countries for financial reasons; drug-related crimes and schoolyard bullying are becoming more rampant; and the total cost of income support (i.e. welfare) payment has now (as of 2014) topped A$70bil a year.
These trends and developments are here to stay, and the shift of fortune from the West to the East is an irreversible one. Investor Jim Rogers frequently remarked that if you were smart in 1807, you would go to London, if you were smart in 1907, you would go to New York, but if you were smart in 2007, you would go to Asia. (In 2007, Rogers moved his entire family to Singapore.)
So I wonder, why on earth are we still leaving Malaysia? What are we actually running away from? While most of us think that we are running away from some potential or real political threat, the actual fact might well be that we are running away from some real lifetime opportunities! With market saturation and an ageing population in the EU, US, Australia, New Zealand, Japan and China, the Asean region, with its population size, relatively young median age and richness in natural resources, is poised to grow like never before.


Calligrapher at work during the 2014 Sydney Chinese New Year Festival. The most populous city in Australia also has a significant migrant population

When jobs are getting scarce in Australia, why move there at all? Already we are seeing Malaysian migrants’ Australian-born children returning to Singapore and Malaysia to work in high corporate positions because they could not get that kind of opportunity back in Australia! Sending your children to Australia today does not necessarily mean that they will benefit from being exposed to different cultures, because there are now so many Asian students in Australian schools that they do not have to interact or mingle with their Australian classmates anymore! It also means that these children risk being exposed to the rising drug-related crimes on Australian streets, and by the time we retire, the Australian government would not have enough to support our retirements. Yes, Australia is famous for its social safety net. But this net has many holes in it, each of which is getting larger by the day!
Still, without fail, we Malaysians have somehow managed to convince ourselves that Australia has more of a future to offer than Malaysia. To be fair, I shall wait for another few years to find out, because the future I envisaged for myself in Australia is still not here. Will it ever be here? For my American neighbour and my British and South African friends, they are reasonably happy and satisfied here, but not so much for Malaysians, I feel. Maybe it will happen for us one day. Maybe.
Not many migrants want to admit failure in achieving their goals here. I know of at least two such migrants – one telling friends he works for ANZ Bank (one of the leading banks in Australia) in Melbourne and the other telling people he works for American Express in Sydney. In truth, both of them are working for two Australiabased call centres which provide outsourced customer relationship management services to their clients – who happen to be ANZ Bank and American Express!
Coming from Malaysia myself, I can perfectly relate to the “face” issue most migrants had to handle when they first started out here in Australia. Many of them came from relatively successful professional careers in their home countries after all. I have seen a former middle-aged Indian-Malaysian lawyer working as an insurance underwriter earning graduate entry-level salary, a former listed-company director driving a taxi, a former Filipino corporate accountant studying to become a nurse (because he could not find a satisfactory corporate accountant job) and a former Hong Kong University mathematics professor working as a sales representative in a mobile phone dealership – not because his English was not good enough, but because he did not sound Australian enough.

 

To migrate and live comfortably here in Australia, we need firstly to have the right knowledge – for example, the tax system here is very, as a tax accountant friend says, “oppressive”. One needs to be financially stronger first, otherwise one is here to throw good money away! Yes, we will get some income support and welfare payment, but that is like hoping for free medical treatment when we should not be bleeding in the first place.
To migrate or not to migrate – it is your call. It is your future at stake.

This article was excerpted and adapted from Migrating to Australia, Good Meh???, published by Gerak Budaya to help Malaysians make an informed decision on migrating to Australia

A cup of coffee

 I sat with my friend in a well-known coffee shop in a neighbouring town of Venice (Italy), the city of lights and water. As we enjoyed our coffee, a man entered and sat at an empty table beside us. He called the waiter and placed his order saying, ‘Two cups of coffee, one of them there on the wall.’

We heard this order with rather interest and observed that he was served with one cup of coffee but he paid for two.

As soon as he left, the waiter pasted a piece of paper on the wall saying ‘A Cup of Coffee’.

While we were still there, two other men entered and ordered three cups of coffee, two on the table and one on the wall. They had the two cups of coffee but paid for three and left. This time also, the waiter did the same; he pasted a piece of paper on the wall saying, ‘A Cup of Coffee’.

It was something unique and perplexing for us. We finished our coffee, paid the bill and left.

After a few days, we had a chance to go to this coffee shop again. While we were enjoying our coffee, a man poorly dressed entered. As he seated himself, he looked at the wall and said, 'One cup of coffee from the wall'.

The waiter served coffee to this man with the customary respect and dignity. The man had his coffee and left without paying.

We were amazed to watch all this, as the waiter took off a piece of paper from the wall and threw it in the dust bin. Now it was no surprise for us – the matter was very clear. The great respect for the needy shown by the inhabitants of this town made our eyes well up in tears.

Ponder upon the need of what this man wanted... He enters the coffee shop without having to lower his self-esteem, he has no need to ask for a free cup of coffee, without asking or knowing about the one who is giving this cup of coffee to him. He only looked at the wall, placed an order for himself, enjoyed his coffee and left.

Probably the most beautiful wall you may ever see anywhere!

A Malaysian's life

I'll tell you what's insane about this.
You've paid with credit card for clothes you're wearing to a job you may not really want to get out of bed for.
You drive to your office in a jam incurring unnecessary costs in a car you're working your butt off to pay for.
You come back to a house only at night even though it takes 20% of your salary every month to pay off for 20 years.
Repeat this cycle for 26 days a month.
Now, are you Malaysians sane?

A poem for Malaysians

Saw my friend, Hafiz, having poetic fun at his site
So I'll have mine too!


Father, must I go to work? 
No, my lucky playa
We're living on Easy Street
On subsidy from Putrajaya

We've left it up to BN
So don't get exercised
Nobody has to give a damn
We've all been subsidized

But if BN treats us all so well 
And feeds us milk and honey
Please, daddy, tell me what the hell
They are going to use for money

Don't worry, bub, there's not a hitch
In this here noble plan
They simply soak the filthy rich
And helps the common man

But father, won't there come a time
When they run out of cash
And we have left them not a dime
When things will go to smash?

My faith in you is shrinking, son
You nosy little brat;
You do too damn much thinking, son
To be a BN autocrat.

Miskin bandar aka Urban Poverty

Miskin bandar.
Or urban poverty in English.
I believe that's the core issue affecting 99% of Malaysian families living in urban areas.
All of you, how many of you manage to save 10% of your monthly basic salary?
Do you have savings?
Amounting to 2 months of your basic salary?
Or less?
You have credit card debt?
Or personal loans?
Do you realise why?
These few questions will unearth the fact that the cost of living for urban families is no longer affordable.
Especially those with kids.
I salute all you parents out there with 2 kids or more.
It cannot be easy.
It is not.

Just imagine, with an average household income of RM3,000.

Both husband and wife working.
Kid has to be taken care of.
Lucky if the grandparents are doing it.
Even then, it won't be free.
The milk, the diapers, food, clothing.

Let's break it down.
If unfortunate to be renting, let's say RM500 for rental.
RM500 for transport cost (or even up to RM1000 for car instalment, petrol, maintenance etc).
RM750 for food and household goods.
Another RM500 for the kids.
What does that leave the breadwinner with?

That's right, NOTHING.

I can easily pinpoint the 2 causes of low income.
But I cannot resolve those 2 issues.
Not even the Prime Minister can take care of the issue in the short term.
Even if we have a change of government, the fact remains that:

1. Business need to survive. SMEs operate with a typically low margin, over-dependent on volume basis.
Bosses WANT the profit to be as much as possible, so they will keep the payroll costs as low as possible.

2. Our economy stinks. No? Yes, it does.
Over the past 20 years, our country has not been able to improve on anything in terms of industrialisation.
Anyone seen the Auto City in Thailand? Proton eh?

Moving on.

One of my favourite things to say is that when a problem doesn't have an immediate solution, it's a temporary situation that needs to be managed until the solution is applied.

What we have is a situation, a DIRE situation.

I believe savings are at an all time low.
And consumer debt should be accumulating as the man-in-the-street tries to borrow against his future earnings.

And the government tells us that without subsidy, the CPI will be on the up.
Without a doubt.

Therefore, I don't see a happy ending for the 99%.

I see the 1% surviving whatever economic turmoil comes our way, because they NEVER needed to survive in the first place.

Perhaps this election year will see a lot of goodies thrown our way to help the rakyat get through their hardship.
But it's not a permanent solution.

I've always advocated moderation, but in this day and age, it is extremely difficult to resist keeping up with the Joneses.

So, in line with another adage of mine, which is "don't bring up an issue where you don't have the solution", here's what you, the Ordinary Joe, can do:

1. Follow the Bobby Ong economic theorem.
A year of your salary = the car you should drive
5 years of your salary = the house you should buy

2. Live without your means, which is another way of looking at no. 1.
My main analysis of the F&B industry growth shows that people are eating out as a means of convenience, but do they really know how much it's costing them each meal, each month?

3. There's no shame in living modestly.
My wife doesn't understand why I encourage her to buy kids' clothes at Giant and the pasar although we "occassionally" buy Osh Kosh, Kids Guess etc for them.

My wish for all you Malaysians this year is that we work on improving ourselves more this year, and with inner growth, we'll see our country grow too.

Have a great 2012!

The 1 and 5 formulae

It seems the world is in financial trouble. Very easy to ask why. Why?
Because almost everyone is living beyond their means. I've come up with a simple formula to gauge if you are living within your means. This applies mainly to people between the ages of 25 - 40.
It's called the 1 and 5 formula.
Basically, you should only buy a car that is 1 year's worth of your monthly salary, and owning a house that is not more than 5 years of your salary.
For instance, an example would be a person earning approximately 5k a month (gross basic). That means he should be driving a car worth about 60k, and paying for a house worth about 300k on the market.
If the person is using a nicer car than that, or staying in a house that's worth more than that, then he's living beyond his means. Either that or he has a very nice undeclared tax-free income on the side.
The only ironic part is that economic growth depends on people spending more than they did in the corresponding period. So there.