Is it true that Malaysians emigrate because “they don’t love their country” as a government minister once suggested?

I hardly think so.

While every Malaysian has his or her reason for emigrating, their loss to the country is seen in a pattern of discrimination, disillusionment and desertion, or the 3Ds.

It is a myth that Malaysians who emigrate don’t love their countries. Exit interviews reveal the real reason that they are more likely not to love their government.

Not loving a country is not the same as not loving its government. Most emigrants are sad to leave their country but will not miss the government and its discriminatory policies and practices.

This 3D factor persists into the present time and the attrition rate of the Malaysian population due to emigration will worsen until and unless there are radical changes in major government policies and their implementation.

But it is easier said than done.

When Abdullah Ahmad Badawi was prime minister, he told the Umno general assembly “Let's not use the crutches for support all the time, the knee will become weak” alluding to the special privileges enjoyed by Malays. The affable leader did not last long in his job compared to his predecessor. His successor Najib Razak also saw the writing on the wall for discriminatory racial policies and in October 2008 warned that “if we do not change then the people will change us.”

But no significant changes occurred as any leader desirous of clinging on to power has to learn to tread warily over the race landmines. Even the most daring leader has to comply with party goals – no matter how racist – and when they face a hardened doctrine of racial supremacy, then any call for radical change remains nothing more than political rhetoric. Party interest has always won over national interest.

Sickness traceable to one man

Racist policies have driven away Malaysians as much as kept foreign investors away. A cabinet minister has warned of bankruptcy and not only is there attrition of human capital but erosion of the country’s wealth through corruption, incompetent financial management and illicit outflows of funds.

Education for their children is cited as a major reason why the Chinese leave. A high percentage of those who have gone abroad reveal their real reasons for not returning home – they opted for a better country with better governance, and better opportunities and definitely no institutionalized discrimination.

Globalization has resulted in a demand for Malaysian talent.

The pull factor of those countries is that it addresses the 3D problem in offering equal opportunities and outlawing discrimination of all sorts. The push factor making Malaysians leave is the increasing intensity of discrimination so that the non-Malays who have traditionally deserted their country are now joined by many Malays who also feel discrimination because they don’t have the right political patronage to rely on or they simply abhor the increasingly restrictive social environment. Others may feel disadvantaged because of their ideological leanings.

In Melbourne alone there are 5,000 Malays. Ironically those funded on government scholarships abroad are numbered among those too deserting their country.

One day we’ll export maids

On a plane flight I sat beside a young Malay man returning for Hari Raya who told me that he was applying for permanent residency in a foreign country. “Why?” I asked. ‘Better future lah,” he chuckled then laughed. I laughed too. And not long ago, I received an email from an old Malay friend who asked if I could try to get his son a job in the foreign country where I live.

While successive and not so successful reformist leaders in government like Abdullah and Najib have clearly diagnosed the sickness, they must be equally frustrated in not being able to get the patient to submit to the crucial treatment. Meanwhile the more racist leaders and more self-vested opportunists rallying alongside one another remain the stumbling block to any effective treatment.

Even the most patient and unbiased observer of the country’s progress has to conclude that the country has strayed far from its original ideals of nationhood and national development and has become abominably sick. While it is traceable to one man, it is the collective guilt of the whole.

The breakdown in confidence in the judiciary, the police, the bureaucracy, as independent institutions that will deliver the vital services to the public is another reason Malaysians are deserting their ‘politically-damned, crime infested, socially unjust and corrupted’ country.

The desertion by those Malaysians is symptomatic of a crisis of confidence in the government and its ability to deliver effective and just governance.

It is not their fault because those who try to save their country and function within the law often get into trouble and they themselves have had to flee. Raja Petra Kamaruddin will swear he left not because he did not love his country but his government did not love him.

Many see the trial of Opposition leader Anwar Ibrahim dubbed Sodomy 2 as the longest political persecution of any Malaysian and provides the strongest proof that the archenemy of the Malays are not the non-Malays but those of their own race who have no scruples or conscience.

Some day Malaysians will have to leave their country not because they want to but because they have to. They only need to look at the Philippines and Myanmar. Already Malaysians are targeted by some foreign countries as potential visa-breakers and over-stayers.

Efficient passport renewal service though

In 2008 when Lim Guan Eng declared that his new state government will not practise the New Economic Policy, there followed the expected ritualistic opposition. Now that the Penang chief minister and his state government have delivered the positive results of budgets in the black and even given older Penangites cash gifts from better transparent governance, it proves there is a cure for the Malaysian malaise of ‘tak cekap, tak bersih, dan tak amanah’.

If Malays can live abroad and become successful citizens there without the dubious doctrine of ‘ketuanan Melayu’ while those who remain here flounder, it speaks volumes about the serious flawed NEP policies.

Simply it is that since 1981 the country has been led down the slippery slope. It is no wonder that Barry Wain in his book The Malaysian Maverick raises the scandal of the lost 100 billion ringgit.

I read about a desperate Talent Corp on a mission impossible to lure back former Malaysians and I think how futile. A better government with better policies and better implementation may fare better but more spin and window-dressing won’t do. The productive citizens have flown because they were chased away.

As one among many who live abroad and who love their country of birth – the history, old friends, the relatives, the people, the land, the food, the ‘Truly Asia’ thing, it would sadden me to see Malaysia slip further albeit making progress in certain areas like being able to get your passport renewed in a couple of hours and having the best restaurants. But how many Malaysians have passports or eat at swanky places?