YOURSAY | ‘The younger generation, like Eastdale mayor Joycelyn Yow, is racially colour-blind.’

MP lauds US mayor, urges young M'sians to return and contribute

IndigoTrout2522: The world has become smaller. Communication is fast and easy and so people are very connected.

The younger generation, like Eastdale mayor Joycelyn Yow, is racially colour-blind. They see white, black, brown, and yellow the same as they see their friends. They want to serve and help the community and people in need.

It really does not matter if it is in the United States, Malaysia, or any other place.

More so, when one is living in California. There are plenty of opportunities for education, a career, and community service there. In fact, students there start performing community service in high school. It is not just about making money.

I am proud Yow was elected to the Eastvale city council where the mayor’s chair is rotated. Does Malaysia offer this kind of opportunity? Are the older and long-serving political leaders willing to step aside for the young? No, because it is all about racial and religious politics here.

To be honest, there are more Malaysians who would prefer to live in a place where they can find themselves providing meaningful service instead of being challenged with so much unnecessary politics in this country.

Anonymous 79: From a young age, the minorities are called pendatang (immigrants) and are often told to go back to the countries of their ancestors. This is so hurtful and our leaders have not worked hard enough to stop this discrimination.

Previously, in 2018, we selected a racist old man because we trusted him that this time, he really wanted to save our country and that he's really insaf (repentant). But it turns out, not really. He's still the same.

Now, the minorities won’t believe these people anymore. Most minorities only wish that their children can be independent enough to find a better future elsewhere.

WhiteQuokka4162: My child was a straight-A student all the way, represented the state in national debates for two consecutive years, was good in sports, and yet could not get any local scholarships but was offered two scholarships from two other countries. In the final year of PhD, the country offered a permanent residency (PR).

Even if they wanted to come back to serve Malaysia, as long as our country is not colour and religion-blind, it will push the young away.

GreenLeopard4021: @WhiteQuokka4162, mine too had straight As and could not even get an interview with the Public Service Department (PSD) or get other scholarships in Malaysia whereas Singapore made him several offers.

He graduated and went to the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) near Boston on another scholarship to do his Masters.

Here, they allow you to run the race but after you've won, they tell you, "Sorry, you're disqualified. Please try elsewhere."

Hmmmmmmmm: Come back? It's not going to happen. The best thing that those people who are overseas now can do is to work hard for their families and only come back to vote and hopefully help change the government.

This is the only practical and meaningful way that they can contribute at the moment.

Anonymous121212: Our country's current political and government structure are not conducive to retaining talented Malaysians so that they can contribute to nation-building.

Many talented Malaysians are working in Singapore with high salary and on top of that SGD1 is equivalent to RM3.

Without consideration for meritocracy, our brain drain will continue unabated. It is a sad situation for Malaysia and it can only change if there is a change in the politicking narrative by PAS and Umno.

YellowFish0451: Sorry to say that there's no market for talented people in Malaysia as of now. It’s like you can't just get F1 racing driver Lewis Hamilton to drive for Proton and expect the racing team to excel.

An honour-roll friend of mine was asked to wash air-conditioning units for his internship. He was then tasked to develop some old school Java application when he started working for the National Applied R&D Centre (Mimos). His salary was pathetic.

Out of sympathy, I ‘pulled’ him to Singapore. He's now making at least four times what he would have gotten in Malaysia after tax. Food is two times higher while rental is three times higher than here, so there is plenty for savings. He would stay stagnant had he remained in Malaysia.

Appum: When we had a non-Malay as finance minister, there were much opposition and hoo-ha over it among Malay politicians. After an Indian was appointed attorney-general, there too was much objection. And these are qualified people, not some riff-raff leaders.

Every position of authority associated with the government seems to be reserved for only one race. Whether they are qualified or competent or not is immaterial. With this kind of racism, frankly, how are we able to hold onto our talents?

Now, we begin to see even bumiputeras who are able to achieve high-quality qualifications and are specialists in their profession overseas not coming back. Why?

Because they say they don’t have the ‘connections’ to compete with other bumiputeras with ‘connections’. Some are also so disgusted with the corrupt system here.

There are so many systemic push-away factors. That is why so many, especially non-Malays, are not coming back to develop their careers here.

GalaxyM: It has been far too long that the country has been ruined by race and religious-centric policy.

The mindset of the people, especially the majority community, should change and they must quickly change to be more accommodating to other races and religions.

We are all human beings irrespective of whether we are Malay, Chinese, or Indian. Accept hard work, competition, meritocracy, and equality. Stop the privileges and all divisive practices.

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