Looks like what
happen in America , getting colonized with Europeans and displacing the Native
Red Indians is happening in Malaysia and this time with the colonized are
Mainland Chinese with the tactic approval of the Malaysian Native Government..
Yes I understand
the Government is broke but this is no way of raising money as it will displace
the Malaysian Malays to meager renters of this country and cheap labour for the
Mainland Chinese as drivers , maids , comfort women , cooks and any jobs the
Mainland Chinese can offer in their homes. This is no way of creating jobs
because they will end up as slaves to the Mainland Chinese money in the long
term. Where will be Natives dignity?
Yes cannot sell
properties because Malaysian no longer
invest in properties for investment in Malaysia but then again not right to
sell off the country to the Mainland Chinese just to sell properties.
Yes the
supermarkets are nearly empty of shoppers and closing down but there is no
excuse of importing Mainland Chinese to replace the Malaysian Shoppers at the
supermarkets
And so on and on
and we will be stuck with this major problem in the long term as the Mainland
Chinese have loyalty on to their Mainland Communist Chinese leaders.
Why are we
inviting a very large population from Mainland China to be PR and later on Citizens
when they only treat Malaysia as a playground?
Why why why
because it is money money money for the government and their cronies.
They the Mainland Chinese are no longer invited to Australia , New Zealand other countries and even other South East Countries because of divided loyalties
They the
Mainland Chinese are no longer invited to Australia, New Zealand other countries
and even other South East Countries because of divided loyalties and also their
anxious habits but are welcomed here with open arms. This mass immigration of
Mainland Chinese is going to be a social problem and resented by the Locals
come in another 5 to 10 years’ time as they will flaunt their wealth we else
the natives will be surviving at below poverty levels because it is best to
enslave a race so that they will be captive voters or there may just run amok
and start lynching their political masters.
WHY ARE CHINA CHINESE MOVING TO MALAYSIA BY THE THOUSANDS WHEN MALAYSIAN CHINESE ARE TRYING TO GET AWAY?
Paul Ying Qian, 32,
first tried durian when he was 10 years old in his home town of Hunan China. A
family friend had sent his mother the pungent fruit, which the whole family
enjoyed. Paul tried durian again when he was studying in Australia, but it was
expensive and didn’t match the taste in his memory.
Now he lives in
durian-obsessed Malaysia, but it isn’t the fruit that brought him here. It was
the temperate weather, cleaner air and mix of Asian values and Western
infrastructure. “It’s easy to join in the culture here, and not feel like a
total outsider. The different races get on well, and it’s quite near China –
much nearer than Australia. The education is good, and the country maintains
its traditional face while also experiencing development. Back home the seasons
are very dramatic with extremely hot summers and very cold winters. Malaysians
are very friendly. I feel this is a good place for my next generation.”
Paul Ying Qian and
his wife moved from China to Malaysia as part of the Malaysia My Second Home
programme in 2009. Both of his young children were born in Malaysia.
Paul, who gained his
residency through the Malaysia My Second Home (MM2H) programme, is one of
thousands who have settled under the scheme. He has been here since 2009, and
his two children, aged one and three, were born in Malaysia.
“I travel between
here and China, spending about four months a year in my home town Wuhan (武漢) to take care of
the family business. My wife Sophy stays in Malaysia with the kids,” he said.
He discovered
Malaysia thanks to his father, who travelled the region in his youth.
“He went to
Singapore, Thailand, Malaysia. He liked it best and moved here when he was
older. After I completed my undergraduate degree in Australia, I came here to
do an MBA and stayed on. My parents actually live in the same building as me,”
he said, pointing to the tall tower behind him ensconced in the leafy upmarket
suburb of Mont Kiara, Kuala Lumpur.
Paul and his family
are comfortable in the nation’s capital, even with MM2H’s no-work clause. His
real estate and wholesale business dealings in China allow him to support his
family, while he has also invested in the Malaysian hotel industry. And in his
spare time he and his family go on road trips, travelling to hawker haven
Penang or idyllic Langkawi just because they can.
The Cheong Fatt Tze
Mansion in George Town on Penang Island. Photo: Travel Post Magazine
Although Malaysia
has a history of mistreating migrants, particularly refugees and foreign
workers, those under the MM2H scheme are considered “expats”, an elite,
high-earning group.
The scheme allows
successful applicants largely unrestricted travel into and out of Malaysia as
well as various incentives and tax exemptions. However, it comes with stringent
eligibility criteria as well: liquid assets of 350,000 Malaysian ringgit
(HK$615,000) to 500,000 ringgit, fixed deposits and a minimum price cap on
purchasing property so as to curb speculation.
In 2016, more than
1,000 Chinese signed up for the scheme, fleeing the freezing cold winters and
dangerous pollution levels of their homeland – 43.9 per cent of applicants were
Chinese, with Japanese a distant second at 9.2 per cent.
Chinese have shown
the most interest in the scheme. Official government statistics put the number
of successful Chinese applicants at 7,967 from 2002 to 2016, out of a total of 31,732
successful applicants from around the world – 25.1 per cent of the share.
Malaysia is
experiencing a “third wave” of Chinese migration – after a 15th century influx
and a tin mining boom in the 19th century – these days that isn’t at all
limited to just MM2H participants, but also includes foreign workers, some of
whom are undocumented. A fair number of these migrant workers are usually
employed in low-skilled sectors such as construction or factory lines.
Recently, 127 Chinese nationals were rounded up by the Sarawak Immigration
Department and 16 of them lacked valid travel documents.
China’s Ambassor to
Malaysia Huang Huikang. Photo: Handout
This influx of
Chinese migration comes at a time when Malaysia’s often fraught race relations
are more complicated than ever, with a general election – always a good time
for race to be made a political football – looming. In 2015, a pro-Malay
protest with anti-Chinese sentiments drew the ire of Ambassador Huang Huikang,
who said China would not ignore “infringement on China’s national interests or
violations of legal rights and interests of Chinese citizens and businesses”,
reported the media.
However, MM2H
applicants brush aside such concerns, reporting friendliness from the
Malaysians they meet. Since many divide time between China, where they deal
with business obligations, and Malaysia, any concerns about racial tensions are
lessened as they have someplace else to go.
Hu Xiaolong, 65,
moved to Malaysia from Shanghai to be closer to his daughter after she married
a Malaysian. Before he became part of the MM2H programme, he could not stay for
longer than a month.
“I now spend a few
months in Shanghai and a few months in Malaysia visiting my daughter. I found
Malaysia a nice place for the elderly, so my wife and I bought an apartment in
Kuala Lumpur,” he said.
Young drummers in
Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. Photo: AP
“Kuala Lumpur is
nicely developed and everything is still quite cheap. Much cheaper than
Shanghai. I have travelled to over 30 countries and I think Malaysia is a good
fit for me. Chinese can live harmoniously with Malays and Indians here. There
is no conflict among different ethnic groups.”
The only problem, he
says, is when his wife tries to order food with her limited command of English.
“But that’s why she usually goes for buffets,” he noted wryly.
Hu said he had urged
friends to sell their properties in China and move to Malaysia.
“I told a friend
that if he sells his apartment in Shanghai, he can buy a luxury home in Kuala
Lumpur and still have some money left. My friend refused, saying that his
social circle is still in China. But some friends are considering the second
home scheme and they want to come here to have a look.”
Sea-view apartments
are hard to come by in Shanghai, but not in Penang, Malaysia. Photo;
iStockphoto
Hu Yiqing, 48, fell
in love with the sea when she visited her aunt in the island state of Penang.
“You could see the sea from her home. We are from Shanghai and it’s rare to
have a sea-view apartment in Shanghai. She told us about the scheme so once we
went back to China, we immediately started applying … We filed all the papers
in May and by August we relocated to Penang.”
Penang’s laid-back
vibe appealed to homemaker Hu and her husband, who runs a financial services
company. They do not miss the bad traffic and poor air quality in Shanghai.
She said her husband
split his time between Penang and Shanghai. “If we had a better internet
connection my husband would stay the whole year. But even now, we still don’t
want to go back to China,” she said, adding that the pair and their son
integrated into local life quickly due to the high number of Chinese-speaking
Malaysians in Penang.
“There are so many
Chinese that you can integrate into the society easily. My friends are from
Chinese parents in international schools or Chinese from local churches.”
Hu said her son
could go to an international school for half the price of Shanghai. “The
education quality is pretty much the same – in fact, I like the international
school in Penang better. In Shanghai, even if you study in an international
school, kids are still being pushed by teachers to study hard and compete with
each other. I disagree with their way of teaching.”
Visitors walk past a
giant rooster installation as part of the Chinese Lunar new year celebrations
in Kuala Lumpur. Photo: AP
She has praised the
scheme to her friends, many of whom are now applying.
“So many Chinese
have been coming to Penang. It’s hard for children to enrol in an international
school now. They are all packed.”
Retiree Maurice
Choy, 55, left Hong Kong for Malaysia because of its weather and reasonable
cost of living. Fishing, swimming and badminton are on his list of priorities.
“I travelled to
Malaysia many times over the last 20 years for work and holiday, and I found
Penang a nice place to retire. I bought an apartment there several years ago
and applied for the scheme. This month I will settle permanently in Malaysia
with my wife.
The Petronas Towers
in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. Photo: Shutterstock
“Malaysia is much
more affordable than Hong Kong. It’s easy for us to have a high-quality life
with our pension. The weather is good, too. I actually migrated to Canada 10
years ago but had to come back because I’m not used to cold weather. The
weather in Penang is good the whole year round.”
Despite Malaysia’s
tendencies towards xenophobia and its sometimes strained race relations – balik
Cina (go back to China) and apa lagi Cina mau (what
more do the Chinese want) are slurs sometimes hurled at the Malaysian-Chinese
community – these migrants appear shielded from it all or have not encountered
such unpleasantness. Many MM2H participants have praised Malaysia for its
friendliness.
However, some
Malaysians wonder how the country benefits from the programme. “In terms of
cultural impact, it honestly depends on how the incoming Chinese population
behave in a social setting. There won’t be a large economic impact unless a
huge number come in with enough capital to invest in business,” said Hafidz
Baharom, 34, the former communications head for the Malay Economic Action
Council.
Accountant Tarsem
Singh, 31, said that because MM2H minimum property thresholds were high, most
programme applicants would only be able to buy homes that were out of the reach
for most Malaysians. The minimums include 2 million Malaysian ringgit in
Selangor and 1 million Malaysian ringgit in Kuala Lumpur. In Penang , on the
island it is 1 million Malaysian ringgit for a condominium and 3 million
Malaysian ringgit for landed properties.
Langkawi, Malaysia,
offers many outdoor adventures, including excursions along its many rivers.
Photo: Post Magazine
“I am not sure how
we benefit, other than property developers who get to sell their expensive
homes,” Singh said, adding that immigration priorities should focus on young
and skilled migrants to stimulate wealth creation and prevent brain drain. This
was echoed by independent analyst Khoo Kay Peng: “Most who come here are
retirees or run smaller businesses. The high net worth individuals prefer the
US or Australia and other OECD [Organisation for Economic Cooperation and
Development] countries.”
While MM2H is a good
programme, lawyer Ong Yu Jian, 35, said that it needs to be kept in check with
policies that limit artificial growth. His home state, Penang, recently raised
the minimum price cap for foreigners purchasing property.
“In the short term,
it boosts growth and makes the numbers on any economic paper look good. But the
potential long-term trade-off may be the displacement of our own locals in
terms of economic footholds and nation-building. If the Chinese do so, it may
cause resentment and heightened tensions,” he said.
Formed more than
half a billion years ago, Langkawi has a unique ecology; Gunung Matchincang,
one of the island’s peaks, was the first part of Southeast Asia to rise from
the seabed during the Cambrian period. Photo: Post Magazine
Malaysian Chinese
Association Youth Chief Chong Sin Woon, however, dismissed the possibility of
racial tension, saying that such animosities were the domain of a tiny minority
of extremists.
“It’s a small group
of radicals who harp on about this issue. Generally we are accepting of these
migrants.”
Analyst Hwok-Aun
Lee, a senior fellow at the Institute of Southeast Asian Studies, agreed,
attributing this to biases based on economic standing.
“Unfortunately,
humankind tends to discriminate immigrants by class, viewing highly qualified
and wealthy entrants more favourably.
“At the same time,
opulent immigrants can also breed resentment. I would like to see a greater
emphasis on human rights and dignity, mutual respect and appreciation of
diversity, and conscious efforts to avoid group alienation or enclaves
separated from society,” he said.
Faisal Hazis, of the
National University of Malaysia’s Asian Studies Centre, warned that Malaysians
might “not be comfortable with a glut of foreigners coming to Malaysia and
potentially doing business or eating into the market. If this happens it may
strain the relations between Malaysians – regardless of race – and Chinese
nationals.
And although the
programme promises investment opportunities along with lower costs of living
and tax-exempt offshore incomes, many participants, such as housewife Zhang
Wei, 40, just want room to breathe.
“We used to live in
Beijing. Air quality is so bad that my two kids couldn’t spend much time
outdoors. Now my kids can spend a lot of time outdoors. They are happy, so am
I.”
Last August she
settled in Putrajaya, the country’s administrative capital, after deciding
against the US due to its distance from China where her husband has business
dealings.
Malaysia, she said,
was better for living than for working or investment.
“Some of my friends
have businesses in Malaysia so they want to live here, like a friend who runs a
tourist company specialising in bringing Chinese newlyweds here for
honeymoons,” she said.
“But I don’t think
the business environment here is that great and I didn’t see any good
investment opportunities. When we decide where to invest, we need to compare it
with China. If there is an opportunity, we will invest – but we are still
looking.”
– http://www.scmp.comm
