SG:-
Pros:
1) good career, good lifestyle and entertainment
2) money, money, money!
3) buy whatever $hit, travel anywhere
4) kids education
5) malaysia next door
6) security

Cons:
1) won't make u happy
2) kids won't be that closed; work like hell
3) ultra kiasu and kiasi, saw by my own eyes
4) u still can own a property but paid by 2 generations?
5) too crowded
6) hardly own a car soon....all public transport

OZ:-
Pros
1) good lifestyle, environment & outback
2) kids education
3) nearest western country to malaysia
4) welfare
5) pension
6) easily own cars and house if you're not too picky
7) family time

Cons
1) TAX!!!!
2) career start up is hard
3) no local experience means hard to get a job
4) further from malaysia
5) certain cities public transport not that great
6) security sometimes is $hit

Telling the tooth nothing but the tooth.....hehe

When i newly joined this forum a few months back, i didn't understand the mentality of Msians (esp non-Chinese). In the last few weeks, i spent a lot more time reading the other threads (i don't like to go on the computer too long daily) and i am truly surprised at the things that are expressed (esp comments from non-Chinese). A lot of what was expressed is similar to remarks made in the earlier days of apartheid in Sth Africa! I was actually quite shocked because the comments were en-mass with huge crowds joining in. I don't normally like to get involved in politics so i just read casually but with some apprehension. I have been away since 1981 so it will be interesting when i do return to Msia to retire what i am going to find out. I now can fully comprehend the feelings of the minorities in Msia and why they see an extremely dark outlook for their future generations.

Just wanna say I agree with this:

Asian and western values are not mutually exclusive, you can be confident and still be close knit as a family. I have cousins who migrated when they were 4 or 5 and are now almost full blown ABC complete with the accent and confidence. Yet they are extremely close to their parents, more so than myself perhaps.

Not going back home during festivals? I've always felt like that was more of a cultural thing anyway. What does it matter if I still go back every year during less busy periods like Christmas? Go back during CNY need to give ang pow to everyone, gosh.

Thank you very much - you were the first person to respond to what i have been searching exhaustively(for more than 1 year), looking for advice on social media concerning coming back to KL to live. At that time, i didn't know left from right in LYN as i don't like to spend a lot of time on social media. I have been slightly more active in LYN in the past few weeks as i find that some of the posts are quite interesting. I was fortunate to stumble upon this forum as it gives me good insight into the thoughts of Msians. I didn't realise at that time that Msian wages is so low (no offence) - now i have a better understanding of the wages that people earn generally and cost of living there. I initially disagree with you about bringing my retirement funds back to KL but now i have a totally different view agreeing that it is best to leave the funds in Aust and just keep one to two years expenses in Msia.

I have 2 superfunds currently (State Super which is a defined benefit superfund and the other is Unisuper). Defined benefits are the cream of the superfunds as they give you a guaranteed employer contribution which is dependent on your final salary and number of years worked. Nearly all the defined benefit funds are gone now as it is sending the govt bankrupt (way too generous!). Defined benefits super were very popular in 80s and 90s.

My Unisuper is where i put in excess contributions (max before tax of 25k/yr incl empoyer's contribution). This is like topping up our super because super is the one of the most important tool for lowering your taxes esp when you start going over the 37% tax bracket (earning over 87k). Unisuper has been one of the best performing fund (https://www.unisuper.com.au/investments/investment-options-and-performance) in Aust - i am heavily ivested in International shares.

The good thing about superfunds in Aust is that you can choose and pick which superfund suits you. Earnings is totally tax free once you retire (after 55) which is very generous in Aust. My wife has her own self-managed superfund (you basically manage your own superfund sand it acts like a company and you use that company to buy what you like - properties, shares (incl reits), currencies). You can even borrow with a self-managed superfund! I find that with her self-managed superfund returns, we cannot beat the professionals superfunds(in terms of returns) because they also use hedging strategies like call/put options and warrants. The fees of professional superfunds are very competitive too! I have learnt a lot from our experience of managing my wife's self-managed superfund and i have decided that i will leave mine in the hands of the professionals - also you don't need to worry about all the red tape of a selfmanaged fund and just draw on the returns for your retirement expenses which i calculated should provide me with quite a comfortable retirement. Superfund is becoming the big thing in Aust as govt here is encouraging citizens to save instead of relying on welfare (welfare is killing this country and this is the main reason why the Aussie dollar is not strong!).

In Aust, local shares are not going anywhere. I have only started taking a keen interest in my superfund returns after my wife started her self-managed superfund. We have done quite well recently with international shares (mainly invested in US shares unhedged) and with Aussie dollar going south, it actually pushes up out super balance. If you look at the Unisuper international shares performance over the last 2 months, it has gone up more than 8%!! This is due to 2 factors - world stock markets esp Dow Jones and Aussie dollar dropping against US dollar. State Super (SASS) which holds the bulk of my super balance is quite conservative in their investment approach and i have always been invested in the high risk category (Growth strategy) (http://www.statesuper.nsw.gov.au/investments/performance/declared-rates-over-the-last-10-financial-years-ending-30-june-2016) and they have been returning 5-6% in the last 10 years.

In Aust, superfunds have matured very significantly over the last 10 years (with govt giving a lot of tax concessions in this area) and this will be the talk of future generations in years to come. You can even put in your own money (max 100k/yr which is called non-concessional contributions) and earnings (incl capital gains) are taxed at 15% which is very good considering the high personal tax rates in Aust. Earnings (incl capital gains) are tax free once you retire. This is a godsend for many retirees here!! Never heard about 0% tax in Australia until now!! People who are about to retire (like me) pump all their money into super whcih becomes tax free once you retire. Better thing that ever happened in Aust!!

If you take up citizenship, you can only use your Malaysian passport (to enter Msia) until your reentry permit runs out. Even if you successfully renew your Msia passport, you will not be able to get the reentry permit renewed because you are an Aussie.

The worry is not that Oz will not accept dual citizenship....but that your identity on boarding the flight is on a different passport and they are expecting that....and when you appear at immigration with an Oz passport, they have no record of you boarding any flight....a security issue, more than immigration....

if you have PR, can you still apply ETA visitor visa ?

If your re-entry permit is still valid, you don't need to apply for the ETA visa. You only apply for the ETA visa after your rrv is no longer valid. It would be interesting to see if one can still get ETA after attaining Aust citizenship - the Aust Immi will be scratching their heads dry wondering why you still need an ETA when you are already an Aust citizenship.

I had a friend whom i have lost contact with who was doing this - he told me about doing this in the late 90s but at that time, i totally didn't understand what he was saying!! He was around my age at that time and said he was planning to only come back to Oz when he is old. He even bought a house in the outer suburbs of Sydney. I must try to see if i can still contact him when i go back to KL on holidays (we have a biig circle of friends).

That will be a problem, as you will have 2 substantive visas on the same passport....

For citizens, I don't see any problem getting an ETA with the Msian passport...

Assets in Australia is not affected by your demise, as long as the death is recorded and identity established....that itself is a problem, due to often an absence of a body, but that problem applies to everyone on board....

Aust is unlikely to cut immigration intake as they need this to increase economic growth (as new migrants need to get housing and start buying furniture, cooking utensils and white goods, etc...). There are not enough jobs generated to meet the new arrivals which is why under-employment is such a problem now. You are officially classified as employed even if you work 1 hour a week in Aust. If you are on welfare and govt sends you on a training program, you are also not classified as unemployed. The govt is trying everything to fudge the employment rate but the truth is it is very hard to get a white collar job if you are a migrant. With high wages combined with low productivity, the only alternative is to force the Aussie dollar down (which is why most currency hedge funds are shorting the Aussie) to remain competitive. Govt will of course not acknowlege this as they want to remain in power and opposition is happy to go along with this as they take turns to govern. Most migrants to Aust are workers and not employers as the cost of starting/maintaining a business is too high (too much red tape and loads of regulations to follow). With such high minimum wages (about A$20/hr) and a 9.5% employer super, any labour-intensive business will definitely struggle to survive unless you start a family-business and all family members help out. With the Labor govt backing the unions so strongly, Aust will always remain a 'has-been' and will remain lagging further and further behind.
If you notice carefully, the superfunds are all slowly increasing their 'international shares' percentage in their portfolios. These superfunds are hungry for performance and if they are buying foreign shares (rather than local ASX shares), isn't this telling you something about local Aust shares and their performance? Why would the superfunds be decreasing their ASX-holdings and increasing their international shares holdings? I have been researching extensively into superfunds performance over the last few years as i am about to retire.

My father told me that the future in Malaysia looks very bleak for Chinese in 1981 when I came over to Sydney to study. This is the main reason why I stayed back after my studies.

Wonder if anyone has transferred money back to Msia.

My wife can start accessing her super in early April - does anyone know of any way that i can move about A$250k back to Msia. I have transferred about A$100k back to Msia (via NAB) last year and the exchange rates was really shitty. I know changing at the money changers in Mid-Valley will give me the best rates but i don't want to be lugging so much cash with me.

My wife loves Msia so much she wants to transfer all her Aussies back to Msia against all advice from friends/relative.

Thank you Showtime. I will check it out. I had to go into the NAB branch in Haymarket when i did it last time and the rate was very lousy. As the amount is quite big, even a small difference in the exchange rate is magnified.

Thanks again.