***Updates***
After so many years, I am back to the thread.

Quick updates: REP approved, received job offer with total package which is really comfortable to live in Msia but of course the role is demanding too. Also have to re-adjust life with traffic jam, weather, fast moving lifestyle etc.

Gonna move back first by myself for a few months before relocating my whole family back. Will stay in Malaysia a few years and enrolled my kids into private or international schools. We will see in a few years later where kids want to study, then will send them back to nz or aus for college or university as can pay domestic fees. That's if they want to study there, if not, study in Malaysia or elsewhere is good, just depends on what they want.


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Hi forumers,

It has been really a long time since I last posted in this forum. This has always been a good platform for us to share information, which I appreciated a lot.

Now, after working for many years regionally and living overseas, and have stayed in NZ for close to 10 years now, I am considering to move back to Malaysia with my family next year.

I have a few questions which I hope forumers can help to answer:-
1) How's the job market in KL? I am in the IT industry, with an engineering degree, with experiences from engineering, marketing, sales and business developments. Have had quite good experiences with a couple of MNCs and proven track records under my belt.
With Covid-19 now, I believe the market is quite fragile and lots of unemployment which is the same as everywhere in the world.

2) How are the school education? I have read and heard from many mates that most children nowadays are sent to private schools as public schools system are getting worse? I don't understand the part where public school is not good.
Appreciate answers from forumers whom have children in school~ :-)

3) How are the safety and crime rates in KL? How's the traffic situation?
10 years ago, it took me 1-1.5 hour just to drive from Cheras Leisure Mall to KLCC, and this is only about 10km drive.
Not sure if this changes much after so many years of road constructions, MRT/LRT built.
Safety wasn't great back then either, friends will tell me about their family/friends being daylight robbed by snatch thieves.
Lots of fraud cases, phone scams trying to cheat elderly's hard earned savings.

4) Anything else that you would like to share about Malaysia/KL that you deemed I should know about?

Understood many forumers would be asking why go back to Malaysia? There will be mixed opinions of overseas better, pay is higher, fair systems etc., and politics questions might popped up. There are just something that can't be replaced in life, called family.

Appreciate heaps for the support~

This post has been edited by HappyA_Q: Mar 31 2023, 04:22 AM

If family is important enough for you to contemplate moving back to Malaysia, then, IMHO, all your other concerns are moot.

This post has been edited by hksgmy: Sep 23 2020, 08:29 AM

Another option is move your family toNZ

If your concern are 1, 2 and 3 ... stay where your are now.

If your concern is family, ignore 1 2 and 3 and fly 'home'

No one can solve your concern ... is your life and how best you want for your family.

We all have to adapt to the 'environment' ... some have choices while others NONE .

This post has been edited by mini orchard: Sep 23 2020, 08:58 AM

1. Job Market in KL
Generally job market is shrinking but it's still not too bad for IT. During these MCOs I'm still getting head hunted a few times and according to them those companies are still expanding or doing digital transformation. Some industries are doing exceptionally well now like logistic and digital services, you can search for IT roles in them.

2. School Education
Can't share much about this as I only have a 2yo now. I also heard a lot saying public school quality is getting worse, kinda worry for my kid's education in future too.

3. Safety
I stay 20km away from KL. I still see a lot of people jogging and cycling in the early morning or late evening. But ya a lot of fraud/scam case lately but this is totally preventable.

There's a saying: 好马不吃回头草

You left Malaysia for a reason - better pay, better lifestyle, better weather, whatever. Don't end up missing those reasons when you/should you want to come back for "family" - and don't make "family" the excuse to regret your decision. That's all I'm saying.

Good luck whichever way you decide.

How is the racism over there? I read that racism is ramping up against Asians due to covid in the western world.

If you don't mind the devalued pay-cheques and increasing intolerance then anything else should not be a problem.

At the end of it, I find that most Malaysians still miss the life back home. Unless they're working nearby because that's like, an hour or so away from Malaysia basically it's much easier to visit home.

Much as everyone else asks you to stay where you are, I'll suggest you take the effort and time to fly home for a short stay to observe FIRST before making the drastic move. Check and consider whether this is really what you and your family wants. If yes, don't look back once you've decided.

1. Yes correct, jobs is scarce but IT, Engineering etc - shouldn't be a problem. Especially when you're someone with experience. Having been overseas, I see that you certainly have an advantage.

2. Can't comment much about public schools, as i'm not really updated BUT public vernacular schools are okay (as far as i hear from colleagues) and private schools are certainly popular for those who can afford. Most parents would want their children to study in a more conducive environment with better facilities. Thus Private Schools are much preferred by parents who has no issue in paying the fees.

3. Traffic during peak hours by car is BAD. I'd be lying if i say it's good if you can take LRT/MRT, by all means do so, public transport FTW.

Scams and frauds - still happening. If anything, frequency of scams are higher now than ever when people don't have a job and get better accessibility to digital data. So long you know better to ignore these calls, that should be fine.

4. Political instability is still there.
And be ready for possibility of unhelpful customer service/ personnel whenever you complain or walk-in to get some papers done.

Lastly, I respect people who worked away, and decided to return home to contribute, or choose to return for their family. At the end of it, we live only once, and we have limited time to spend with our loved ones. Yes it's about priorities. If money and "better quality of life" is the priority, stay where you are.

Malaysia will be a new challenge if you come back. Be ready to embrace what's coming should you choose this route.

This post has been edited by sweet_pez: Sep 23 2020, 11:04 AM

But increasing intolerance is also happening in the rest of the world, especially towards Asians ... no thanks to COVID-19

So I'm not too sure on the education system in NZ but as someone that moved after primary school to Aus, I would say the public education system in Malaysia is really bad. Had to do a lot of personal catch up after moving.

How old are your kids? Ive known a few people that moved back from Aus with kids and their kids ended up being really miserable as it's a real shock how different the schooling methods are. Not to mention the increased racism your kids would probably have to deal with. People like to harp on about how asians are treated worse in Aus / NZ but its a really different case if you were born / raised there.

I am forever grateful to my parents for deciding to move to Aus and staying on for their kids education. They have moved back to Malaysia now and are enjoying their life with family.

Wholeheartedly agree. I wasn't born in Australia, but because I embraced the culture & the accent wholeheartedly when I was there, I was neither discriminated nor ever made to feel out of place.

Agreed. But to move from somewhere familiar and comfortable to uncertainty needs a lot of soul-searching and courage.

KL =/= Malaysia, working in East Malaysia for few years now has given me a new perspective

Questions:
i) May I ask what do you mean by "fair systems"?
ii) Do you have family members in Malaysia?
iii) Are you still a Malaysian citizen?

NZ is a multi-cultural country with around 5m population.
My kids grown up here and they don't understand what does racist mean. School system doesn't discriminate them by race.
Everyone has their own role to play in a community regardless of their professions. Minimum pay here is $18.90, and you get that pay when you're working in KFC/McDonald's. I'm going a bit off topic here..

Talking about racism in professional workplace, I don't really think so as have seen quite a few migrants are on high-level management positions and some managed to be in CxO levels, and some are successful politicians.

Totally agree with this... embrace the culture, get involved in the community, you won't feel discriminated.

Fair systems:
1. Tax system based on your income, not by race.
2. Entry to tertiary education is by merit, not by quota.
3. Your tax paid are put into good use to community, i.e. road construction, park maintenance, healthcare. Children and elderly people are well taken care of in terms of healthcare, education, etc. More info can be found online.
4. Minimum pay is well defined and obeyed by law, any companies not following this are sued in court and this cant be settled via under table $.

Yes I do have extended family members in Msia. And my own family are Malaysian citizens.

Thank you sweet pez, appreciate your long reply.
Appreciate your effort taking the time and thoughts to reply them 1 by 1.

As long as you don't burn bridges and are able to relocate back to NZ in the future, then you don't have to worry too much.

If possible, maybe you can just take a longer leave or leave of absence and spend a few months in Malaysia by yourself first, to see how you feel, before making the big decision. Everyone has different feeling and opinions about the same things so it is hard to get a response in the same context as your actual situation.

Hey sunbearau,
My boys are 9 and 6 who have spent most of their lives in NZ, so basically would say they are kiwi.
Thanks for sharing the experiences about how other kids treated when moved back. That's my concerns as well.
The education system here compare to Msia are totally different, each has its own advantages. To move my family back to KL, my kids will be having culture shock with all the homework that they need to complete everyday. Racism in school probably won't happen for us, as both myself and wife are Malaysians, and the kids are chinese looking anyway.

Totally agree about what you mentioned earlier about asians treated worse in ANZ. If kids are raised here, they won't be treated worse as there are lots of human rights, mutual respect, and they stand up for themselves. It's hard time for us asian parents, as we can't enforce the way we are raised (at least how I was raised) whereby parents have a lot of authority. Kids here stand up for themselves, defend and talk for themselves, pretty much very outspoken about their feelings and what they want. You can't force them to do what they don't want to do, BUT you can encourage them to do things that are right.

Great to know that you have enjoyed staying in Aus and grew up there after primary school. Also glad to know your parents enjoying their life in Malaysia now. This is also one of the options that I'm looking at, which possibly only happen 15 years later, after my kids graduated and started working.

My expat neighbour (I’m based in Singapore) used to tell me, he wouldn’t have moved over from the UK if the package wasn’t double what he had been getting. Might be a financial baseline you could peg your decision to.

I live in AU and I think most discrimination tend to occur at the street / lower management levels especially in a non-international, domestic companies. It seems to me that discrimination is a very naive idea for people (Aussies) who are well-traveled, well-educated and have worked overseas (UK/US or even Singapore).

I myself am also struggling to find stronger reasons to return to Msia instead of purely for families because of pay-cut and lack of interesting job opportunities. COVID sorta changed the dynamics of my work as clients are more willing to have meetings virtually and I can deliver my services digitally as well (I am in advisory/consulting) so maybe I can still go back and yet retain my client base. Worst case scenario is I will relocate to SG instead as it is still near Msia where my families are and I have enough good contacts/opportunities to get some work there, but I still prefer Msia for sentimental reasons. I have a feeling I might regret it down the road but still I would like to give it a try at some point. Never try never know.

Having kids definitely complicate the matter due to educational considerations but I reckon if your kid is good he or she will be good anywhere in the world. The educational landscape across the globe is really having an evolution now and if a degree or cert means nothing more than a piece of marketing paper, then I reckon it doesn't matter and in fact having diversity of experience might help in the long run. Of course it is easier to comment than to practice because it is always better to be safe than to be sorry but somehow I think we need to acknowledge that the world is constantly changing.

This post has been edited by Justin Wong: Sep 24 2020, 09:26 AM