As somebody who has first hand experience with this, i'll share my experience..

My family moved to Aus when I was 2 years old, and we settled until I was 9. Schooling in Aus was.. mixed emotions.. Even though I had some aussie friends, there were always days when I would get bullied by my Caucasian school mates.. especially the older guys would come pick on me, to the point of tears. Such as when I played Aussie rules, the kids would pick on me and call me names. Probably because I was a good runner and had a good kick, so they would try to put me off my game or intentionally try to get me out of 'their' game. My older brother too, also had some friends who were real bullies. They would pick the living shit out of me.. I would always be absolutely scared whenever they came over to our house to hang out.. complete assholes. Funnily, I'm good friends with one of them today. I guess after people grow up, they really do realise how much of jerk they were when they were younger.

It was tough mentally and physically honestly.. being an Asian and growing up in a white mans country. Racism back in the 90s was absolutely brutal.. My dad especially had to put up with alot of the rejection.. Obviously, times have changed and the australian economy is more open to all races and people are expected to be well mannered and more sensitive these day. But behind closed doors, Asians, especially immigrants still do get picked on.. Why do you think they all congregate at the same suburbs?

From 9 years of age until I was 17, my dad decided he had enough and we moved back to Malaysia. As you can imagine, having never grown up in Malaysian culture before, I was basically treated like a msian with a funny accent. I went to a kebangsaan school too.. because my parents felt there was still time for me to learn Bahasa and yeah, it was difficult picking up this new language at 9 years of age.. imagine my first day of school where everyone spoke a different slang, tone, & did things differently than I did. WTF were my parents even thinking.. putting a 9 year old through that.. lol. God bless them.

Anyways, it was another round of bullying for talking with a funny accent.. But I eventually picked up on the Malaysian slang and made friends. Good life long friends too btw, some of whom would go overseas to Australia for further studies and what not.

If I could rate my experience growing up in both countries. Malaysia was extremely difficult for the first 6 months, and then things improved and I absolutely love Malaysia. Australia on the other hand, I felt racism in Australia through-out my entire time there. Even as an adult, racism still exists in Australia. Especially on the competitive end of things like I was once called a 'chink' by a white dude whilst playing paintball. And if you are walking around the CBD during night-time on the weekend, you are bound to encounter a dickhead..

Make what you will of it. But the kids will survive. It's more important as an adult to pick where you feel is better for your own happiness.

I'm glad my Dad came back to Malaysia, because he obviously had a better time in Asia than he did in Aus, and I too. But each and everyones experience will vary.

My suggestion for TS is try to look for an intermediary jump to Asia. You probably won't command the same income in Malaysia as you do now. BUT if you were to jump to Singapore or HK or even China, you may have a better chance to find a good paying job equivalent or even better than your current australian/nz package. That's what I did. I came to SG for work and stayed to become a SPR. Your kids will also have a better experience of assimilating in Asian culture if you jump to SG or HK. Because everything is in English, your kids will have an easier time with school and mixing with friends, who likely also came from Australia.

IF you do come back to Asia for work, save up the income and build your retirement nest. When you've saved up enough, you can move back to Malaysia and do something else whilst you are still young and able. But mind you, working in Asia is obviously tougher than Australia, you may spend less time with your kids, but at least you will climb the ladder much faster than you would in Aus.

This post has been edited by Liamness: Sep 24 2020, 10:18 PM

As a fellow advisory & consultant albeit, in the engineering line, I did exactly that and I'm now living in msia, meanwhile, my customer base is in ASEAN. Although I did move back to Asia when I was in my 20s and single, so that made the decision to pack up my life in Australia and move much easier. Besides, there are plenty of Aussies and expats living in Singapore. It's pretty much expat town still, even more so now with jobs being more globally focused.

With air travel, it is entirely possible to retain your customers whilst you live in a completely different time-zone. However, with Covid as it stands, air travel may be impossible without a vaccine.

An intermediary jump to Singapore makes alot of sense. And hey.. if you really want to fully maximize your income earning potential, live in JB and commute to SG for work.

From an educational stand-point, I wouldn't worry too much about studying in Malaysia. Having gone through both Australian & Malaysian educational systems, the kids will adapt without major problems. They'll be okay.

This post has been edited by Liamness: Sep 25 2020, 10:10 AM