Waking up from a dream......

The following was published in Sin Chew, translated by “anonymous”, and edited by Gan Siowck Lee

夢醒時分 Waking up from a dream.....

鄭丁賢 (The Editor, Sin Chew Jit Po)

你是否和我一樣，發覺身邊的親戚和朋友，似乎少了許多。

Do you feel the same as I feel? All of a sudden, I realize that friends and relatives around me seem to have become less and less.

以往接近過年時，各種聚餐排得滿滿的，而今年，似乎沒聲沒息。

Those years, when the New Year drew near, all sorts of gatherings and appointments almost completely filled my diary. But in recent years, it seems so quiet……

即使是平常日子，電話少了，與大家見面也少了。

Even in normal time, phone calls become less and less; face-to-face meetings are getting rare…..

也許，大家各忙各的；或者，目前流行“宅生活”，儘量避免出門。

Perhaps, everybody is busy with their own things, or perhaps, nowadays people prefer to stay in.

也不盡然如此。再想一想，很多老友和親戚，已經不在了。嗟！大吉利是，他們都還好好的，只是離開了馬來西亞。

However, this is not entirely true. Come to think of it, it can only be because old friends and relatives are not around anymore. God bless, they are still alive and well, it is just that they have all left the country, Malaysia!

去了中國大陸開工廠；王子不做工程師，移民到澳洲開小食檔；阿風離開本地大學，去香港做講師；青蛙去了台灣，開展事業第二春；還有的到了美國、英國，唔，還有去印尼的……。

They have gone to China to set up factories; Ah Wang quit his job as an engineer and emigrated to Australia to set up his little eatery; Ah Foong left the local University and went to Hong Kong as a lecturer;  'Frog' went to Taiwan to pursue his second career…. Others went to the US, UK, including even Indonesia ...

起初，以為這只是個別現象，逐漸的，旁人也有同樣發現；原來，這不是個別現象，而是社會現象；這不是少數，而是相當大的數目。

At first, I thought these are individual cases, but gradually, people around me realize the same thing. These are not individual cases, but a phenomenon of our society. We are NOT talking about small numbers but pretty big ones indeed.

外交部早前披露了一個數字，說明這個現象是多麼真實，多麼貼近。

The Malaysian Department of Foreign Affairs released some figures recently, they confirmed that this phenomenon is real.

從去年3月到今年9月，已經有30萬大馬人移民他國；其中20萬 人是今年1月到8月出走的數目。

From March 2008 thru September 2009, a total of 300,000 Malaysian emigrated to other countries, among them 200,000 left between Jan - Aug 2009. (In just 8 months!)

累積下來，已經有超過200萬大馬人移民，接近今天印尼外勞在大馬的人口。

Cumulatively, 2 million Malaysians have emigrated, and this figure is close to the number of Indonesian workers in Malaysia today.

不同的是，移居他國的大馬人，多是專業人士、中產階級。

The difference is: Those emigrated are mostly professional and middle class people.

他們有很多出走的理由，追求事業發展，為了孩子前途，尋找個人更大空間……，概括一句：對馬來西亞失望。

They have many reasons to leave: Pursue career development, for the future of their children, in search of better life and environment... In short, they have lost hope in Malaysia .

50年前，大家說，馬來西亞真好，好過香港，甚至日本。

50 years ago, people said: Malaysia is very good, better than Hong Kong and even Japan .

30年前，大家說，馬來西亞還不錯，比得上韓國、台灣（不提香港和日本了）。

30 years ago, people said: Malaysia is not bad, comparable to S. Korea and Taiwan. (No mention of Hong Kong and Japan any more).

20年前，大家說，馬來西亞還可以，至少超越中國、泰國（不能和台、韓比了）。

20 years ago, people said: Malaysia can do lah, at least better than China and Thailand. (Cannot compare with Taiwan and Korea lah!)

10年前，大家說，馬來西亞再差，還不至於像越南、印尼（中國已是不同級別）。

10 years ago, people said: No matter how bad Malaysia is, cannot be worse than Vietnam and Indonesia lah! (China is already in a different category).

今日，越南和印尼的經濟成長率遙遙領先大馬， 社會活力和知識發展也勝過一籌；距離愈來愈近了。

Today, the economic growth rates of Vietnam and Indonesia already far exceeded that of Malaysia. Social vitality and intellectual development of the country are also better. The gap between us and them is closing up…..

怕甚麼，還有菲律賓和柬埔寨、緬甸。

Why worry? There are still the Philippines, Cambodia and Myanmar trailing behind us.

但是，一位經濟學家最近到菲律賓考察之後，認為再過20年，大馬可以取代菲律賓，出口馬籍女傭到全世界了。

However, according to an economist who recently did a survey in the Philippines, in 20 years' time, Malaysia can replace Philippines to become the World exporter of maids!

半個世紀以來，馬來西亞是在大宅院裡，用封建方式，分配祖宗家業，消耗社會資源，浪費和逼走人才；不談競爭力，忽略生產力，討厭績效制。

Over the last half century or so, Malaysians have been living in a big old imperial housing complex, closing up and surviving on properties left behind by their ancestors; exhausting social resources, squandering and driving away talents; they never talked about competitiveness, totally neglected productivity, and hated meritocracy.

亞洲金融風暴來襲時，大馬把門關起來，以為避過一劫， 有人還自我陶醉，自以為是天才策略。

When the Asian economic crisis hit in 1997, Malaysia closed their doors, thinking that they have averted catastrophe. Some even eluded themselves, thinking that they were such genius in handling the situation.

然而，其它國家面對風暴，走出風暴，進行體質改革，跨步向前，登上另一個水平；大馬卻還在原地踏步。

However, just look at other countries in the neighborhood: They stood up, faced the storm, and walked out of the storm. They overhauled their system, and surged ahead; they moved up to a new level. And Malaysia, we are still walking on the spot!

馬來西亞，該醒一醒了。

Dear Malaysia, it's time to wake up!