just minishorts.

Really, it always amazes me how people can be so indignantly overprotective of their own 'integrity' when fingers are pointed at their lack of love for their mother country (I'm talking about Malaysians who've found new lives abroad).

I mean, come on, let's face the facts. We human beings in general are naturally selfish, money-minded scavengers. These are money-loving people who'd give one's own country the other cheek when offered more attractive, monetary incentives. I'm not saying that's a bad thing, of course; after all, it is a widely-accepted fact that money can do ALMOST anything. Granted, not all of us want to be the richest person in the whole wide world–we can imagine it mustn't be terribly fun to be so rich as to have to live in fear of being robbed all the time. All the same every one of us can definitely do with just a little more spending cash.At least, I know I wouldn't mind some extra dosh.

Those extra cents and dollars (and I'm not talking ringgit), can help you go a long way.

Now what I do not understand why is it when someone as insignificant as this kiddo here, accuses you of not wanting to come home because the monetary attractions just aren't making you tick, you feel the scratch and scream bloody murder. Vincent, really, I'm humouring you. You're far too old to be a kid by now

My contention is that the type of readers' reaction we witness there, logically OUGHT not happen. Not because I think Vincent's got a point, but more so because, if another country is able to offer the same (or more) comforts of a new home, for more money (at a higher exchange rate, of course), I'll be packing my bags and leaving on the next plane. If another country provides me with future guarantees of better security, plus all the fun bits that I'm enjoying so much right now, I'll go.

As it is, I'm loving my little third world country here a little too much to let it go, what with all the corrupt officials, and the strange things they eat at GLC meetings, as well as the oddities that are the new-generation blogospheric baby-boomers (think SmashpOp and Jasiminne the Penguin), too much, to wanna give all this up and pack up for the next 777. I've got a landed house to live in, a car of my own, and I've got an office of my own at the new company. My boyfriend lives less than 10 minutes away, and all my best-est friends and closest family members are here. So unless someone gives me 10 times the salary with everything I already have right now, I'm not leaving anytime soon. Sure she's lacking in places, my Malaysia, but right now, she's my home, and damn I love her.

My reasons for staying in KL despite the pollution, and the impossible bureaucratic system we so know as Kerajaan Malaysia, is the same reason that that hardware store owner in Kota Bharu is still driving around Pengkalan Chepa in his E Class Mercedes Benz, even though he can very well afford himself a better lifestyle with all the better amenities that we have here in the Klang Valley. But my reasons for staying put doesn't mean that I'm discounting any possibility of ever leaving for greener pastures. Que sera, sera, they say.

The quaint thing about people who've all the fun things while living in other countries (good pay, great life, better than anything else they've ever had in Malaysia when they were here), is just this: they get mightily touchy when somebody so much so as SUGGESTS that they're not ever coming back and they're 'contributing' to the brain drain in the country. Here's when you hear the crooning voices of reason, 'Hey, it's because my country is racist, my country's got weird politics, and you know what? I'm not going to ever get the same amount of money I'm getting right now, or I'll be getting when I graduate. So why should I come back?'

And then, maybe because they've realised that they're sounding a tad materialistic, they become all apologetic and say something ludicrously 'patrotic' like this, 'It's not that I want to leave Malaysia, it's just that Malaysia doesn't have what I hope for in a country right now. But when she does change, ('the way I want her to change'), EVENTUALLY, I will come back.'

Incredible emphasis on 'EVENTUALLY', eh? Well, good for you, sir, ma'am, I believe you love Malaysia a lot, because EVENTUALLY, you say you wanna come home.

BOLLOCKS, I say.

Now why don't you just suck it in and admit it, that 'eventually' you added in to prove your point (I've no idea what it is) is NEVER going to happen for you, because by the time it happens, you'd have a wonderful life that you've spent years BUILDING overseas, and THAT's your home there by then, and Malaysia's not ever going to offer you that better lifestyle you were always hoping for. Home's in another country, and hell, GOOD for you, now pack in a free room for boarding when I go to visit you there sometime, will you? I know I'll do the same for you.

Really, I'm not ranting. My point is, now that you're officially a migrant, why don't you do your new home the due justice and contribute to THAT place where you now live in. And while you're at it, stop wasting your time lamenting about the ugly tears and dirty toilets in your OLD house. We all want to move out of smaller houses to bigger houses eventually, and the agreed statement is of course this, 'It's natural, and no one is faulting you for it.' So quit displaying shallow guilt and get on with life already.

IMHO, making the decision to migrate to another country in search of a better, is perfectly fine and very noble. Everyone is deserving of the best one can afford. The issue here is that when you've decide to make a living where the grass is greener, you should really do the country you now to belong to a responsible favour. That means you ought to contribute to its economy without crying foul about the excess baggage that used to be the place you call home. It's not fair to too many parties. First, it's not fair for Malaysia of course (because you also hurt people like me when you taunt us with lines like, 'I dunno how you can live in a country with so many racial prejudices), but more importantly, it's VERY, TERRIBLY UNFAIR for the country that you moved to. When you turn a new leaf, you need to cast away all the tears long shed and quit lamenting about the deplorable status of things from your past. It's annoying, it's boring, and it's grating on everybody's tired eardrums.

The bottomline is, you wanna be a migrant, be a responsible and civicly conscious one, and tear down that hypocritical mask of patriotism you so glamourously parade around in right now.

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