Malaysia on an express route to populate its land

By J. D. Lovrenciear

It appears that the powers that be are in an express rush to fast track the population boom in the country. The question is are we really under populated that thousands have to be given citizenship, PR status and work permits to stay in the country for extended periods?

Even our neighboring nations across our borders and seas are extremely careful in permitting foreign workers to hole up in their countries.

They are extremely frugal but prudent when it comes to awarding PR status. And their stringent standards to awarding citizenship are even tighter.

But that does not seem to be the case in Malaysia these days. We are coming up with all kinds of schemes that continue to see an invasion of foreign nationals into the country. So much so even the economic activities mushrooming in the country are obviously created to serve these communities solely.

Just take a look at grocery stores, restaurants and entertainment outlets and shopping centers. What do these tell you? What about the kind of foodstuff that is increasing even filling our wet markets and pasar malams?

It is very indicative that today Malaysia has such a sizeable foreign community that it makes good business sense to even set up shop in our own Tamans just to cater for their daily needs.

And with our growing made-to-believe dependency on foreign labor, many of our youths are increasingly finding it hard to be economically engaged but to look for left-over jobs. But our leaders keep dishing out justifications that our youth are not interested in these jobs and therefore we need foreign labor to drive our economy.

Now since when did we transform into a developed world with the entire working population being highly qualified to take on manual and mundane jobs?

The citizens know. The entire work-in-progress is to spruce profit taking. Let us stop kidding each other. Period.

We need courage to admit where we are going wrong. We need a patriotic heart to see the truth in the eye. We need loyalty to King and country to stop this selling out of our land.

Many Malaysian professionals who returned with foreign spouses are still struggling with the renewable PR procedures. But illegal immigrants and renegades are easily getting citizenships and PR status virtually spoon fed to them. Why?

Our neighbors are all using their own population in so many creative ways to ensure that their nations remain totally self-reliant. From the building industry to the farming communities, from the corporate corridors to the sewage services, they have their citizens proudly and viably engaged. Thailand is a great example.

It is about time that our Rulers stepped forward and made a point to keep Malaysia for Malaysians – their loyal subjects. If we do not act fast, someday, Malaysians will wake up to find themselves being lorded over by foreigners who have claimed citizenship.

This worrying state of affairs demands honest, responsible, accountable and patriotic redress. And it needs to be done like yesterday, going by the sudden naturalization exercises fast tracking lately.