"PENDATANG' INTIMIDATION: If only Malays could see themselves as the non-Malays NOW SEE THEM!

This summer, I am in Sydney for 27 days. This is something my wife, Kim, and I do each year to visit our only child, her husband and our three grandies. Some call this long distance babysitting but we joyfully count it as our annual family reunion. A reunion that puts back meaning into our lives. It's a redemption of sorts; an unexplainable spirituality that can only be experienced personally as pilgrims struggling along the long road to the Holy City.

As I was strolling in the neighbourhood yesterday, kissed by a cool, gentle evening breeze and treated to a symphony of the galahs, cockatoos and kookaburras flying here and there, I thought to myself: "Wouldn't it be nice to come back and retire in Australia forever, where no one would be likely to call another a pendatang or an intruder."

No, Australia's not my home. Malaysia is. Not that I am not acutely aware that we live in an officially sanctioned apartheid country under oppressive conditions that would even outrival that of Mugabe's Zimbabwe. Some call ours a ‘kangkung' country--an insult surely to the humble water spinach as we know it in our national language.

Just to be sure I asked Kim. "Yes, that would be nice. But if I came back to live in Australia, I live only for myself, whereas in Malaysia, I have opportunities to live also for others, "she replied without being sanctimonious. We've been back for nearly two decades now doing what is close to our calling.

We used to be permanent residents in Perth for six years so we are not qualified to judge those wanting to emigrate. They have their own reasons just as we had had ours previously.

But why do M'sians emigrate - is it their fault or the govt for chasing them off?

Why do Malaysians emigrate? That's a bad question. And why do some Malaysians choose to return? That's an interesting question.

Rev Dr Hwa Yung, retired Methodist Bishop, said in a recent interview, "At least 35 per cent of Malaysian immigrants to Australia were Christians. What a shocking statistic!" He had actually written a book discouraging emigration.

But he continued, "I don't want to sound judgmental. I think of a man like (biotech billionaire entrepreneur) Kim Tan in England. The Lord has blessed his ministry and he's used his wealth to fund missions, to look after the poor."

The reverend himself, who comes from a family of pastors, had opportunities to emigrate but chose to remain. In fact, he said, "Even my parents told me, ‘Don't come back!"

"During my time at university the Lord taught me many things, helped me to grow up, and called me into ministry--and with that call, He said, ‘Go home'," he said.

Our family friend, Dr Choong Yee Fong and his wife, Dr Hera Lukman, previously from Indonesia, also chose to come home. The 33-year-old consultant ophthalmic surgeon had a flourishing career at the University Hospital of Wales, Cardiff and an active church life over there. Hera too had a fulfilling job as a psychology lecturer at the University of Wales Institute, Cardiff. After 18 years abroad they packed their bags and headed home unsure of what awaited them in Malaysia.

Asked during an interview, "Any regrets about returning home?" He replied, "None at all!" Yee Fong now serves as a deacon in my church. He said, "The final analysis is that we are pilgrims walking through this earth. This is not our home; there's an eternity."

Racial intimidation

In another case, Yeo Bee Yin, a young political newbie, returned home from a successful career abroad to plunge headlong into politics. Standing as a DAP candidate for the state seat of Damansara Utama in the 2013 general elections, she stormed home with a landslide majority. Yeo was a Petronas scholar with masters in chemical engineering from Cambridge and last worked at a thriving career on oil and gas in Turkmenistan.

In a recent interview, Yeo said, "I remember my father telling me about it (the 2008 political tsunami that almost swept the ruling party out of power). I realised then that no matter how small, I wanted to be part of what's happening. I wanted to make a difference."

Her thoughts on migration? "If I leave Malaysia, it will not be because of worsened circumstances or for money. I will only leave if I sense a bigger calling such as impacting lives at an international level."

"I have been to probably more than 20 countries, and I still think Malaysia is the best place in the world," she said.

What about the pendatang intimidation? "I think this is the message that Malaysians have forgotten; that we may not be wanted, we may be treated like pendatang, but God has called us to be a blessing. And I don't care what you think of me, I am going to be a blessing!"

Indeed, we are after all pendatangs, sojourners searching for eternity. Our hope lies not in the ways of the world. As in the ancient of days, we are counseled to: "Trust in the Lord with all thine heart; and lean not unto thine own understanding. In all thy ways acknowledge him, and he shall direct thy paths." (Proverbs 3:5-6 King James Version). - mysinchew