WITHOUT CRUTCHES: I’m Malay – can I succeed outside of Malaysia?

I'm a fiercely independent person. I like to be my own man and if I do anything, I like to believe that I did it on my own, because of my own capabilities and skills.

That is why I don't play golf as a recreational sport. It's because golf has a handicap system where people who are bad are able to compete with even the best of them.

I believe that you have to work hard from wherever you are to be among the best and if you don't, then you do not deserve to be among the best.

For example, when I first started working after graduating from university, my parents wanted to buy me a car. At first, I said okay and I got a car from them.

But then, I started feeling embarrassed driving it because there I was, a grown-up with a job, driving around in a car that my mummy and daddy gave me.

So I decided that I had to pay for it myself. I immediately took over the car loan that was under my mother's name and serviced the instalments myself. I am my own man.

That's why Dina Zaman's latest article titled “Unappreciated in my own country” in which she talks about Malay professionals who moved away from Malaysia to ply their trade resonates with me.

They wanted to do well outside and be recognised for their capabilities and skills rather than because they were born of a certain race or the connections that they had.

Thinking back, the issue that Dina discusses in her column was one of the influencing factors why I decided to pursue my postgraduate degree overseas.

I wanted to see if I could hack it outside after graduating from a local public university in Malaysia. And I did it with flying colours.

I know my complaint might seem a tad first-world. But hear me out. I want to prove that I can do things on my own and not because I am of a particular race living in Malaysia.

When I wanted to pay for my own car, it was because it hurt my pride to think that people might be saying, "Oh, his parents bought it for him. No wonder!"

And when I graduated from a local university with my first degree, it also hurt my pride to think that people might be saying, "Oh, he graduated from a public university. No wonder!"

Don't get me wrong. I am a big believer and advocate of inclusivity from the socioeconomic point of view. We need to have social and economic fairness.

Those who are financially and economically less privileged need to be assisted so they can be on equal footing with the rest and so that social mobility is possible.

But it should be based on on the right criteria, and definitely not on race. Affirmative action should be in place for the less privileged all around and not just for the Malays.

Sometimes, I too feel like moving overseas and seeing if I could actually thrive in my profession outside of Malaysia without this affirmative action issue over my head.

But thoughts like this make me nervous. What if it is true that I am in whatever position I am in now because of affirmative action?

What if my thoughts of people saying, "Of course Zan can do all this in Malaysia. No wonder!" are true? What if these people are right and if I ply my profession outside, I might not make it?

Well, this is the exact mentality that we need to kill – I need to kill – so that my children will not be affected by it like how I am.

Enough time has passed that Malays don’t need the crutches that have been helping them stand up all this while. It’s time to let them stand on their own.

Just like the game of golf, once you move out of the amateur zone and become a professional, all handicaps are done away with and it depends solely on how good you are.

And if I do play golf, I would much rather be playing it professionally. – TMI