Letters to Home (2016)
Young Malaysians write back
Edited by Ooi Kok Hin, Aish Kumar, Nik Mohamed Rashid Nik Zurin
Just when you had heard enough of whining, ranting, hurling of brickbats at the pathetic state of affairs that the country and possible failed nation status that we may plunge, out comes a book which tries to paint a blue sky, a new dawn and words of hopefulness. At an instance, when most disillusioned Malaysians are leaving our shores to graze upon lush greens elsewhere and when overseas-trained graduates find their comfort zone their Newfoundland, this book gives a glimmer of hope. It tells us that life in this country in the future may not be all doom and gloom.
This 234-paged book is a collection of over 30 authors who contributed to this uplifting experience. The writers are mainly millennials who were privileged enough to spend some time overseas in their pursuit of academic excellence, some through state scholarships. Many of them are envious of the ongoing progress abroad and yearn to bring home their skills. They long to have their motherland the same scientific and technological innovations that they had seen there.
The topics covered here are quite varied, ranging from affirmative action and Malay supremacy all the way to environmental degradation. Many government-sponsored students do not return home to pay back their dues to the nation, but the powers that be are quite lackadaisical in doing their job to gain returns from their investment of human capital. Malaysians who experience life as a foreigner in another country generally can empathise with the plight of the many low-skilled foreign workers found here!
In any country, the younger generation is typically vocal about current social issues. History had shown that the youth were the first displeasure when so many young Americans returned in body bags from Vietnam and when injustice prevailed in many despotic regimes in many newly independent post-colonial Africa and Eastern European block countries. Here, however, the wings of the university students are mostly clipped with the University and its amendments!
They go on to talk about Malaysia's brain drain problem of 10% which exceeds the global average. One author who hails from East Malaysia narrates her awkward moments of being treated as a green-eyed monster in the Peninsular as a student! The rise of religious bigots who treat women as second class citizens gets an honourable mention. The topic of living as a handicapped, growing as an orphan and the lack of social safety nets and the acceptance of intermarriage with its complex issues are discussed.
The best part of the book, I feel, is the lengthy discussion on the evolution of university life. From a firebrand force in the 60's which gave the government a run for its money, university students have all evolved to become meek apathetic domesticated pussies.
There is definitely lots of work to be done to bring the back the nation to its once promising start!
