What’s causing Malaysia’s ethnic Chinese brain drain?

Almost half of Chinese have reported a strong desire to leave the country

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The creeping influence of Islam in Malaysia has alarmed many younger people. Photo: AFP

Published: 12:00pm, 20 May 2017Updated: 5:31pm, 7 Jul 2017

Cathy Chin left Malaysia for Australia feeling she had been treated as a “second-class citizen” because of her ethnicity.

“Malaysia is a beautiful country but the politics is sickening. Religion is put first, scholarships given on religion and ethnicity,” said the registered nurse, who is ethnically Chinese.

“Every country has its own political and welfare issues, Australia included, but I feel that I get more rights as a second-class citizen here in Australia. My religion and ethnicity do not come into play.”

Unfortunately for Malaysia, Chin, a 28-year-old with two degrees, is far from alone in feeling this way. According to Ahmad Zahid Hamidi, the home minister, of the 56,576 Malaysians who renounced their citizenship between 2006 and 2016, 49,864 were Chinese.

A pro-Malay protest with anti-Chinese sentiments takes place in Kuala Lumpur’s Chinatown. Photo: AFP

Those figures were underlined by a recent study that found almost half of ethnic Chinese had a strong desire to leave Malaysia. Not only that, but the researchers from Oxford University found that across ethnicities, the Malaysians with the strongest desire to emigrate were those who had at least completed secondary education – 17.3 per cent for Malays, 52.6 per cent for Chinese and 42 per cent for Indians. The survey also found that only 7.2 per cent of Chinese respondents felt the government’s economic policies were “very fair”.

For Clementine Lee, 26, another ethnic Chinese Malaysian, moving to Shanghai meant better work opportunities, more money, and the kind of preferential treatment often bestowed upon expats. Lee is a public relations manager. Like Chin, she has two degrees.

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