Dear Homecomers,
I guess I should start by introducing myself first. My name is Patrick Sim. I graduated with a Bachelor of Commerce (Accounting) from the University of Adelaide, Australia, at the end of 2008.
I came back to Malaysia in 2009 and have been working as an auditor at PricewaterhouseCoopers since March 2009. It has been a little more than year as of the date I am typing this.
I was privileged to meet both the blog founders : Esther Goh and Mindy Oon at OCF UniSA in Adelaide during my time there (2006-2008). Yes. We are the crazies that came back.
Now to begin the first part of my story.
WHY?
Why? Why come home?
Why didn't you stay back and try to get a PR? And.....
- Enjoy the better pay
- Enjoy the better work / life balance
- Enjoy the company of friends there
- Enjoy the freedom
- Enjoy the government (if you are a Malaysian, you will understand)
- Enjoy the weather / the air / the public transportation
- Enjoy the good life
- Enjoy being around people like myself. That understood what I was going through.
But lets go back to my state of mind back in 2008. Before I was exposed to all the crap.
Back in 2008
I was going to graduate at the end of the year. The million dollar question kept looming through my head.
What to do after this?
And also being a kiasu Malaysian, What is EVERYONE ELSE doing?
No one else was going home at that time. Just me. And Ian Hong. Which made me question myself even more. = P .
A friend of mine from OCF once told me: - "I think there's a reason God made me a Malaysian. I don't think he specifically placed me in Malaysia to be an Australian. "
I thought he made a very good point. During my 3 years in Adelaide, I attended OCF (Overseas Christian Fellowship).
This is the vision of OCF: Reach out , build up, send back.
Reach out: To reach out to all overseas students in Australia.
Yes. Someone did reach out to me. And I did reach out to others.
Build up: Build them up to be Christ’s disciples;
Yes. I was trained and developed as a disciple of Christ there. And I did help build others up.
Send back: And send them back to their home countries as disciple-makers.
....................
It's empty.
So I decided. I need to go back.
Why?
- God made me a Malaysian
- My parents who worked so hard to put me into University are back there.
- To fulfill the OCF vision
- To make a change , be the difference
- I looked at my reasons for staying. They were mostly for my own self interest and comfort.
- Also, i had a job offer. So before thinking I am that self righteous to deny all self interest and come back to save Malaysia, just let you know that I had some carrots too.
Because if you are going to come back to a 10% Christian of total population country from a 60% Australia, then its best if you are gung-ho. When you are coming back to a Muslim country, where open racism is practiced, where the government is corrupted, where people are poor, uneducated, where opportunities are scarce, where more about 70% of the population earn below RM 2,000 a month, then you really need faith. Because its different here.
So know that if you come back, you will be a hand to help us here who are trying our best to stay above the flowing tides. Know that we need you back.
But this is just the first part of the story. There is so much more to tell. Will keep you posted.
God Bless
Patrick Sim
Adelaide (2006-2008)
2 comments:
Hi Patrick. Thanks for sharing this. I studied in New Zealand from 2008-2009 and just came back to Malaysia in Dec 2009. I'm currently in my final year of my degree, then I'll graduate and start working.
Before going overseas, I thought I was very 'patriotic', thinking that as a Christian, God put me here in Malaysia to make a difference. However, since coming back and struggling with reverse culture shock, i started becoming very discouraged and disillusioned. I am currently going through a lot of frustrations.
And it came to the point where I thought I'd love to migrate to NZ after my 5 years of service (I am studying on a scholarship). Where have my ideals gone?
Whatever happened to being a patriotic Malaysian and trying to change things?
Instead, I became angry and unhappy, eager to leave as soon as I can.
How will I endure my 5 years of service in the govt? (We all know the inefficiencies, etc in govt service)
Any advice?
Hi Kathy,
So sorry this is a pretty late reply.
Anyways, I am glad to see that other people have been reading this blog. It is truly encouraging.
I guess we can all relate to how you feel. Yes, it does sound very familiar, and I do question my decision to come back every now and then. If you do read the other posts, you will note that yea, there will always be downs.
However, it would be unhealthy to be constantly down. My advice would be to find a good support group. The more obvious place to find it is in church. People that you can talk to and go to for encouragement, to be refreshed, for advice, for fellowship. It is always good to know that others are praying for you.
You will be surprised to know just how many people are like you, wanting to make a difference. There are many of us, some fighting the good fight every single day for the sake of others.
Being alone can cause one to slip easily, sometimes, we find ourselves so much stronger, even with just one friend by our side. God didn't make us alone. And have faith in God!
Your life might never be as good as before, but trust me, you will learn things that you would not have learned in New Zealand. Things that you can look back on, with the sweat on your brow, blisters on your hands, sores on your feet,but you're still smiling, because it was all worth it.
God bless,
Patrick Sim
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