Expectations check for Malaysia" Caramida"Style

Before coming here, I was reading different articles and blogs about how life is here, what are the perspectives of the expats, so that I could make an idea of what was waiting for me here. Unfortunately, all that I read was nothing that could prepare me for the transition from a European life to life in Malaysia. Therefore, I am trying to give an inside perspective of a European girl which has been living in Malaysia for 10 months now, with the hope that it will shape a more realistic image of what to expect.

The first thing that you need to understand is that Malaysia is in Asia, but Malaysia is not Asia. You can not define this continent after 1 country, as well as you can’t expect that this country will act as any other Asian country. This was the first mistake that I did. I thought that Malaysia is a typical and normal Asian country, where I will find a lot of Chinese, where I would eat with chopsticks all day long and see only rice plantations. I couldn’t be more wrong than this. Malaysia is predominantly a Muslim country (yes, you heard it well, Muslim!) That was my first shock.  It is a country of different races, which live  together, but not in a loving each of mind, but in an acceptance phase. Malaysian are very protective to their origins, therefore the number of benefits offered to the native are plenty and very not very fair, from my perspective. Here are some examples: natives pay around 70% less tax, but they benefit 100% of the public sector and the benefits- if you compare the amount of money charges towards a Malaysia for a doctor consult and the amount of another person, you will see a big difference. Discounts- when it comes to cars or houses, they are obviously advantaged, to the extend where it is not a topic in the ministry to reduce the gas taxes only for Malaysian. And the one that I most hate: NGO or company opening- in order to open any company, you need to be a Malaysian- a native one, not a resident of the country. This is, from my perspective, the most obvious method used by the government to try and conserve the country. By giving more rights to its native citizens, Malaysia thinks and acts in a way that benefits its native community. 

Malaysia is, despite all said above, a mixture of cultures. I believe this is re-enforcing the need to protect the nation, but the number of Indians and Chinese living in Malaysia is impressive. When I first arrived, I was introduced to the population of the country like this: Malays- the natives with tons of privileges and the only ones capable of opening a company or working in the public sector, the Indians- which have low paid jobs and their strong religious culture well represented in the city (from temples to national holiday) and the Chinese- who are the core of the business and the reason why there are so many malls in here. After all this 3 groups, the Expat community is present, but bit ignored, as the focus is more on the Indians and Chinese.

You need two different stamps to visit all the country. East Malaysia and Peninsular Malaysia are, from my perspective, two different cultures and almost 2 different countries. You need a passport to visit the east side, and you will find totally different customs and ways of living there. As I understood (haven’t visited yet), that part of the country has great places to visit, but it can also be very dangerous. The aborigine culture is still present and there is a very powerful culture surrounding those places and people. In this situation, their motto of” 1 Malaysia” is a bit ironic, from my perspective.

The weather here is different, to put it like this. Each year is divided into 3: the rainy season  (from April to May), the monsoon season ( October to December) and the damn hot summer which is in all the other months. I have never seen rains as heavy and with so many thunders as here, but they are very welcome after a super hot day, so I have started to enjoy it. The only weird thing is that these storms have almost the same timing: every day, it will start raining around 3:30 p.m and finish around 5. And it goes on like this every day. Every fricking day. It can be very annoying, but at least it cools down the air.

Kuala Lumpur is a mixture of people and races, which try to find their way in a city which is just not big enough for all. And here, I only mean ways of transportation. Everyone and I really mean everyone who lives here has a car, or 2, or 3… it depends how many people there are. And of course they go with their cars to work or anywhere else. Well, the gas is cheap, so why wouldn’t they do it. I can say that here I discovered and experienced the power of “traffic jam”. And this is such a normal thing, that everyone accepted it and they are just going with the flow.  So yes, you can stay in the car for 1 hour to go 6 km, here it is very normal.

Last but not least, if there is one way that I could define the food here, that is not healthy.   Malay food is either deep fried, or with syrup. The good thing is that there is a lot of Indian food and Chinese food, so you can mainly say that you are living on three different countries, due to the food options. There could be a lot of things to say about safety also, but I think that they can be found in any country. Yes, here the taxi drivers are very very very bad, and there a idiotic people who snatch purses while riding motorbikes and people who overcharge you because of your skin color, but you learn how to protect yourself, how to be safe and how to negotiate.

 But do not get me wrong, I am not trying to convince you not to come to Malaysia, it is just that I am trying to help with the expectations. Yes, you will find cool places and amazing beaches, cheap tickets to every place (imagine Bali is at a 2 hours flight),  mind blowing roof parties at the 35th floor, nice people, cool parks, A/C  in every little place, and cheap food, and much more, but in order to be able to enjoy all of these, I believe that one needs to accept the “unusual” aspects of Malaysia as a country. After you do this, after you embrace the chaos, life gets so much better.  After all,  Malaysia still remains one of the most visited countries in the world.