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Tuesday, October 10, 2006

Working in Malaysia vs. Working Overseas

Recently my good friend have just completed her phD and taking her baby step towards working life somewhere in europe.

I'm very proud of her as I know she will do great in her work and life.
But such news really made my ponder over my own life.

5 years ago I had wanted to persue further education after my graduation but due to financial constraint and discouragement frm my then fiance (now hubby). I stepped into working life earning a mere RM 1,700 as a freshgrad.

After 5 years of struggling through work life i guess now I manage to climb up the working ladder and achieve significant increase in my salary. But so what??! Comparing to my friend, who had just grad but with a phD......though I have no idea what salary range is she drawing, I'm 100% sure that she's earning big bucks and much more than my measely income. Why?? Because, lets just assume that she is being payed a freshgrad salary of say 2k (i'm sure its more)

So if 2k in pounds would be 2000 x 7 = RM 14,000

WOW. Nowonder all the Malaysians study abroad dont want to come back lah....
Even if the standard of living is higher over there comparitively, if you can manage to save say 200pounds only per month, you'd be saving RM1400 per month already.

NOWONDER all the doctors and jimmy choo's that Malaysia wants back .....well...... Don't want to come back lah!

Sigh.......i'm not being green but i feel ......lousy loh.....
Because it makes me think......why am i working so hard for?? All the slogging and experience of 5 whole years......and I'm nowhere near her 5 figure salary. Sometimes you may want to blame education or the lack of paper qualification for things, but i assure you it is not. I have a business friend who is a Master degree holder with say 3 years work experience. And he makes much lesser than myself which puzzles me.

After my trip to aussie, I really was tempted to migrate and work in aussie because australians don't work past 5pm!!!! Never happend to me before in my life.....

Oh ya btw, its a public holiday today for Selangor. Nuzul Al'Quran. Slept till 11am!! ah........i feel lazy today....Make that lazy hazy dazy.

Diet Update: Yey! lost 2 KG already. I feel good. The hugeeeee tyre of fats overhanging my torso area (above the tummy) is gone!!! Other parts seems to still be the same....trying to get rid of those cellulite thingy over my thighs......wonder how do i do that.

18 comments:

Anonymous said...

So, what's your Losing 2Kg punya secret?

Anonymous said...

The 5pm thing...it's the culture. But there's always pros and cons to everything.

Though money gets us through living, it's not really everything =)

Fashionasia said...

angel: er....no mood to eat?? stress or depressed??? take ure pick... i dunno...
but i got 3 more kg to go!! hehe

skay: its actually not their culture but it is because if u work OT, you kena taxed more than the normal work hours...their gov way of discouraging workoholic lifestyle perhaps...

Wuching said...

chey! who say we dun work past 5? 5.30pm is the normal end of workday lah!

Anonymous said...

u are really "katak dibawah tempurung"...u are jealous so u think ur frens earns 2k pounds just like u...u must be out of ur mind for phD grad to earn that in europe

she easily earn millions within very short period, not gonna tell u how short to enlighten ur jealousy but very short ok

Anonymous said...

I earn more than RM$40,000 a month here in Oz, but just yesterday at lunch, I made the following comments to my Aussie colleagues:

We earn so much more here, yet we cannot afford the sort of life the average Malaysian enjoys and takes for granted. We cannot afford to eat out anywhere near as often as they do.
We have to do all our household chores ourselves. They are waited on hands and foot by live-in domestic help.
Malaysian girls can afford to splurge on cosmetics, clothes and acccessories more than us.
Tradesmen cost a bomb here, so we all have to learn to be good handymen. In Malaysia all they need do is pick up the phone for the plumber/electrician/technician.

In truth, in spite of the income gap, because of high tax rates and much higher cost of living in Oz, in their day to day lives, Malaysians have greater spending power than the average Aussie.

So, it is all about looking at the big picture :)

Regards,
Maverick

King's wife said...

the grass is always greener on the other side lah...
And, psst..did u try the multi-coat trick yet?

Anonymous said...

And ppl can still complain about taxes here in Msia when they used so many ways to evade taxes.....heh....

But I have to agree with Maverick that our spending power is higher to some point.

Fashionasia said...

the only consolation is our lower cost of living i guess....but we are 3rd word country wat...we are suppose to be cheap.


wuching: ppfftfttthhhh!! :P

Maverick: thanks for the insight and consolation....er...i think?! oh i didn't know you cant hire domestic help over there?

anonymous: I'm just providing an example of X amount for illustration purpose. sheesshh....

kings wife: I did! but hor....I wasnt satisfied lo. I need to try it out another time because for lengthening, i think the maybelline XXL is FARRRRR better. But gimme a few more attempts and i'd come to a conclusion.

skay: actually we should be grateful for our tax percentage... As i said, best consolation is our lower cost of living....as of now lah...but the inflation is really scary.

Mirebella said...

I work in Melbourne and let me say that the notion that Aussies are lazy and do not work past 5pm is a myth. Perhaps in the country but it is def becoming a common occurence where we work till 7-8 should there be projects pending etc.

The big difference to the working culture here however is that there is a strong STRONG ethic of advocating family togetherness and it is not frowned upon to work from home at times (when it is possible) or taking time off in lieu should we worked past the std working hrs.

Moved here due to career opportunities a coupla yrs ago and not have had any regrets so far..

Still irks me tho when ppl think I have it cushy - its hardly the case!

chong y l said...

fa:

life at home and abroad has its pluses and minuses.
msia would have been h'avenly except for donkeys and mat rempit we have as politicial leaders and self-AP guradian angels of the public purse and morals.

I think coparing your RM2000 and 2000 pounds thingy is not compatible -- contrats gay Paree's as Milan fashionwear would cost 5000 pounds while KL's and Sinland's would be like RM3000 or SGD2000?
Further, I'd miss my nazi lemak and tehtraik stall altho now the Haze is giving it an xxtra Ummp-hy taste!:)

Anonymous said...

so lucky wan, got holiday summore.. :P

as for the working culture (and salary), i guess the most important thing in life is being happy. some people can be happy overseas while others cannot get used to it. although it is an important factor, money really is secondary when considering relocation.

btw, my diet program seems to be working out - i've lost 3 kgs and an inch off my waistline :) i'm this close to getting a six pack!

Anonymous said...

compare, wat compare, u got phD meh? chi sin por

Anonymous said...

Congrats on shedding the 2 KGs!!! I in turn only gained 1.7KG for the past 2 weeks... Not enough!!! Hehe!

I think I shouldn't complain too much about working here in Melbourne then. hahah!

Jo said...

how did you lose your 2kg? Just diet alone? Or with exercises? And how long did it take you? come share share.:)

Fashionasia said...

mirebella: good that u follow your heart and make the move...no regrets eh? im sure :>

desi: common....u know im right ...right?? hehe now faster tell wats the SWALK all about!

laksa: im waiting for the next to come sooon! yey...i love october!

ian: yey! can i donate my 3 other kgs to loose to you? u betcha....work ur ass up the corp ladder laddy...

lil'joy: er....complicated situation i have that kinda help me loose it.....i oni exercise once a week...not enough.

Kris said...

over here in Hungary, working hours starts at 7:30 and finish by 4:30. That's the reason why ppl dont work past 5 ,gua.

As for taxes, it is darn high! in return for good social welfare ..but still its blood sucking!

All that said, I want to migrate Oz myself !!! Cheers!

Anonymous said...

Hey all, I've been in Australia studying for many years now and just starting the working life. I guess to compare salaries between Malaysia and Oz isnt' much of an issue compared to the experience gained from working abroad. A fresh grad in aus doesnt get a high salary perhaps in the range of 35K p/annum on average. For privately financed students like myself, if I go back to work now, it'll take me a lifetime in Malaysia to earn what I paid for tuition and living expenses here as a student. Say RM100,000.00 a year for 5 years. How long do I have to work in Malaysia to earn 0.5mil Ringgit with a regular job that is. It'll take a long time for sure, so might as well enjoy the experience. If u have a chance to go overseas, take it! Opportunities doesnt just come when we want.