Are we really blessed?

I recently met a friend who return from Hong Kong for the CNY break for lunch. She is still as youthful as ever and she seemed tired. Perhaps the weariness of work there? I know Hong Kong is competitive. My other friend who recently went over also told me the escalators move faster there!

Source: http://www.destination360.com/asia/china/hong-kong.php

Anyway, she told me people in Hong Kong is very different from people here. She added that the employees here have more rights than over there. There employees are virtual slaves and apparently thankful they have a job unlike people here. She finds people there are too obsessed with making money. Apparently most of her local colleagues have this passion to the extent that many she observed would rather spend their after working hours to run their own little import/export businesses, investing in stock market and such.

She also told me given the lack of space, rent is expensive. She pays about HKD12,000 per month for an approximately gross 600 square feet apartment. That means she has to pay HKD144K per annum or at an exchange rate of HKD100 : RM41.56, that means she forks out approximately RM59,800K per year! Wow! That is equivalent to getting a low cost house (which incidentally would be about the same square feet) here! Also, she told me rent has went up by 20% since the beginning of the year.

Well, I am amazed by what she said of course but I can't help but wonder, are we truly blessed? I read somewhere before that Malaysia has one of the best employee protection laws. People here can't be as easily dismissed than say, America. Also, not many countries implement state sanctioned superannuation plans. In fact, Malaysiakini also reported we have far more public holidays than other developed nations like United States and Britain.

Source: http://canonites.com/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=48&Itemid=54

I guess we tend to see greener pastures elsewhere until we step on the fields. Yet many who did venture to these nations never want to return to Malaysia despite the lower protection they receive as workers in foreign nations. Somehow, they lament about their home country yet choose to stay put in.

At times I wonder why. Why would anyone choose to go to these nations? Aren't we happy with more national holidays? Aren't we happy with more rights as employees compared to say those in Hong Kong and America? Besides that, why would anyone want to pay such high cost to live elsewhere?

Yet people are leaving.

It is not a once off phenomena. Most people I know when asked would tell me of their friends, relatives, colleagues and neighbours who have left. Also, many of my friends whom are only a call away to meet up have now left. I even have a neighbour who have left for Bangkok and left his home empty for years now. Sigh... Sometimes, I can't help but feel left behind. I wonder, are we truly blessed?