Msian Chat and House Hunting

Chatting about Malaysia   

I have, by and large, tried to keep to my recent resolution to not run down Malaysia. So for example when I was speaking to some friends yesterday and the usual derisions were offered, I simply demurred and suggested some positive sides or proffered hope. My reservations were of course received with some surprise and jibes about whether I was starting to think about returning. I said no of course I wasn’t returning. Malaysia is no longer my home and leaving aside the never-say-never mantra as a ubiquitous caveat, I cannot see myself returning in any extended period. I cannot anyway. I am no longer a Malaysian, except maybe in a corner of heart somewhere. There is a Singaporean in the group I was talking to and he said, for the umpteenth time, that Malaysia was such a wasted opportunity. The country is beautiful, had vast natural resources and a legacy of education and legal system which could have provided a launching pad to make it a great place. Instead, constant bickering over racial issues together with greedy and corrupt politicians have conspired to send it closer to an African despot haven than ever. The increasing religious bigotry and extremist attitudes have made it an even less attractive place to invest, work and raise family. Even though the above stuff came from the group I was chatting with and not from me, it should not have made its way to this entry. I shall stop here on this issue.

House Hunting

A week after accepting an offer for our house, we have now begun viewing homes in earnest. For some reason, I am not overly concerned about finding a place. I don’t know if I should be. Properties are so expensive now so while it is great to cash in on current high prices, replacement costs would always be an issue and we knew this all along. It is just that we had planned on finding something else for a while now and had always thought about selling our current place so it isn’t a sudden decision which we haven’t thought through before. Yet, when we finally embarked on looking for a replacement home, it felt so daunting and tiring. On Saturday after the routing house cleaning in the morning, we set out and looked at various houses. By the time we got back at around 4.30pm, Theresa was so tired she was just glad to sit down in a stationary position and browse through some brochures instead. We decided to have some “teochew” porridge which was great (except for the colour as we used some sweet potato which was of the purple variety!).Yesterday after church we resumed our search and visited 2 more houses, and unlike Saturday, we spent a lot more time in each of these 2 houses. One was just off Waverley Road. It is a subdivision with 2 units and a relative had wanted the front unit which was much bigger and nicer. We were asked if we would be interested in the other one with hopefully a discount based on a bulk/package offer. It turned out the price differential between the 2 units made the remaining one disproportionately priced and it felt a lot less spacious than the other one in the subdivision. The other property we saw was just off Foster Road and was much nicer in terms of space, quality of finish and design. The one big question mark was the fact that it sat on a slope and a part of the house, meant to be a cellar-like underground storage facility, was a bit unnerving. We would have to continue looking, as painful as it is. We have just under 3 months to find and move into another place. God would have to accentuate the Heavenly Father role now.