Penang, Not All That?

VWC,

You cant judge Penang the same way a local does. A local Chinese is more likely to stay here as long as it works economically. Since Chinese believe they are second-class citizens here, they dont see a firm reason to stay and would leave if the circumstances were good. Many Chinese feel they cannot influence the course of the country and are subservient to Malay-Muslims and they would cite that as a reason to leave. But, as they say, as long as they are making money, why not stay longer? So, the quality of life is whatever it is and isnt the influencer to stay or leave as it might be for an expat.

The average Chinese is influenced by their children. If the children were sent to Australia for college, and the kids decided to stay and make a career there, the parents in their retirement will be arranging their affairs to live in Australia too (or UK, or HK, or USA, or Canada or anywhere). Outside of retirement, like when the parents are still much younger, the Chinese will not worry right now about the location of the kids but be looking for economic opportunity wherever that might be. Maybe they stay in Malaysia as citizens but invest in HK or Indonesia or AU or US or anywhere to increase wealth. They dont care about quality of life the way you or I might, they adapt to any environment that gives successful economic results.

Interestingly many Malaysians who
changed nationality usually to British because of historical links to that citizenship are now returning via mm2h at retiree level because Ringgit for Ringgit  their lifestyle is better here and culturally it's stronger than in the west. Something rather unique is locals maintained their networks since school times and the pull is quite strong. It's quite clanish and there is plenty of support for doing business and reintegration is easy. There are HK folk splitting their time partly in Penang. Australians do this too. There are Japanese, Korean, Taiwanese and Chinese mainland internationals here and their lifestyle is catered for. There are links to armed forces service in PG which brings people back. English language being used is an attractive feature. But that's the same in all former British colonies. It's a location for a simple lifestyle and not particularly glitzy, glamorous or high profile. Tropical destination with reasonable (note it is not cheap) cost of living applies. But Malaysia is not first world although Penang is advancing its agenda rapidly because it has ideal conditions as the article mentions regarding education and management skills. The laid back vibe is enjoyed by many but PG is not for everyone. But it does have several thousand people on mm2h now and a thriving community of foreigners. Statistically there are more expats in PG than anywhere else in Malaysia.

I've been a Penang expat for 8 years now (aside from previous 5 years). My youngest daughter was born here. Work/life balance is relatively acceptable here.

I worked in Manila, Singapore, Johor and Jeddah. Seen worse living environment.