I may have just convinced someone to take up the MY MALAYSIA SECOND HOME programme

MORE?

I know an American currently working with an international IT company. He has been working in Malaysia for 2 years and is about to end his tenure here and go back to the US. This weekend, I invited him and his family to come over to visit Putrajaya.

He was so impressed with what we have (even with all the perceived shortcomings) that he is seriously thinking of making Malaysia his second home. However, what is interesting were the reasons he wanted to continue to stay here.

The first thing that was a strong pull for him and his family is, believe it or not, Malaysia's medical facilities. For such a rich country such as the US, the cost of medical service is so high that it is ridiculous even for them. He just did a simple procedure recently and he was charged US$4,000 (at Subang Jaya Medical, which we already know is quite expensive, even for Malaysians). He told me that his neighbour in US who works as an anesthetist, usually charges US$7,000, and this does not include the cost of the operation, surgeon etc.

His premium is US$20,000 per year and like all insurance, the first US$7,000 must be self-covered before the coverage kicks in. With 3 in the family, it works out to approximately US$60,000 per year!

The second fact that attracted him to Malaysia is, wait for it, the education system! He and his wife finds it very affordable with a lot of choices. His wife is from Hong Kong and they wanted their daughter to learn Mandarin. The find the choices here to be very good.

So, what is the moral of the story? Sometime is good to reflect what we have. The grass may look greener on the other side but to other people on the other side of the fence, our grass looks more appetizing!