Greener Pastures

Someone said the other day that the state of affairs that Malaysia was in made her want to migrate. The prospect of living somewhere else, presumably some developed white man's land seemed pretty attractive to her.

We seem to have this inferiority complex and think that we're the only country in the world with problems.

The UK has problems of its own:

North Sea Oil reserves are running out and Russia's having a tiff with Ukraine about oil (there's a Russian oil pipeline supplying the UK which runs through Ukraine), so if the UK doesn't build a bunch of nuclear plants soon (even the proposal of these have been met with public outrage thanks to strong environmentalist culture), it's going to have a major energy crisis at hand. The NHS is still having problems with long waiting lines and inefficient, underperforming hospitals. Since the £3,000 per annum university fee was imposed, university applications have fallen. And if you thought Rafidah crying and hugging Dr M was a big laugh, don't you think its a bigger joke to see politician George Galloway taking part in Celebrity Big Brother along with Dennis Rodman and a professional Paris Hilton look-alike.

In the US:

It is implied that racial discrimination caused the un-speedy aid received by those struck by Hurricane Katrina. Promises of social security reform have yet to materialise. Its political system is increasingly perverted and corrupted by lax campaign finance laws. Its inner cities are crime ridden and gun laws are practically non-existent.

I've got no problems with migration. You can go anywhere you want to live -that's fine with me. But is it safe to say that some people (this is not a generalisation) who migrate elsewhere are potentially happier because they block out problems in their original country (since they have given up citizenship there, it should no longer concern them) or because they take a wholly apolitical outlook in their newly found home?

Is it possible that the issues that irk you the most are the ones which happen where your roots lie and which concern matters that are closest to your heart.