Well,
where should I start from?
Maybe I should start with some common "burns" or casual remarks that we Malaysians face while overseas. I would presume that I'm not the only Malaysian who gets it as stereotypes do exist and so do immature/insensitive people who like to joke upon them.
Malaysians are known to be fiercely protective of our national prides (including our food, our sportsmen, our beautiful landscapes, heritage etc...), you can tell if you have any friend from Malaysia (well I mean those who identifies themselves closely to the country, not those who merely hold the citizenship).
So, Saturday night when I was hanging out with bunch of friends, then one casually mentioned "oh I found that the Malaysian Milo has a worse recipe than that of Australia's (which was also bad according to her taste)". I was like, hell no, then started defending both of my favorite versions of Milo, but before I even got the chance to breakdown the taste and different formulations of Milo's from different countries (I have tried Milo from 5 or 6 different countries), another friend burned in, starting to make fun of the country where I came from, saying that Malaysia is, inherently, inferior to "Country S" (erhem I'm not gonna spell it out as I'm just using my experience as an example), by pointing out the fact that many Malaysians are expatriates in Country S, if Malaysia was so good why not we go back and tap onto its great prospects (it's a common argument that I observed said by people in Country S towards foreigners, both online and from my natural social circles). I'm not exaggerating to say that I was at the verge of lashing out to bark back or just to simply storm out, but I think I was quite good at suppressing these unnecessary anger and keeping it at bay before I say anything which might further sever the ties between me and the other party. However, it doesn't mean that I am ok and I accept the remarks.
Here comes the thing, are we able to quantify the inherent goodness of countries, and rank them whether one is better than the other? Some would say yes, as that's the whole point of having different indexes and scales to see on what aspects countries should look into to ensure the well being of their people, development of the country and the international image it projects. Figures of Gini coefficient, Press Freedom Index, and various components which make up the UNDP Human Development Index are certainly good indicators of different areas about how well each country is doing, in comparison to others.
However, if you were to say one country is better/worse than another, without pin-pointing which area you are referring to and disregarding other aspects which the situation might be reversed, then you are making a sweeping statement about the inherent value of the countries. Don't get me wrong, I am not saying that my home country is necessarily better than Country S either, and I willfully admit that there are so many things in Malaysia are very flawed (corruption, high crime rates, just to name two which my country is infamous for). But, I would like to point out that if one likes to (or is used to) making such sweeping statements about one country better than another, is likely to cause resentment and discourage inclusivity thus a less harmonious social atmosphere, let me further illustrate why, it has a lot to do with what has been discussed on the media lately, especially about how the privileged overlook a lot of nuance across different strata in the society.
In a country, like Country S, where the efficiency in the public sector is highly praised and meritocracy is hailed as the way of living which are some of the reasons it's a favorable destination for expatriates, it can be hard for its people to imagine that, how a lot of times, others have situations whereby choices made were not necessarily willing choices, because given the choice, I think many would not want to leave their family and homeland behind to look for further options. Take me and a lot of my fellow Malaysians for example, we love our country a lot, I would say, deeply. What other choice you have but to leave if you are politically or institutionally oppressed? Or rather, how can you change the situation or help with nation building if you don't get empowerment that you need (sadly it has to be outsourced)? However, does it mean that we stop loving it and we allow other people to insult it? No. And a lot of overseas Malaysians still retain their citizenship despite their years being PR in other countries, hoping that someday they can return for good. Though in some people's eyes it seems that "nah they are not patriotic enough, if they were to love the country so much they would have gone back to contribute", I know of communities helping the country and fellow countrymen in other indirect ways while staying abroad. And why we are upset when others joke/criticize it with sweeping/unconstructive statements? Because you have no moral grounds to do so. You don't pay our taxes, and neither you have experienced what we suffered. So if anyone is to complaint about it, it's us, not you.
Some would say, "Wait, but we employ you, we give you opportunities, your salary is gonna be sent home to build your economy!" Hold on here, the same group of people who said "if you're not happy being here then go back", try take another perspective by thinking, "though these foreigners send home their money, they paid their income taxes here and contributed to our nation building too". Think about it, the very reason why expatriates or migrant workers exist in one place, is to fill in the manpower gap that the native, local population couldn't support. A person saying that this group of foreign workforce being dispensable clearly shows that he or she is either uninformed, or has no gratitude towards others' contribution. If this group of expatriates don't feel appreciated for their work, and their work only be seen as a dispensable commodity (something which I kind of link to labour alienation but not exactly), it encourages exclusivity, whereby employers (or people in the host country) continue to see this community as separated from their society and at the same time the expats don't feel included, but in reality everyone is in the same ecosystem.
I think, in the era of globalization where mobility of labour and talents is happening at such high rates, it's time to stop all these unkind remarks and judge people based on their country of origin, since you won't know where the person you meet next will come from, and how deeply rooted is their national/ethnic identity. Before you make any remark, think twice, and remember your privilege which others do not have.
