Google Accent

I tried the Google App voice search for the first time after installing it a year ago.
I searched for something more recent, something the world talks about, so I tried, "Libya oppression".

The result was "lesbian operation".

Fine, it's my accent. So I cleared my throat and pressed the microphone icon again, I spoke up "li-bi-ya o-preh-shen", this time in a clearer and slower voice.

The result was "legion operation".

Tried again, it was "Libya operation".

Ah..getting there. So I tried again, it was, "Beautiful person".

"Beautiful person" from "Libya oppression"

I gave up in the end, knowing that I will never get there. Or was Google actually telling me these are the outcomes of the Libya oppression? I doubt it's as intuitive as that yet, but who knows.

A moment of realisation, I resorted to typing them out in the search bar and got 2.87 million results in 0.20 seconds.

Visa

Today I received my Biometric Residence Permit which means I am in the last leg of my stay before being granted an indefinite leave to remain in the UK - or commonly known as a PR. Okay I am already counting the chicken before the eggs hatch. I am assuming I am still around for the next two years; gainfully employed and not tainted by a criminal record.

Immigration rules have certainly changed a lot in the span of four years. I first started with the International Graduate Scheme (IGS) which gave me the opportunity to work here for a year after Cambridge. Six months later, the IGS was scrapped and replaced by the Tier 1 - Post Study Work Visa. The switch was to facilitate the points-based system. The T1-PSW does the same thing as the IGS, except that it is valid for two years.

After a year with the IGS, I applied to be a highly-skilled migrant. I applied to this new form of visa, known as the Tier 1- General, also a points-based system, to remain in the country. At the time engineers were a great commodity. There weren't enough of people like us in the country. We were in the list of skills shortage group. T1G was easily available to almost anyone with the right qualification, age, salary, skills and some money in the bank. As long as you fulfil these criteria, you're in.

Biometric Residence Permit

Things have changed a lot today. Apart from the application fee increasing from £750 four years ago to £1000 today, the T1G is now abolished. The Biometric Residence Permit (basically like the MyKad) is also a new invention to replace the vignette stamp in the passport. The only way to come into the UK is through a Tier 2 route which requires you to be in the skills shortage list and an employer who is willing to support your application. Yes, lots of odds stacked against newcomers.

Tier 1 is now only for the rich or super-smart. As long as you have £1mil in cold hard cash, or exceptionally talented (such as some award winning mad scientist), you're in. That too is based on a quota. Because I neither have £1mil in cold hard cash nor a noble prize to prove my exceptional talent (running a marathon, blogging and youtube videos don't count!) I wouldn't have gotten a visa if I applied one from Malaysia today!

The skills shortage list now suggest that my type of engineering profession is no longer needed in the country. But we're not alone. We join other professionals such as pharmacists, biology teachers and musicians. Doctors have been banned long time ago. The doors are closed, at least for newcomers in these sectors. Those who are in might have to follow new rules.

Recently the government was embroiled in a bit of an action with regards to border controls. The moribund economy further exacerbated feelings of xenophobia among jobless British people. Whenever statistics of unemployment are published, immigrants are to blame for "taking jobs" from the locals. Some politicians find it a great opportunity to make popular decisions to the detriment of immigrants in the country. One report suggested that the government will want to break the link between staying for five years and automatic conversion to PR. In the proposal, immigrants will now have to cross the threshold earning of £35,000 in order to become a PR. Anyone earning less will have to leave.

Imagine the disruption to businesses. But that's an example of what I meant by politicians "making popular decisions to the detriment of immigrants..." and may I add...businesses as well.

It's been a cracking five years witnessing the ups and downs of the immigration rules in this country. After going through so many hoops and considering how difficult it is for others to come in now, I am beginning to think if I should ever leave in the near term or even at all.

Diasporas

Occasionally I am ashamed of my country because of the things I experience and news I read online.

At times, I am also very proud of us; again by what I experience and read online. This week I felt particularly patriotic because of what I found out.

Last Saturday, I had lunch with my friends at Hakkasan, a Michelin-starred restaurant in Mayfair. I had always wanted to dine in Hakkasan especially with all the rave reviews about it, however the prohibitive cost had always affected our collective decisions. I don't fancy dining in a posh restaurant on my own, so I must involve friends or at least a friend before I agree to do it. **Some joked if cost is our deciding factor, that means we still haven't made it in life!;)**

Hakkasan

Hakkasan was the brainchild of Alan Yau. He's a Hong Kong restaurant entrepreneur who also opened Wagamama, Sake no Hana, Yauatcha and Princi Spirito di Milano. There are also the smaller fast casual restaurants like Busaba Eathai and ChaChaMoon. An impressive string of restaurants under his belt I must say. But this has changed. To-date, Wagamama is sold, Sake no Hana is sold, Yauatcha is sold...and you guessed it, Hakkasan is sold!

At one end of the spectrum, there is this person I so admire for his entrepreneur skills. Someone whose business is to build businesses and sell them for a profit; and at the other end, the jewels in the businesses themselves. For Hakkasan to keep its Michelin star, they have to be impeccable. Alan Yau isn't the one who maintains the star for his restaurants; it is the Head Chef and his team. Who are these people? Who is the Head Chef? So I find out.

Hakkasan's success is largely due to it's Head Chef, Mr Tong Chee Hwee, a Malaysian who alternated his career with Singapore and Kuala Lumpur before being headhunted by Alan Yau ten years ago. I wouldn't have thought the man behind all the rave reviews about the food happened to be a Malaysian. In fact I read that his great culinary skills were influenced by observing his mother and grandmother doing some serious Malaysian cooking in wooden stoves when he was young!

The Hakkasan experience spurred me on to look for the next Michelin-star restaurant to dine. I then found Kai, also at Mayfair. This is the first Chinese Restaurant that was awarded a Michelin star and guess what, it's run by Bernard Yeoh, a Malaysian. It's head chef, Alex Chow, is also another Malaysian.

So what's the big deal with the whole Malaysian thingy? Nothing. However these two examples gave meaning to an article I read in the weekend - the magic of diasporas; they also gave compelling evidence that my country is losing a lot of good people. And some of them are Michelin-starred people that the world now talks about but once neglected by it's own country.

Progress in Life

When I was studying here, I was careful with money. Even though there was no need to account for what I do with my money, I made sure my scholarship was always spent on important and necessary things only. In some ways, I made myself accountable for the "good" expected of me by my sponsors. For example, I'd rather pay £500** to fly back to Malaysia for my research than £90 for the wool coat that was selling at a bargain on Boxing Day sales.

I was a member of the Cambridge University Hare and Hounds Club. I had always wanted to get the club winter running gear but resisted the temptation. To me that was a "considered purchase", so I refrained from such "luxury". My free long sleeves were good enough and I wasn't too happy paying exorbitant sums only to soil the gear (we used to run in mud!)

This week I finally made a purchase of the club's hoodie in preparation for winter. Finally I can afford such "luxury". Not bad for some progress in life huh?;)

**That too didn't happen as I won a large grant for my research in the end! ....and I still didn't get the wool coat.

Pain of November

Today I know how it feels for a mother to see her child dead upon birth.

After working hard on something for 11 months, sacrificing social life for weekends in the office, waking up in cold sweat in the middle of the night and poring through texts of hundreds of journals, what I got in the end was a dead "baby".

Eloi Eloi lama sabachthani.