John Miller is the Chief Executive Officer at iPerintis Sdn Bhd. He moved to Malaysia with his family from United Kingdom in 2008. He has found Malaysia to be an exciting place to live and work, with a potential that looks to blossom in the coming years.

“The Government has a vision and has set some tough goals to be delivered via the Economic Transformation Programme. I personally look forward to contributing to Malaysia’s development and future success,” says Miller, adding that he is grateful for the opportunity.

Miller is a holder of the Residence Pass and feels that it’s a very positive step towards the right direction, especially for expatriates. “It allows us as a family to plan for the longer term about very important things, such as education for the children. It also has significant influence on whether or not we should invest in a home or continue to rent.”

In conclusion, Miller states that the Residence Pass is a great initiative as it provides “options, flexibility and stability that did not exist before.”

Ashok Ramamurthy, an Australian, moved to Malaysia 5 years ago and his experience in this country has been nothing but positive. A self-described global citizen, Mr. Ashok thinks Malaysians are some of the friendliest and most welcoming in the world. He is also impressed with the city’s infrastructure (“Except during peak hours, or when it rains and the city is gridlocked,” he admits, sounding thoroughly Malaysian!) and, naturally, the food. “It is awesome in variety and not too expensive,” he says.

He does have some constructive criticism that could help better the country. He believes that English as the language of communication in schools must be embraced across the board if the country plans to be competitive in the global market. Further on the subject of education, Ashok Ramamurthy feels strongly that standards must be maintained at the highest levels without any affirmative bias, and that employment opportunities should be provided without bias.

When it comes to attracting and retaining the best talents, Malaysia is on the right path but more can (and will) be done. “Malaysia is an excellent talent destination. The government, under the current Prime Minister, is pursuing a transformation programme that is strategic with clear milestones. Under the Economic Transformation Programme, Malaysia will continue towards becoming a first-world country with improving education standards and progressive global institutions setting up shop in the country.”

Dr. Marie’s first visit to Malaysia was in 1990. In the short time that she was here, she had a feeling that Malaysia would grow to become something special to her. And she was right! She eventually picked up development economics in university and when she was offered a full-time PhD scholarship in 1996, she decided with little hesitation to focus her research on Malaysia. She returned again in 1999 for another project, and hasn’t looked back since.

She has been in Malaysia for 13 years now and has worked with 3 employers in total. At first, Dr. Marie found it difficult being an expatriate here. “My local contract could never exceed 2 years. At each renewal, administrative papers had to be done all over again. Even though I was greatly helped by the respective Human Resource department, it was still a hassle to go through,” she explains. She also could not apply for a Permanent Resident status as she did not have enough points to qualify.

So when Dr. Marie found out about the Residence Pass-Talent programme, she thought of it as the long-awaited answer to her problem. “Finally, an available option that could make my stay here easier for me and also the employer!”

Although she admits that she has had to adapt to the different work culture and environment in Malaysia, she thoroughly enjoys all that Malaysia has to offer. She enjoys meeting Malaysians from all walks of life. She says, “They (Malaysians) are nice people with a good heart, and are always here to help you.” She also enjoys the mix of culture here and how that mix influences everything from food to clothing.

For all the enrichment that Malaysia has brought to her life, Dr. Marie hopes to contribute to the country through her work as a Senior Research Fellow at Universiti Malaya. She hopes to inspire her students to believe in what they are doing and get them excited about contributing to the world. She also participates in important conferences and brain-storming, all helping with the development of Malaysia. “We are indeed not yet there, but it is not only the end result which matters. It is also the process which leads us there that is important, if not the most important.”

Stuart L. Dean has been based in Malaysia for 10 years. As the CEO of GE ASEAN., he made the decision to base their headquarters in Malaysia due to the country’s convenient location and its higher, but still cost-effective, standard of living.

A holder of the Residence Pass, Stuart finds that being part of the Residence Pass-Talent programme has yielded a variety of benefits. “Now that I’m a holder of the RP, I am exempted from filling out embarkation forms upon arrival in Malaysia and no longer need to have my passport manually stamped when entering and departing the country. Considering that I travel extensively, this has helped ease my mobility in and out of the country tremendously,” he says.

Despite being a well-seasoned traveller, Stuart still finds Malaysia an enchanting location that has a lot of experiences to offer. Despite having lived here for a decade, Stuart proclaims that there’s still much to see. “I enjoy the outdoors and residing in such a lush, green, tropical environment is definitely a plus for me. I have enjoyed my holidays in Langkawi, Penang and Kota Kinabalu; and have my sights set on conquering Mount Kinabalu very soon!”

Stuart balances play with work efficiently, and finds that the Malaysian work culture helps him achieve this easily. “I am impressed by the level of efficiency and work ethics maintained by Malaysian professionals, particularly in the private sector. I’m confident under the leadership of the current administration, we’ll continue to see improvements in the service level of Ministries and government agencies.”

As Malaysia moves towards achieving high income status by 2020, Stuart believes his work will contribute to that goal. GE plans to play a key role in supporting the growth of the country, and they’re also actively working to further develop their talent pool to help Malaysia address its talent shortage issue. Last but not least, GE has successfully convinced several Malaysian GE employees working overseas to return home, further contributing to the nation’s growth.

Mona Kalu moved to Miri, Sarawak over 7 years ago on an International Assignment by Shell. She had a young family, so when considering the options available for such an assignment, she chose Malaysia as it seemed like the best choice to combine work with raising a family.

Since she arrived in 2004, before the Residence Pass-Talent programme was implemented, she initially found the change difficult. “Having to renew visas every quarter or twice a year, if you’re fortunate, was a big headache. You quickly run out of passport pages and some people went through two passports in a single year.” This means that they would sometimes have to travel to Kuala Lumpur from Miri and spend days waiting for their passport to be ready before returning to Miri.

Considering the troublesome situation, Mona found the RP-T to be a blessing. As a Residence Pass holder, she finds that a programme like this gives expatriates a feeling of being welcomed to the country. Furthermore, she likes the fact that spouses are given the opportunity to find employment if they wanted to.

Mona says that there are lots to enjoy in Malaysia like the food, stability, unity in diversity of the people and most importantly, prevailing peace. She particularly appreciates the number of public holidays! “This gives most people – local and expats – the opportunity to relax and travel around the region, which is very good for the economy.”

Mona aims to contribute more than just the above, of course. As a geo-scientist, her biggest contribution has been in the area of oil and gas development to meet Malaysia’s requirements. In the course of her work, she has transferred a lot of knowledge to the locals. “I have seen most of the graduates I have mentored blossom into becoming full-fledged geo-scientists. I see myself contributing in human capital development through active coaching and mentoring.”

Eight years ago, Shirish Kaner received an invitation from Motorola Malaysia to join them as an industrial designer. There was one issue however – Shirish and his family were comfortably settled in Mumbai and he was reluctant to move his family away from India. However, due to the attractive job package and the promise of a good life in Penang, Shirish and his wife Divya decided to take the chance to move to Malaysia. Today, the thought of returning to India doesn’t even cross their mind. “Now we have a 3-year-old daughter who was born here and we are glad to have her growing up in Penang.”

Shirish’s career has developed since he first moved. He is now the manager of Innovation Design at Motorola and life in Penang has been good to his family. “Divya and I love Penang food and the variety of local cuisine. We have a big social circle of local and expat friends and families. We have attended great events and received invitations to marriages, open houses, Raya festivals, Chinese New Year dinners … the list goes on!”

But it was not that easy to begin with. When they first moved, they would have to submit their passports for renewal every 2 years. Try as they might, they could not feel settled in and could not make long-term decisions to make Penang their home. “With the Residence Pass-Talent programme, I can very well make solid plans for the next decade: devote my time with Motorola to lead long-term innovation projects, send my growing kid to good schools in Penang and even accept a long-term assignment with Universiti Sains Malaysia (USM) to mentor future design students,” he says.

Shirish enjoys the work-life balance in Penang. His colleagues, subordinates and supervisors are honest with their aim to build world-class products from Motorola’s Penang facility. In his role as the manager of the Innovation Design team, he looks forward to mentoring new hires, retaining talent and attracting talent for the future. His colleagues have also influenced him to be more outdoorsy, so now Shirish is leading a more active life that includes lots of hiking, cycling and scuba diving.

Shirish has big dreams for life in Malaysia. Besides working at Motorola, Shirish wants to share his design skills and knowledge with students at USM’s design school. He also wishes to become a scuba diving instructor. “If I get to stay in Malaysia forever, I will like to strengthen the local design community and teach eco-friendly diving.”

Adachi Yoshikazu is the President and CEO of Nomura Securities Malaysia, a leading securities and investment banking company in Japan. He spent most of his career outside Japan – he has lived in Bahrain, Hong Kong and London before being appointed to Kuala Lumpur in July 2009.

He admitted that he didn’t have any specific idea about life in Malaysia but was relieved by the smooth process of obtaining the proper license and working permits, thanks to the Securities Commission. He pointed out that one of the redeeming virtues of Malaysia is “the people, who are quite open to other cultures” and that eases him altogether towards settling in Malaysia.

When asked about his opinion regarding Residence Pass-Talent programme, he answers, “It would definitely attract more talented people to Malaysia. It’s a very good scheme provided by the government.” The feature that he likes most about RP-T is the flexibility of the working conditions, thanks to his 10-year pass.

He does have several words of advice for foreign talent who are considering a move to Malaysia for work. “Given well-furnished living infrastructures, proactive government support and skilled, but friendly, people here in Malaysia, you will find working in Malaysia and fruitful and fulfilling experience.”

It has been more than 10 years since Miyama Akira was appointed as the Executive Director of RHB Bank Berhad. His admiration for former Prime Minister of Malaysia Tan Sri Dr. Mahathir Mohamad, developed when they last met during the financial economic debate in 1995, led him to know more about Malaysia and he was thrilled when he was appointed to the country.

For him, settling into Malaysia was an easy task as he feels that the Malaysians are very friendly. He discovered that life in the capital city, Kuala Lumpur (which he describes as the “Crown Jewel of Malaysia”) is “well ordered and much safer compared to other Asian countries.”

Mr. Miyama is a proud holder of the Residence Pass – Talent and he feels very honoured that the Government has recognised the contributions from top foreign talent, like himself, towards the country via this programme.

He sees a great potential in Malaysia to be a major force in the banking sector, especially in the Islamic financial market and urges top foreign talents around the world to grab the opportunity to be part of this rapidly growing market in the world.

When William Donald Duncan packed up his life in Calgary, Alberta to move to Miri, Sarawak, he never imagined staying for more than a year. But that was in 1990. Twenty-two years later, the petrophysicist and his family are still living here, and loving life in the tropics.

Needless to say, the Duncans do not regret their big move to Asia. But of course, their first year in a strange country came with its fair share of culture shocks. However, the hospitality of Malaysians helped the Duncans adjust to life in Miri. “We had Indian neighbours on one side, Malay neighbours on the other and a Chinese family across from us. I truly believed they were in competition to be the nicest to us! Thanks to these wonderful neighbours, our culture shock was short-lived.”

The Duncans currently live in Kuala Lumpur after William’s department shifted from Miri to the capital city. His family are Residence Pass holders, and they could not be happier with the RP-T programme. They are thankful that they’ll be able to stay in Malaysia for another 10 years with no worry, and with the RP-T not being tied to an employment contract, the Duncans have more options to pursue other passions, like teaching English to youngsters!

“Another great benefit is not having to carry our passports for day-to-day use, e.g. dealing with banks. The i-Pass has been fully accepted at all occasions where official ID is required,” says William. And since the Duncans love to travel, they also like the access to Priority Lanes at Malaysian airports, another privilege of the RP-T.

For people considering a move to Malaysia, William urges them to embrace the opportunity. “There is no issue with language as English is widely spoken. There is no issue with climate: year-round summer, no live volcanoes, no tornadoes, no hurricanes, no typhoons. There is no issue with education as there are a plethora of high quality international schools to choose from. There is no issue with medical facilities,” he explains. Ultimately, William poses this question to interested parties: “Why wait? Do it now.”

I studied Industrial Engineering and started my career at a trading company, working there for about 30 years before moving to the company I currently work for – Kozato Kizai (M) Sdn. Bhd. based in Shah Alam, Selangor. During my time at the trading company, I worked in Europe, USA and Japan in various capacities such as imports, exports, off-shore trading, domestic business, market developments and project managements.

Kozato Kizai was part of a joint venture with the trading company I was working for at the time. The company then offered me the post to manage the joint venture company. At that time, the South East Asia economy was rapidly growing and Malaysia was one of the most advanced countries in the region. In a country with such high potential, I came here anticipating many valuable opportunities and new challenges. During the course of my 13 years here, my way of thinking shifted from “This is a good career opportunity for me” to “I would like to contribute as much as I can to this country in return for all it has given me”. I am grateful to Malaysia, as it has been very good to me and my family.

Challenges will always arise when settling in a new place, no matter where it is. As long as the infrastructure and facilities available are good, there will be no major problems. Even if there are any, they are only minor issues and can easily be overcome.

The people here are nice and friendly and it is a peaceful country. I think these two issues are key in the decision to live in a country for a long period of time. Malaysia has a very rapid economic growth rate, but there are still many things to improve, and in so doing, we can obtain clear, satisfactory results in our work.

You have to be ready to understand differences in culture and accept them. This is not difficult at all, and once you are ready, every door will be open to you. From my experience, Malaysia is definitely one of the best and most enjoyable countries in the world to live and work in.