It’s great to be #1 at things. In Malaysia, this is often limited to being ranked top seed in crime in Southeast Asia, medical tourism, and condom manufacturing.
The latest reports out of Australia show that we have collected top prize in something else: overstaying our Australian visas.
We’re #1! We’re #1!
The Courier Mail is reporting that there are currently over 64,600 people living illegally in Australia, and Malaysians make up 9,440 of them. Second on the list was China with 6,500 over-stayers. A country that has 45 times more people than we do, can only muster two-thirds the amount of illegals compared to us. EAT IT, RED DRAGON.
Rounding the list off at number 3 and 4 were the United States and the United Kingdom, respectively, followed by Indonesia, India, South Korea, Philippines, Vietnam and Thailand.
Australian Immigration says that nearly 70% of these individuals entered Australia through legal channels such as visitor and student visas, and have simply chosen to stay longer than their permits were valid for. One of the individuals on the list had been evading authorities for over 40 years.
Back home, when we asked one young Malaysian why they overstayed their visa over 3 months they gave the most succinct answer of the morning: “I just didn’t want to go back.”
Indeed. We too would find it hard to leave the land of the Oporto burger.
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