Brexit 2016

This is my first post regarding a more serious event that occurs currently in the world and how it affects our lives altogether.

Most of us would have known, if not all, the Brexit frenzy that has happened recently and in Malaysia, we are not spared from the cascading effect that is caused by this event. To put into a much simpler perspective, Brexit is a set of referendum that is decided by several group of voters and members of parliament and government agencies to determine whether the UK should leave or remain in the membership of European Union, better known as EU. The result was “LEAVE”.

To Malaysians, we might think that it is quite a recent issue in the UK but it actually dates back to 2013 where the soon-to-leave PM of the UK, David Cameron had announced that he wanted to make a referendum to ensure that the voices of the people are heard and the people’s demands are fulfilled.

There are several factors that caused this referendum to arise. 

First, the UK citizens felt that it was time to leave EU as there are too many freedom and opportunities for outsiders to take advantage of what was previously offered for the locals. As EU practice free trade and movement across its members, many people especially from non-English speaking countries seek opportunities to have a better life for themselves and find jobs in the UK. Apparently, this effect was far too cataclysmic in which the locals themselves had to compete with the migrants to get the same level of jobs. This situation is further worsened with the current incoming batches of refugees from war-torn countries that have been afflicted with continuous conflicts like Syria, Iraq and other Middle East Countries.

Second, the currency of pound had declined quite significantly over the past few months that caused many to ponder upon the reliability of EU as an international union that ensures continuous wealth for each sovereign member. Therefore, traders, sellers and the public feel that it is better to leave the EU as the impact of the economic sluggishness could be less affected by being a “stand-alone” country. Since I am not an Economist by training, I cannot elaborate much on that and I can only describe things on the surface of the key issues.

What are the effects of this outcome?

It can be both negative and positive. From a Malaysian’s point of view, I see education and economy are two key issues that will have a significant impact on our country. I agree with our experts in Economics or other analysts saying that the effect would be far too minimal for us to see and feel. However, I have my own opinions as well since Malaysia does import and export with the UK as well and we send our students there to study at top-notch universities for brighter ROI for the future of our country.

Firstly, I see that we are likely to have higher costs for imported products and produce, especially from the UK. This is because the UK no longer relies on EU to do trading of the products and as such, they can set up their own ceiling price and they have the freedom to determine the CPI for each country that the UK exports to, based on the production and manufacturing costs that are devised by them. So, don’t be surprised if the previous cereals from England that you bought at hypermarkets can cost double than the previous ones.

Secondly, our education fees at the UK are likely to soar. Why? Because the funding that was previously done by EU is no longer available and the universities still need to seek its education fund and endowment for its R&D purpose. Thus, the universities have no other ways than to increase the fees for its international students to gain more revenues for the continuity of the institutions.

The issues of Brexit are all about immigration issues and economics’ sovereignty of its people. The people of the UK could no longer tolerate the influx of legal and illegal migrants coming to their country and stealing their jobs and other benefits that only natives are supposed to have. Indirectly, this shows that the people of the UK have a sense of racism towards people that originate from other countries. Even if there are some people who are considerate and thoughtful of the migrants’ hardships and background, they are, at a certain extent, have reached the ultimate maximum boiling point ever since the mass incoming of Syrian refugees due to the escalating violence in the Middle East.

If the UK leaves, the people presume that the country will implement much tighter and more stringent criteria to let people settle in the country. As such, the welfare of the locals are being uphold and taken care of.

I STILL has a lot to say on this issue, but for now, I will just leave the stone unturned and let the readers think of how we view this dramatic change in the political and administration scene of the UK.