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.
