0wning home in state.
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Another patched from yeeping@thestar.com.my

While the United States’ housing sector struggles through its bleakest period in 16 years, most Malaysians in America go through even tougher times to have a roof over their heads.

IT WAS an Oprah moment for the Loo family. Five years after arriving in America, taking up dozens of odd jobs and missing out on untold hours of sleep, they finally have a place they can call their own.

On Tuesday, they will move into a US$550,000 (RM1.9mil) double-storey house, completing their American Dream.

“It had been our plan from day one to buy a house here. We would bank in our salaries, withdrawing only sufficient for daily expenses. Everything else goes towards the house,” said Moses Loo, a hospital administrator.

His wife Michelle Chew, who had accompanied him, works as an insurance executive.

Theirs is a story of triumph in a city of renters. A recent news report, quoting the 2005 American Community Survey, stated that only about 33% of people here are homeowners.

Property prices are staggering. The average apartment in Brooklyn, a New York City borough, costs US$629,000 (RM2.2mil).

You’ll take Manhattan, did you say? In a soon-to-be completed condominium project there the average price per unit is US$1.49mil (RM5.2mil). And a basement parking space goes for US$225,000 (RM783,000).

Loo came to New York for post-graduate studies upon securing a green card through the lottery draw.

In those early days, this 30-something couple would break their backs to take up at least two simultaneous part-time jobs between them. They waited on tables, or worked as a telephone operator for that extra cash.

Sacrifices were aplenty especially when they had their son, now three.

“No movies, no vacations, no going to karaoke although I love to sing,” Chew said.

Loo, on his part, opted for the graveyard shift so as to care for their child during the day. It was only early this year that they began sending the boy to daycare.

Apart from their savings and loans from friends, they borrowed US$400,000 (RM1.4mil) from the bank recently to purchase a 6m by 30m house in Brooklyn. They found the 50-year-old house through an acquaintance and thus were spared the broker’s fee.

“This is such a thrill. We have our own parking space and a yard now. No landlady to tell us not to wash our car. No more going to the laundromat,” Chew said.

(Their US$900, or RM3,100, monthly rental for the ground floor of a two-storey house covered the water bill, so the landlady was often calculative about the usage of the utility. Washing machines are forbidden.)

Most of all, there is freedom.

“The landlady, who lives upstairs, will knock on my door the minute she hears the slightest noise from my TV at night,” Loo said.

In the past two years, Loo and his wife secured well-paying and stable jobs. Last year, they had a combined annual salary of US$80,000 (RM278,000).

However, he played down their achievement.

“We do not have the kind of jobs that we want. That’s the sacrifice,” said Loo, who would have preferred to pursue a career in writing.

Still, he is far more fortunate than those who came here to scratch out a living without legal status.

One Malaysian couple have not seen their two children, now 11 and 12, whom they left in the care of their relatives, since they arrived here a decade ago. The phone is their main way of connecting with their kids.

He works as a deliveryman, while the wife is a cashier at a fruit stall. They have earned enough to own three houses in Malaysia, but fear returning home as they know they could never re-enter the United States should they do so.

Buying a house here is obviously out of the question for illegal immigrants like them. Their option is to rent the upper floor of a double-storey house in Brooklyn with another family.

Manhattan remains out of reach for most renters. A mere studio apartment in the SoHo neighbourhood could cost up to US$2,230 (RM7,760); double that amount for two-bedroom units.

Even monthly parking rates average US$630 (RM2,200) in midtown Manhattan. In San Francisco, it comes to about US$350 (RM1,200).

Newspapers here devote much space to home ownership. Every Thursday, the New York Post will feature dwellings that have been recently sold.

For example, it reported that an 88-square-metre two-bedroom unit in East Village fetched US$785,000 (RM2.7mil). The original asking price was US$849,000 (RM3mil), and it had been on the market for six months.

Another newspaper carries a weekly highlight of couples who have searched for and found their dream place.

The New York Times, in featuring selected homes that are on the market, would not just list the price, size and monthly maintenance fee but also the pros and cons.

A one-bedroom apartment in Upper East Side, for instance, is going for US$765,000 (RM2.6mil).

“Pros: There’s plenty of storage space. The bathroom has been carefully renovated to maintain the original pre-war look. Cons: Maintenance (US$1,464, or RM5,100) is a bit high, although it does include gas and electricity.”

It’s home sweet home only for those with fat bank accounts.

Nepal~kathmandu;

The Petronas{National`s oil company}- South Asia 2007 Expedition, a 62-day trip of 65 participants in 24 FWD vehicles, took off from Kuala Lumpur recently and is travelling through Thailand, Laos, China, Nepal and India, with its final destination at Karachi in Pakistan. For more details visit www.petronasadventure.com
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IT is day 24 and after the “highs” of reaching the Everest Base Camp, the Petronas Adventure Team makes its way across the China-Nepal border en route to Kathmandu.



WHEN we arrived at the Base Camp, with an elevation of 5,153m above sea level, it was drizzling, extremely cold and thick fog covered the astounding stature of the Qomo Lnagma or better known as Mount Everest.

Most of the first-timers here were a tad disappointed for not having the chance to gaze at Everest, but then the experience of being at the base camp is what matters most.

Coming down from the base camp, at 167km, Papa Romeo’s vehicle got stuck in mud. It was winched out. After about 10 minutes, Botak had a minor problem and again the vehicle had to be winched out.

The 170km marked the time and place that our vehicle, the sweeper car, needed to be winched out of mud as again the turbocharger died on us due to thin air. Prima and Amphan helped us out of that muddy mess.

After an hour’s stop at the Everest Blue Leopard Hotel to cook and have dinner, the convoy continued driving towards Zhangmu, which is only 396km from Tingri. Turns out that length was one of the hardest faced by the convoy, as it was a wet and foggy, narrow off-road path towards Zhangmu.

Visibility was limited to about 50m and the strain on eyes and the fatigue almost had some of us down the chasm.

About 295km towards Zhangmu, Air Sejuk had a flat tire and the technical support team responded. About 70km to Zhangmu, the convoy came to halt as a truck had broken down in the middle of the path.

Due to that, the entire convoy spent the night in that sector.

We started early the next day as the path was cleared at 5am in the morning. Without wasting any time, the convoy continued towards Zhangmu and once we arrived, we took baths and had breakfast at the hotel where we were supposed to spend the night.


Chores: Folks washing clothes by the roadside at the China-Nepal border.
After a briefing, the convoy crossed the China-Nepal border. It took us more than an hour to cross as the security at the China side was tight.

On the Nepal side, it was fast and the convoy continued the drive towards Kathmandu, Nepal.

The Nepalese were friendly and it was easier to communicate with them as most of them can speak English. It’s a beautiful and picturesque place with old buildings and culture.



The weather here was hot as we descended to an elevation of 1,303m above sea level. I don’t know about the other convoy members but I am starting to miss the cold weather of China.

According to the Nepalese guide, there are three heritage cities and four old temples that are regularly visited by tourists in Kathmandu, Nepal.

The convoy took their much-needed rest at the Shanker hotel, an old palace turned hotel, after completing 7183.3km of driving, 126km from the Nepalese border. We are now one day ahead of schedule.

Nepalese friend`s in hoilday baazar street, Malaysia city area~ Kotaraya.
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A whole new world awaits if you stroll along the back lanes of the Puduraya-Kota Raya area on a Sunday.

Music blares from speakers placed at the entrance of shops and the entire place bustles with activity and the sound of strange tongues. It is a favourite haunt of Bangladeshis, Nepalese, Thais and Myanmar nationals.

Groceries, music CDs, language books – all kinds of products and services are offered to the migrant worker here on his day off. Here, too, you will find a vast shopping “district” for Nepalese students and workers. A recent check revealed that there are 24 little eateries that cater to them.

However, not many of these “restaurants” have signage, so one would have to ask around to find them.

We stumbled on one such eatery, which was filled with men. Unlike an earlier place which was dingy and smelt of urine, this one was reasonably clean and pleasant. Eyeing us suspiciously, an exhausted-looking waiter greeted us and took our orders. Since no menu was available, he suggested momos (steamed dumplings akin to dim sum), a popular dish in Nepal.

We struck up a conversation.

Shresta (not his real name), 25, used to help his parents in their farm but returns were meagre and the future looked bleak. His parents mortgaged their house, took a loan and sent two of their boys to Malaysia for greener pastures. Shresta arrived here four months ago.

“The salary is still small and I have to work for at least a year to pay the loans my parents took. Only then can I start saving,” he says.

One Nepalese who works in a fast food chain says, “My contract says I have to work six days a week, and after deductions, I get a monthly pay of RM480//1 usd$=3.55myr$. It’s a small amount, so on my day off, I work as a waiter at one of the Nepalese restaurants. This way, I get to interact with other Nepalese, eat food from my country and earn some pocket money.”

Tons of migrant workers find themselves in the same predicament.

The hot piping momos arrived and it was pretty authentic. More workers started trickling in and passed comments while observing us – we clearly didn’t belong here.

We also saw many Gurkha guards chatting happily with fellow Nepalese.

L. Harichandra, 38, a security guard at a condominium in the city, says if given a choice, he would rather be working in Nepal.

“I don’t like being away from my family but what choice do I have? After I left the RNA, I was a shepherd for two years but money was hard to come by. I saw an advertisement in the papers and, after consulting my family, decided to try my luck,” he divulges.

He was offered the security guard job, then hopped on a plane for the first time in August last year, and got terribly airsick. Harichandra had a miserable time adjusting to the turbulence and was elated when the plane landed in Kuala Lumpur.

Since he comes from a mountainous region east of Kathmandu, Harichandra had a bit of trouble acclimatising. In fact, he still finds it too hot.

Like most Gurkhas, Harichandra works 12-hour shifts and takes one day off every fortnight.


Padam Bahadur Yonjanwith security dog Basko.
“Every extra bit counts. You probably don’t know how it feels to be poor,” he looks at me accusingly, “but we are used to not having comforts, so working long hours is nothing new.”

Harichandra has a five-year-old daughter and wants to give her a good education.

Whenever he has free time, he works on improving his language skills by reading the Nepali-Bahasa Malaysia/English book he bought from a store near Puduraya.

To save money, he writes letters to his family instead of making phone calls.

Among the guards at Desa ParkCity is Padam Bahadur Yonjan who has a colourful past. He was a palace guard in the Royal Nepal Army (RNA) when King Birendra was shot dead, allegedly by his son, Crown Prince Dipendra, in 2001.

“I was stationed outside the Royal Palace and didn’t know what was going on until a fellow soldier informed me. I was in total shock as Dipendra used to play football with us and I didn’t think he was capable of murder,” recollects the 38-year-old.

After 13 years in RNA, he resigned as lance corporal as his salary was a paltry RM200-RM300 a month. Yonjan did various jobs after that, including that of a bouncer in a casino in Macau. Unfortunately, an employment agent cheated him out of RM5,000.

“That was a lot of money for me. Later, I thought of getting a job in Dubai but once again, another agent cheated me. You just don’t know who to trust.”

In 2004, Yonjan was one of five Nepalese selected by the British Gurkha Army to fight in the Iraq war.

“I was the one inside the tank, with a gun in my hand and head sticking out. There were gunshots all around but we were in a large convoy so no one was attacked,” he smiles. Six months later, Yonjan returned home at the insistence of his parents and wife, who said the job was too dangerous.

Working in Malaysia is a stark contrast to his days in Baghdad where he earned RM6,000 month, but Yonjan is not complaining.

“I came here because there were other Nepalese from my district who had worked here and said nice things about Malaysia. I decided to give it a try. It’s OK. I want to work until 2010, then I hope to go back to Macau,” he says.

Yonjan misses the missus and keeps in touch via phone. He tries not to take off-days, preferring to work seven days a week, but when he does take a holiday, you are bound to find him mingling with friends and catching up on home news in Kota Raya.

A migrant worker’s life is hard anywhere, but most persevere as they cling on to a dream of a brighter tomorrow.

*attach; picture of Padam Bahadur Yonjanwith security dog Basko.

**cont; Jobs in Malaysia;

-according to Sandera Bahadur, operations manager of Secure Guards Sdn Bhd, there is a big demand for Gurkha guards in Malaysia.

“They are expensive, but their service is excellent. We only hire ex-army and ex-police personnel. They are all trained in using arms, although the labour law here does not allow them to carry weapons,” Bahadur says.

The screening process is tough and guards are selected after thorough vetting. Advertisements are first placed in the Nepalese newspapers and these would attract hundreds of applicants from all over the country to converge in designated interview sites in Kathmandu, Nepal’s capital.

Some walk for miles from their homes, braving the harsh weather, to secure a job.

Says Bahadur: “Our agents over there shortlist the candidates, then my colleague and I fly in to do the interviews. We also make it mandatory for them to converse in English. Some will beg and plead for jobs but we only accept the best.”

Once the guards arrive in Malaysia, they are given two weeks’ training on how to adapt to local culture, how to use fire extinguishers, first aid etc. Thereafter, the authorities require they undergo a four-day physical training camp at a site approved by the Home Affairs Ministry.

The guards are provided uniforms, shoes, transportation to their workplace and accommodation (usually a hostel) with basic amenities like gas, stove and fridge. However, they have to buy their own groceries, utensils and toiletries.

Secure Guards was established by a Malaysian Gurkha family in 1981 and provides armed and static guarding services to commercial establishments in the country. Presently, the company has 284 Gurkha guards employed throughout Malaysia.

“Most of our clients prefer Gurkhas as they are more committed and are easier to work with. The demand is there for Gurkha guards, but we have to abide by the quota set by the government,” says the 50-something Bahadur.

Each security company is given an allocation of migrant workers they may employ, and Secure Guards’ quota stands at 130. Their clients usually ask to interview the guards first.

Due to the rising cost of living, the Nepalese Embassy in Malaysia has set a minimum wage for Nepalese workers. For security guards, the minimum monthly salary (i.e. 26 days of work at eight hours a day) including overtime is RM1,400, whereas for the general sector (manufacturing, services and farm workers), the wage is around RM746, inclusive of overtime.

There are around 200,000 Nepalese workers in Malaysia today, although the breakdown by sector is not available.

After three years, Bahadur explains, the guards are given a month’s leave and a free return air ticket. They are allowed to renew their contract for another two years and then they must go home for at least six months before they can re-enter Malaysia.

“Life is hard for them but it is harder in their home country. Which would you choose?” asks Bahadur.

attached~ view of Nepali " meeting point" as they say, is a Kota Raya sub hub down town bus station centre in Malaysia.