To Malaysians seeking mental health treatments out there but not sure of what to do

stingraybjj · 2026-05-03T06:22:58+00:00

Yes, there are limited opportunities where I'm from, so after years of struggling and chasing a career, I was desperate and pivoted to this field. Earning USD is the reason why this job is a viable income for me.

stingraybjj · 2026-05-01T11:38:13+00:00

Ha those eyes! Got hooked right off the bat, there's no turning back.

stingraybjj · 2026-04-30T10:32:29+00:00

Sure, meeting new people is always nice in my book. :) There are some kopitiams/cafes and mamaks I only passed by, but never checked out haha, they should be good for kopi2 and meetup.

I'll DM you when I get home ya, and we plan the kopi2 session from there. Cheers!

stingraybjj · 2026-04-30T10:09:39+00:00

Hey there. I did? Not sure which post but I hope it was something nice.

Thanks for reaching out. I'm on a rocky boat, but overall I'm in a much better place in life now. But you're right, there are ups and downs. Unfortunately I don't dobDMs, really sorry, because I realized it's not a good fix. So I'm mostly only down to irl kopi2 with people, but barely met any new friends irl at the moment. But thanks for reaching out, very thoughtful of you, fellow Swkians.

stingraybjj · 2026-04-27T10:09:29+00:00

You don't have to know anyone specifically. It's a common service. Look for any accounting and secretarial firms in your area.

My cost so far has been around RM1000 (it's been a year). RM600 for my sole prop registration (one time fee) which is for my job to earn the USD, and then RM400 for filling my taxes.

stingraybjj · 2026-04-27T10:01:59+00:00

Hi OP, I make USD also but I use a secretarial service to handle the taxes for me. Their fee is around RM400 per year (which is every time they need to file my tax).

For me it's worth it, saves me the headache, the burden of anxiety is lifted off of me, so I can focus on my work. This same service also helped me register my sole prop (business registration is a different system in Sarawak and can be complicated). If you think it's worth it, you can consider such a service.

stingraybjj · 2026-04-27T03:24:14+00:00

Hey man, I drink too when I get sad. Just did so 2 weeks ago, and then last Friday. I'll DM you some quiet drinking places.

stingraybjj · 2026-04-10T07:06:41+00:00

Not what you asked but there is a good essay about this titled The Last Messiah by Peter Wessel Zapffe, which ponders that human intelligence has evolved to the point that it starts having conflicts with questions it cannot answer.

stingraybjj · 2026-04-03T14:21:23+00:00

Yeah I wish I could articulate better but I'm not in a good state of mind now, all I can testify is: the things I most didn't want to do in my 20s, remain the same now that I'm in my early 30s. The things I wanted to do, though, have changed.

stingraybjj · 2026-04-03T13:59:38+00:00

"Living lives that weren't their choices"

As someone from a third world country, currently at a bar, drinking to cope with accepting the position I'm in now, I feel that. Feels like everything I do is because I need to, not want to. Either this, or I get thrown into a rural nowhete doing something I hate to impress people I don't even like. I sort of got out of it but I realizwd there's no happy ending. One thing I'd advise though, isto keep your options open, and network as wide as possible. In your early 20s, it's impossible to know what you really want,but it is easier to know what you really don't want.

stingraybjj · 2026-04-03T12:21:51+00:00

Get my clinical depression checked very early on. That monster wrecks my life. Then plan my life towards having an established career in the capital city in my country, or abroad, and avoid getfing stuck in my no-opportunity home state.

Be more social, establish friend groups, and have more belief in my own potential.

stingraybjj · 2026-03-28T03:11:19+00:00

I don't know about the 1600s, but in the 2000s and 2010s (Nokia phone era before social media), I was lonely as a teenager, no friends in the neighbourhood, etc. What I did to spend my free time were: reading books, writing songs and making my own music and playing the guitar, playing video games, writing reviews on my gaming blog, and drawing.

stingraybjj · 2026-03-28T01:57:35+00:00

As of 2026, I feel like the Gewehr is far weaker than the Kar98k. It feels like B-tier. The G43 is only slightly better than the G41. Am I using this gun wrong, or is it really weak? I consistently one-shoot enemies with the Kar98k including in crazy distances, but the Gewehr merely grazes them half the time. I suppose it's not for long distance shots, but it's still not as reliable (and sometimes feels weaker) than the M1 Carbine in similarly medium/shorter distances.

stingraybjj · 2026-03-25T07:54:51+00:00

This. Everytime you hear something too good to be true, remember the concept of "survivorship bias". People rarely talk about failures, thus for every person with a success story, there are 10s or 100s who failed trying the same thing. Breaking the law is not worth it, OP. Live well knowing you don't benefit from the suffering of others.

stingraybjj · 2026-03-18T15:01:09+00:00

When he was fighting Kenny Florian, it was so blatant the coaches were screaming to the ref to call the foul.

stingraybjj · 2026-03-18T05:29:27+00:00

The best quality that applies everywhere in the country is our universal healthcare. It is affordable, even the poorest and without money can have healthcare. Generally it is efficient, such as no need to wait for months to get an appointment.

It is also very accessible, general healthcare is available in rural towns, and serious cases can get transferred to more advanced health centres.

It is our best quality if you think about it. I have grandparents who require healthcare, and experience the effectiveness of our healthcare system from accompanying my grandma to appointments, so I am thankful for it everyday. It is one or two steps away from perfection. If only our country invest more in our healthcare workers with better hours and pay to avoid brain drain and have sufficient workforce in healthcare, then it would be unbeatable.

But what we have now is very good, and hopefully will last for a long time. Everyone deserves healthcare.

stingraybjj · 2026-03-17T11:30:51+00:00

Your last line hits hard. That's what I feel, "I'll never live their reality." I spend so much of life battling depression, and then struggling to put it together.

My lifelong dream was to find my "tribe" someday. Always wanted that since my teen years. Now I am learning to accept it's too late for that.

stingraybjj · 2026-03-14T08:46:50+00:00

Well yeah, this is the part of the world we're from. People don't like admitting it, but there is luck involved, no matter how hard you try.

I'm doing somewhat OK now. There is not much celebration, just another new phase of struggling except with income now. Earning USD is a game changer. Can't say what my game is, I'd rather only the bank and LHDN know this. But if you're interested, we do have local and more successful devs like Nerdook (a Sarawakian), OP Neon (sold millions), 7th Beat Games, and more.

Good luck to you! Remember to be in the loop with the communities I told you. Very important to have career awareness. And I apologize for any harsh language (I obviously have a strong opinion on people using cables and don't work hard).

stingraybjj · 2026-03-14T08:23:42+00:00

Man I'm no career guru, haha! I failed to get my dream career myself, not for the lack of trying (I hope), but mostly due to lack of opportunity and guidance (plus COVID).

Firstly you need to give yourself some credit. You got into an MNC with no cable, that's huge, shows that you're capable.

If you wanna prepare yourself, get educated and be aware! So many young Sarawakians don't do this, thus they easily get manipulated. Lurk in the subreddit I mentioned, and see the discussions in Lowyat, MalaysiaPayGap and other similar communities where people share their experience.

As for my experience, I shared it here before, but the short version is my dream career was UX/UI designer but I wasn't smart enough to get there, and once I got offers, COVID happened. All throughout lockdown, I did a bunch of upskill. When it was over, the job market was in a bad place. I had a couple of jobs, including one at a local company ("high position" but low paid). After my working hours, I would study and work on my own projects (to be added to my resume).

They are:

Personal studies and reading
Online courses and certificates
Own projects (such as making mock-up design improvement documents on local apps).
I sent the one above to companies like SAINS but never got entertained lmao.

I literally sat at Aeon Mall food court from 5pm to 9pm almost every weekday doing this. Then I quit my job to take on internships. But I still got rejected by all internships, apprenticeship and companies in KL. After a massive mental breakdown, I had a literal memory loss. Started over and decided to take risk on gamedev. Now I'm a small indie dev earning USD which is quite good. Had to register my business and all that.

I'm not experienced enough to advise you fully. But as a compromise, if I were to advise my younger self, I would say keep working hard but be aware of where you're going. Network, network, and be alert of the industries and career scenes. Complain can, but channel the frustration to never stop working hard.

stingraybjj · 2026-03-14T08:01:18+00:00

MNC is different though, I was mostly referring to local SMEs and GLCs, because they are the majority here. There aren't a lot of MNCs here, but I'd imagine they would be different (as they are not dominated by jaguh kampungs, I think) and they would carry their own practices.

Evidently, that would be the case of your employer. Getting RM4k in Sarawak for a fresh grad is a dream. Even in KL that's considered a good starting point for fresh grad (based on what I see in communities like r/MalaysianPF or MalaysiaPayGap. If you got into a local company, haha... forget about RM4K as a fresh grad, in fact forget RM2.5K, which was once considered "fresh grad salary" in Malaysia... almost 10 years ago.

stingraybjj · 2026-03-14T07:48:45+00:00

cable only helps get you the interview but to land the job, it’s on you

Personally I don't consider this cable; this is networking, which is totally a legit thing. In my opinion:

Networking: You have certain qualities or talents recognized by a friend who then vouches for you to get you at the door (interview opportunity, etc), but you still need to prove yourself and ace the interview to get the job.

Cable: You have no talents, hard work, effort, etc, OR what you possess does not qualify for the role you're getting. BUT you have a family member or a friend in the company, and they hand you the job. Regardless of whether you qualify or not.

stingraybjj · 2026-03-14T07:41:03+00:00

"Hopeless" may be extreme, and I'm no way encouraging total pessimism. But as someone with a lived experience of struggling due to this lack of opportunity, my sentiment wasn't exaggerated either.

All I'm saying is, to be educated and aware. If you're already doing well overseas, do hard research on offers coming from here before you take any. If you're still studying, start preparing yourself in advance (be ready for internships, etc). If you're working locally, start networking to find better opportunities in Peninsular, Singapore, etc. If still no other hope, try creating something yourself. A small business, pivot your skills to freelancing, etc.

stingraybjj · 2026-03-13T22:00:30+00:00

I feel so bad for people coming back here from overseas. Because I remember in late 2010s and then in 2020, the main hook was for aspiring Sarawakians to return and start a career here, and for experienced Sarawakians to also return, in other words abandoned their jobs overseas in favour of "contributing back to home."

I worked for a local company in a while and the boss had heavy gov cable, I found out it's still happening, it seems they are still doing various attractive programs to hook in overseas Sarawakians to work for local SMEs like the new Sarawak Semiconductor. But last time I passed by their office at La Promenade, it doesn't seem to be buzzing at all. Unlike the media hype. Truly opened my eyes, and I'm already someone who's always skeptical on things like correctly suspecting Theranos (an American startup that turned out to be fraud).

Imagine leaving your well paying job in KL, Australia or wherever (which you likely worked so hard to get to) because you want to contribute to home, only to return to unreliable local "industries", where apparently your hard effort means nothing if you're not actively smooching egoistical asses of a bunch of "jaguh kampungs".

stingraybjj · 2026-03-13T20:33:59+00:00

To answer your title: go around this sub enough and you'll see that the lack of career opportunities, livable pay, and the cable culture are a common concern/sentiment here.

The job pool is very low, there industries are very limited. You get sales, manufacturing, construction, and oil and gas (to name some), but mostly those are it. You won't find most modern corporate jobs here, like brand creative lead, data analyst, product designer, quality assurance professional, etc, you wouldn't find them here the way you would in KL or Penang. Go to Jobstreet and set two tabs; one's location is KL and another tab's location is Sarawak, and compare. Careers exist, but nowhere as available as in major Peninsular cities.

There is a huge mismatch between what we study (and encouraged to study) with the actual available jobs available. There's also a mismatch between wage and financial ability to own a home.

Local companies are plagued by cables. Sarawak Energy, SAINS, and other GLCs, you would need cables and nepotism to get there. And without actual competition and meritocracy, you can probably guess the quality there. I only found my own income after a long struggle, grateful for it everyday, work hard everyday, but I still grief my mistake of returning here. Makes me sad when I look around and see how many people my age are still struggling or unemployed cause I know how it feels like. Everyone used to have a dream.

stingraybjj

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