“Mat Salleh” Teachers Are Getting Paid Way More Than Local Educators, Netizens Say It’s Not Fair
White expat teachers were allegedly paid six times more than local teachers at Malaysian international schools.
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Is a person’s nationality or skin colour a reason to be paid any more or any less at the same job?
You may be quick to say absolutely not! but it seems that unfair salaries is still a reality in Malaysia.
Recently, Malaysian Twitter was abuzz with conversation surround how ethnically white foreign teachers from Western countries such as the USA are supposedly baking the big bucks at Malaysian international schools.
Local Malaysian teachers employed at such schools, however, are not on the same pay grade and do not receive the same kind of benefits – despite doing the same job of being a teacher.
Tapi gaji cikgu mat salleh fresh grad tanpa pape pengalaman mengajar atau bekerja boleh pulak cecah RM10-20k sebulan kat sekolah2 private international Mesia, tapi tu la… https://t.co/CNo7oUu95Z pic.twitter.com/aKNqwNqy5w
— Iqbal (@Iqtodabal) December 15, 2021
Responding to questions of why private schools are so expensive, yet private school teachers are not paid very well, Twitter user Iqbal claims it’s because most of the money goes to foreign teachers.
He said that international schools tend to use their foreign teachers as an advertisement and representative of their “international education” for students.
Apparently, “expat teachers” can earn a basic pay of $3k-$5k USD (RM12,650 – RM21,000) in addition to fully paid lodging and expenses.
A local Malaysian teacher employed at the same international school might only be paid the average wage of RM2.5k-RM5k a month.
Teachers were quick to agree with the disparity, simply because they were local Malaysians.
salam. just resigned my 1.4k job at private school as a principal managing 2 schools with 5years of experience. hahahahaa
— Ezza Haniza Hashim❤️ (@_HaniHashim) December 17, 2021
Teringat apply kerja (and dapat offer) as teacher kat a prominent private school kat Malaysia. Offered 2.5k. As a fresh grad, I almost went for it, until I found out the expat teachers (some takda teaching background, just bored wives of businessmen) dapat 12k. Hshshs ded
— (NPC) Moyo (@penatbuttercup) December 16, 2021
A netizen even noted that when she applied as a teacher at a private school, she only received an offer of RM2.5k while other “expat teachers” who were wives of expat businessmen without any actual teaching background were earning almost six times her offer!
Tell me about it.
— H. (@badtrippinbunny) December 16, 2021
Having mat salleh to work there is part of their marketing strategy to lure parents to enroll their kids there.
Stop idolising white teachers la parents pls… trust me.. tak bagus mana pun. Kitorg yg gaji kecik ni yg byk buat kerja. Not them. Ughh
Many noted that having “white” teachers as part of their education staff is merely a marketing strategy.
Same across the board
Other netizens were quick to point out that this sort of disparity does not only exist within the education industry.
Who are we kidding tho? This is true across all industries. All wypipo will be earning more than any Malaysian in the company.
— Antitheist, Esq. (@demoiselledian) December 16, 2021
All expat roles in south east Asia mean white person & not just any foreigner from a different country.
Many Malaysians still feel as if employers can’t seem to separate skin colour and job competency– let’s hope all our industries can provide fairer job opportunities for everyone.
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