Me, Myself and Nobody Else: Part 5 The Adventures in Saudi Arabia

Getting M3 twice and failing my ACD assessment twice, you come to realize that no point staying if you are just going to be mediocre. My future in Petronas seem clear; it was bleak. So the offer from SABIC for SAR14k (RM12k) per month was hard to refuse. My first experience working overseas. I was both excited and nervous. A buddy of mine, Rizal, resign Petronas and went a couple of months earlier than me to Saudi. So while I was there I really have to depend on him a lot and he was really helpful so I really owe him that.


It was a very hard experience for me leaving my wife and kids behind miles away. With the wonders of Facebook and Skype, it lessen the burden a bit. Usually you have to wait about minimum 6 months to be able to bring your family here. In Saudi, I could never stressed enough how much important family support for you to be able to survive here.

I arrive in Jubail, Saudi in June 2010. Upon arrival, SABIC put me in the Intercontinental Hotel, kinda like 4-5 star hotel i think for a week. It was very nice. The first week was settling all the documentation and meeting my department. Without your own transport in a foreign land at that where public transportation  is not the best in the world, you do feel handicapped. This is the first challenge to overcome.

After my first week, I contacted Rizal and we agreed to be flatmates. But his work place is different than mine so we cannot share rides and I have to make my own arrangements. There are many so called transporters(bas kilang) here mostly operated by South Asians. You kinda get the feel that you really the "kuli' here. But a highly paid "kuli" nonetheless. What most malaysian here does is that they can convert their internaional license here and have their own transport. And those bringing their family later this is vitally important.

Things you should know about Saudi Arabia. It is a monarchy. It is a very conservative country. Women cannot drive here and only limited jobs for them. Thats why jobs like receptionist here are all male. Everywhere you rarely see women, and they are all in black abaya. Men usually wear white. Women here are discourage to be out on their own and they have to be escorted by a relative or mahram. It is a contrast by neighboring gulf countries such as UAE, Qatar or Bahrain. For me, even though I dont have a sociallite lifestyle in Malaysia, it takes some getting use to. To the point I was feeling happy when I was doing my medical check-up seeing all the Filipino nurses.


Working class here mostly consist of immigrants from South Asia (India, Bangladesh, Pakistan, Sri Lanka) or the Philippines. Malaysian tend to be more highly regarded as skilled professional and commands better respect from Arabs. Play your cards right and you may find life a bit easier.


One thing I forgot to mentioned, for immigrants you have to have Iqamah which kinda serves as your IC here. You will handover your passport to Passport Office in exchange for this Iqamah while you are in the country. To go out of the country, you need to apply a re-entry visa either single or multiple. Getting an iqamah usually takes in average 3 months depends on the efficiency of you Government Relationship officer(an efficient GR officer is a Godsend!!!). My Iqamah took me about 4 months and I nearly NEARLY have to spend my Raya Aidilfitri alone in Saudi. How ironic that they don't celebrate much Eid here unlike Malaysian style. In fact there is no holiday for Maulidur Rasul or Awal Muharram here. Only 1 week for Eidul Fitri, 1 week for Eidul Adha, and 1 day for Saudi National Day. Makes me miss the many holidays of Malaysia.

Now my plant doesnt have many Malaysian as compare to Rizal's place Saudi Kayan. I took about a month before meeting any Malaysian at my work place. After meeting them, things seem to be more bearable and I am not alone in the cafeteria anymore. Thats is something you have to change once you got here. You may be a loner in Malaysia but here, the ability to make friends here is a rule not an exception. You will need support from each other especially before you got your Iqamah whereby you cannot apply for driving license, open a bank account and etc. Friends here are also important for you to share your grievances either about missing your family in Malaysia or feeling the pressure living in Saudi to someone who actually understands what your going through. But be forewarn too much 'sharing' can also make you sound like a whiner and lame. So patience here is not only a virtue BUT A PREREQUISITE!!!!

By now you should have a general feeling that this country is not run efficiently. What takes 1-2 steps in Malaysia takes 10 steps here. The culture here seemed more 'relaxed' and you may find yourself have to push them to get what you want. There is no service with a smile here. Here the seller is always right. And sometimes it may be more challenging to expedite if you dont speak Arabic. For me personally, the enviroment and culture here takes a lot of toll on me plus being faraway from my wife and kids.       

You could say I was slowly feeling miserable day by day. I felt that surviving a day is a chore. But dont be mistaken that the work here is tough. On the contrary, workload here is very light compare to what I experience in Petronas. And it is handsomely paid too. I never have to stayed late. Really lots of free time. Most of the people in the plant are nice and supportive. You dont bother much here about office politics as I used to. You do your job, get paid in the end of the month and that's it. You dont have to argue much just do what they say(kinda be a yesman here). There is no initiative that you must do (initiative you must do...hmmm...now there's an oxymoron).


So work is less but money is more. But work is only 8hrs perday. The other 16hrs is pure boredom. There is not much to do around here. Nothing interesting for me at least. Weekend are spent going to Al-Khobar eating at Malaysian Kitchen. Only here I get to drink Malaysian style Teh Tarik and Mee Goreng which manage to satisfy my cravings for Malaysian food. And during Ramadan, this is a must go to place every weekend for fast breaking. Local food here I think depends on individual taste but I found it too bland for my liking. In my cafeteria each day there are diffrent style of rice but after a while I felt all of them are just some different variation of Nasi Minyak to me. Still, I do like Kabsa rice and especially when eating with friends. Kabsa with camel meat is nice. One of the things I miss about Saudi.



I also get to meet many different people and also new Malaysia friends. But there is one particular old man from Malaysia I found particularly annoying. He always whines a lot how he is measurable here. He used to be from Petronas and went to interview same with me. One dangerous trait about him is that he likes to talk about negative things(mulut takde insuran). We feel frustrated when he is around. He is the kind of guy who likes people to be sympathetic and feel sorry for him. Instead of sympathetic, I more see him as pathetic. The most sensational story about him is this; 3 weeks before going back for Raya holidays, he was looking for a flatmate to help ease paying the rent since he didnt want to move to a cheaper place. Because of his reputation and his apartment was a bit premium, I was hard for him to get anybody. Finally there is a newcomer that agree to share his apartment with him. Since the newcomer didnt have his iqamah yet so this means he will be staying for the Raya holidays. So this old guy went back to Malaysia suppose for 1 week for Raya holidays. What happen was after one week he didnt came back. The newcomer was worried and phone him in Malaysia and he said that he needed to extend his hoildays one week due to medical reason. Fair enough. But after one week more, the old guy still didnt come back. The newcomer contacted him again but this time he said that he was sorry that he will never come back working in Saudi and that the newcomer should find another person to share the apartment. But...this is not the 'best part'. It is still normal for Malaysian working in Saudi to not comeback especially after long holidays. What makes this such a 'drama' that, after the newcomer got the news the old guy wasnt coming back, he tries to open the old guy's room and found out it was unlocked. Lho and Behold.....IT WAS TOTALLY EMPTY!!!!! Which means he planned this much earlier before going back. For this, the old guy was considered a 'legend' or in Barney Stintson words, LEGEND..wait for it........DARY. Couple of weeks later the newcomer heard news that the old guy was back working in PETRONAS. If he was going back for good, he should not have bothered looking for a flatmate in the first place(menyusahkan orang!). The newcomer have to bear the whole rent for 2 months before finding a cheaper place and a new reliable flatmate.

During in Saudi, I was fortunate to perform my Umrah twice. The first time seeing the Kaabah was breathtaking. I am not that religious but being here does somehow feel that your soul being cleansed. Probably the best thing I could say about Saudi is Mecca and Medina. If I were to work in Yanbu which is on the western side and 3 hours drive from Medina, I would perform Umrah and visit Medina every weekend. You see lots of people here muslim from all over the world and all walks of life. Praying to Allah for guidance and strength to carry on through the trials and tribulations.


By the second month I kept thinking home a lot. There is some personal issue with family that makes working here a bit of a challenge and bringing my family here is not the best option(more about that later in another chapter). The phrase 'Money does not buy happiness' seem like an understatement. There are some things are more important than excessive gains of income. As I found out, I was not the only one feeling this way. There are also others thinking of working someplace else. Others have different ways of dealing with these issues. Some succeeded and some don't. By this time I have updated my resume and every day in work kept browsing jobstreet.com hoping there is vacancy in Malaysia. I kept counting the days when I will be back in Malaysia. The feeling of relieve that most of us felt when it is time to go back seeing the MAS stewardess or when seeing the palm oil trees when the plane is about to touch down at KLIA.

Alhamdulillah, as luck would have it or rather maybe my prayers have been answered, I have a couple of job interviews in Spetember 2010 when I was back in Malaysia for Raya holidays. Now I applied to many companies. On the morning of my departure day, I got a call from Shell Malaysia saying that I am shortlisted for an interview in Bintulu and that they will bore all expenses. I was really ecstatic about this. Before this I got 13 rejection from Shell previously now I finally breakthrough!! It's like a double happiness to me going back to Malaysia with good news.

Long story short, I went for the interview in Bintulu. The plant was called Shell MDS. At first I was not entirely confident I was going to get it. The day I was suppose to fly back to Saudi, I extended my holiday for another week due to the 'dont-wanna-go-back-to-saudi' syndrom. I was at the point where I dont care what would they think. Then again, Allah granted my prayers once again. Got a call from Shell I got the position and they were impressed by my interview (strange...). Furthermore the package offer was quite handsome for
Malaysian standard and not that far off from Saudis so I was pretty well compensated. Now I dont have any reason to worry about. But I still have to go back to Saudi to pick up my last salary and to settle my remaining rental to Rizal. Not gonna repeat the old guy fiasco.

When I very reluctantly went back to SABIC, a lot of people were surprise to see me and thought I join the others of never coming back. I think I did the honorable thing ending my tenure in Saudi in the most respective ways. I gave my one month notice and settle any outstanding jobs until the very last day. My manager and even my GM have a good heart-to-heart chat with me about my decision. I explain my reason and at the end the are supportive. Even they offer me a job should I want to come back in the near future. I felt very appreciated. Also during my last days, people come to see me saying how much they appreciate me for the work that I did. I rarely felt this warm inside when I was in Petronas.

And hence the conclusion of my adventure in Saudi Arabia. I hope to those interested in working there can use my writings here some sort of guide to help you to survive there. Even though my time there was short, it change me a lot. I would encourage anybody to go there but you have to consider all factors, make sure your family has no issue living there, remember your objective to make money save as much as you can, and if you are a muslim, always pray to Allah for strength. With patience, Insya-allah you can survive there and make tons of money like my friend Rizal (hehehehehe).    

Next comes the final chapter: Full Circle. Dont miss it!