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Thread: Decision to migrate to NZ!

  1. #1
    Join Date
    May 2012
    Location
    Auckland
    Posts
    4

    Default Decision to migrate to NZ!

    Hi can anyone tell me it is safe to live in NZ..Auckland especially. I have four kids age 3,6,10 and 12. We were planning to migrate to NZ because of the better quality of life in NZ but I had been reading a lot of negative forum or articles from other emigrant asking not to go to NZ because of high crime rate, bullies in school, discrimination, poor education etc..I am really confused after reading all this forum. I had just submitted my EOI from my migration agent who lives in Auckland. I had also visited Auckland twice this year and everyone was so friendly whether they are kiwis or Maoris. They give perfect informations at any where of the information counters and they are really helpful. I went to schools and they were mostly very happy to assist my special needs daughter whom I had difficulties of looking for a suitable school for her. But when I am back to Malaysia, most of the forum talk bad things about NZ till the extend of asking not to migrate to NZ especially if we have kids.
    Can anyone assure me that this place is not as bad as in Malaysia where I was robbed and slashed at my fingers last year with my 10 years old daughter in my car. Till now I am still having phobia of getting into my car and my poor girl have to go true counseling session to overcome her fear.
    Will apreciate it if anyone can help me to tell me the truth!
    Thank you.

  2. #2
    Join Date
    Feb 2007
    Location
    Essex, UK
    Posts
    2,235

    Default

    Sorry to hear about your bad experiences.

    I don't think, though, that anyone can really assure you one way or another. While not a hot bed of crime compared to some countries, there is no assurance that an individual will never experience any form of crime. There is crime here, there are drugs and gangs, just like in other countries. If the situation is bad enough for you not to move here only you can assess yourself.

    I have never felt particularly unsafe in London, where I lived before moving here. I occasionally feel less safe here, and I have certainly more experience of crimes such as vandalism and theft (car in particular), but that is just my individual experience.

    Daniela

  3. #3
    Join Date
    Feb 2008
    Posts
    37,822

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    Yes, sorry to hear about what happened to you and your daughter.

    There are some internet forums whose whole membership only like to talk about bad things. You won't find anything on there saying anything good, because that is not what they're trying to find to interest the others. If you read something like that day after day, it gets very depressing. If there is NOTHING good on some forum you have been reading, you have to think this place does not have a normal balance - in ordinary life, if you knew someone who never opened their mouth except to complain or make you feel bad, you would keep away from that person, because there is something wrong with them. Why would you believe someone like that, and trust their judgement above what you saw and experienced for yourself?

    The same thing goes for newspaper articles - they don't sell papers if the headlines are all happy stuff, but have to find stories that sound dramatic. I remember a member here posting a link to an article about some students in a NZ school where she was thinking she might live who had been caught up in a crime, and asking, very like you, how could people be happy living in such a bad area? When I looked at the story, I saw it talked about just these FEW young people. Then I looked for the name of the school on the internet, and I found that it had nearly two thousand students. Then I looked again for any other news about that school, and found all the usual activities, like their sports teams doing well, and groups of people who had raised money for charity, and done well in their exams, etc., etc.. It was just an ordinary place, with those few bad apples, but the big dramatic national headline that week for that stupid handful of kids was overshadowing all the good stuff of years done by hundreds and hundreds of others.

    I guess what I am saying is, when you read something, you ALWAYS need to ask yourself who wrote it, and what effect they're trying to get, because that will affect how they slant their writing, and what they're leaving out. Newspaper people look for something dramatic, or a dramatic way of saying it (but it's tomorrow's recycled paper). People on the gloom and doom forums get pleasure from finding bad things to report - the 'but I know something even worse' mentality.

    Did you look for news stories about GOOD things in New Zealand? For instance. https://www.google.co.uk/#q=NZ+Heral...w=1112&bih=768

    As Daniela said, of course, as in all human society, there is some crime, sometimes, in some places, in NZ. There isn't anywhere in the world with a perfect society. But we on this forum have a section called Leaving New Zealand http://www.enz.org/forum/forumdisplay.php?f=25, and I don't remember anyone posting there that their reasons for going, or thinking about it, were to do with being victimized by criminals. And we've also got a thread, Things that happen in NZ that wouldn't happen anywhere else.. http://www.enz.org/forum/showthread.php?t=28830 where people tell about kindnesses they've been shown by strangers in New Zealand.

    NZ is a real place, with people living ordinary, undramatic lives, a large proportion of the time. Nobody can say you won't ever see anything bad, but on the other hand, you'll see an awful lot of good there - as you already did.

  4. #4
    Join Date
    May 2012
    Location
    Auckland
    Posts
    28

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    From my own experience there is certainly far less to worry about out here. I spent the majority of my working life in & around the suburbs of Salford & Manchester in England. Not only was the crime rate high the lack of feeling safe was a major factor in wanting to get out.

    That said, Salford was hardly Kabul so it depends on what you have experienced previously (which sounds bad).

    You might get struck down with lightening or get hit by a truck tomorrow, so do what you feel is the right thing & it feels right to come to Auckland it probably is.

    Good Luck

  5. #5
    Join Date
    Jan 2010
    Location
    was Berlin, now Auckland
    Posts
    138

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    Quote Originally Posted by dharder View Post

    I have never felt particularly unsafe in London, where I lived before moving here. I occasionally feel less safe here, and I have certainly more experience of crimes such as vandalism and theft (car in particular), but that is just my individual experience.

    Daniela
    Car vandalism and theft...had a similar problem! Some one tried to break into my car and didn't succeed (beginners) and then he kicked off my side mirror. Thanks a lot.

    That said, I never felt unsafe in Auckland. And I used to work night shift. I never felt unsafe while living in New York City and Berlin either. Of course, these are all big cities and things happen. I don't think there will be a place with absolute safety but Auckland definitely is reasonable safe.

  6. #6
    Join Date
    Jun 2012
    Location
    Singapore -> New Zealand
    Posts
    29

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    Hi Cpyap. I'm from Malaysia too and know the Klang valley (and a few other cities) have gotten from bad to worse in recent years. I haven't gone out alone at all for the last few years now after a near snatch thief in front of a bank in SS2. At least, here I don't have to turn my head and stare whenever I hear a motorbike approaching. Like every city/country, there are some amount of crime around however with some common sense of safety issues, Auckland or NZ in general is fine.

    Auckland is a big city, similar size to KL with approx 1.5mil population. And there are many nice suburbs where you can choose where to stay. For safety wise in comparison to Malaysia, I am confident to say it is better here. However, there are also other reasons for migrating I'm sure you would have considered also... the children's future, your work, improved quality of life (different from standard of living), etc.

  7. #7
    Join Date
    Feb 2009
    Location
    Auckland
    Posts
    3,697

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    Sorry to hear about your experience, I can't really compare Auckland with Malaysia (or KL to be specific) but I still feel more safe & comfortable in Auckland. You might hear about crime from local neighborhood but that's not everyday thing (at least for us) and also the frequency of such crimes is sometimes isolated to specific suburbs/neighborhood. You can always choose to opt for safer places where crime rate is low, each police station has a community constable whom you can approach to discuss if you are worried about safety (or rude neighbors, preventive crime, frequent community patrols etc). Crime is everywhere in the world and there's equal responsibility on you too i.e. to be vigilant and be cautious. I hope that helps - not necessarily as an assurance but relative comparison.

  8. #8
    Join Date
    May 2009
    Location
    Christchurch
    Posts
    70

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    Quote Originally Posted by Cpyap View Post
    Can anyone assure me that this place is not as bad as in Malaysia where I was robbed and slashed at my fingers last year with my 10 years old daughter in my car.
    NZ is not the best place...no place is...really. But I can tell you that comparatively, I feel much much safer in NZ than in Malaysia. I came from the Klang Valley and I knew exactly what you were talking about. We locked our house like we were in prison, our kids got bullied by gangsters and discriminated by teachers, the terrible fatal accident on the road, the ever increasing crime rate, snatch theft, kidnapping, statutory rapes... We were always mindful of our surrounding and suspicious of others.

    I don't know much about Auckland, but in Chrirstchurch where my family and I are staying for 4.5 months now, we enjoy the physical and emotional freedom this place has given us. I allow my primary school age kids to walk to the nearby park without me. We have no front gate and no iron grills covering the windows or doors. When the weather is fine, I open my front and back doors to allow air circulation in the house. We couldn't do this in KL. We coudn't even wash our car with the front gate opened or even unlocked. And I was constantly reminded not to bring my handbag or how I should carry it while walking on the streets in KL.

    Just read the news online from NZ and Msia press for comparison. You will see the huge difference in the news published. We always read crimes and breaking of laws in Msia!

    Sorry to hear what you and your daughter experienced. I hope both you and your little one will overcome the trauma soon.

  9. #9
    Join Date
    Aug 2012
    Location
    Singapore
    Posts
    25

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    Hi CPyap,

    I am from your neighbouring country, Singapore, and I am contemplating this move like you.

    There are forums on the internet that speaks ill of NZ, and there's one particular forum which I came across - nothing else but negative expressions. I think the moderator of that forum encourages members to input their unhappiness. I have never been to NZ. The information I gather mainly comes from this forum and the newspapers (NZ Herald). And most of the experiences shared are positive.

    I can assure you that there are crimes in NZ. It boils down to the acceptance level. Singapore is known for it's low-crime rate, but in reality there are crimes happening, particularly teen gangs. Daylight robberies are uncommon but it does happen. You name it and we will probably have it, but it depends on the level of seriousness.

    One of the main reasons of me migrating to NZ are the quality of life and kids' education. I recalled reading in a magazine that NZ's education is superior compared to across the tasman. I have dealt with a limited number of people working in NZ, and ALL of them come across as great people - very helpful, courteous, etc. Again, there are definitely some bad characters like we see daily in Malaysia and Singapore.

    Probably it's time I pay a visit to NZ...

  10. #10
    Join Date
    Feb 2008
    Posts
    37,822

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    This would be a good place to remind people, in case anyone starts looking up crime statistics, that NZ uses a different system from many other countries. If you imagine the same incident happening in the UK and in NZ - let's say, someone is set upon and beaten up, and robbed of his wallet, phone and keys, then the keys are used to take his car to his own house to steal valuables, then the car is driven out of town and set on fire - in the UK this would probably be logged as one crime (possibly two, if the physical damage to the victim was bad). In NZ, each factor of this sequence would be recorded in its own right, so, GBH, theft (possibly three times for the items taken), theft of motor vehicle, maybe driving without a licence and driving while uninsured, breaking and entering, burglary, arson... a whole crime-wave on paper. Therefore, comparisons of NZ with other countries when using official crime figures are apt to be misleading.

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