Out of the darkest valley Ng Teck-fong, who graduated from the Chemistry Department of National Cheng Kung University in Tainan in 1964 and was formerly president of the top-tier Malaysian Chinese organization, the Federation of Chinese Associations Malaysia, points out that at that time better-off families sent their children to Nanyang University in Singapore, whereas those students who came to Taiwan were generally from more humble backgrounds.
否極泰來曾任大馬華社最高組織「中華大會堂聯合會」總會長、1964 年畢業自台南成大化學系的吳德芳表示，和當時念新加坡南洋大學的同學相比，南大同學家庭環境好，到台灣的，則多半是家境清寒子弟，「飛機票是僑委會贊助的，台灣生活費每個月只要 50 馬幣，新加坡南大卻要 300 多馬幣。」