By Toh Kin Woon, The Malaysian Insider

JULY 24 — In the recently launched 10th Malaysia Plan (2011-2015) and before that, the New Economic Model, the Federal Government acknowledged the seriousness of human capital flight from Malaysia.

It further admitted that unless this drain of talent, skills, knowledge, creativity and innovativeness from our country to others is arrested and reversed, Malaysia’s competitiveness will be eroded.

Our goal of wanting to be a high income country by 2020 will be difficult to attain.

Seriousness of the problem

Indeed, the recognition by the Federal Government of the seriousness of the problem of brain drain has been borne out by some statistics. Between the beginning of 2008 and August 2009, slightly more than 300,000 Malaysians migrated overseas. The number that left in the first eight months of last year doubled that of the whole of 2008.

According to the World Bank, the number of Malaysians who settled overseas went up from around 9,500 in 1960 to 1.4 million in 2005, a near 150-fold increase over the 45-year period! Of those who have left, nearly 40 per cent of them have settled in Singapore; 30 per cent in the Organisation of Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) countries such as Australia, USA, UK, Canada and New Zealand; 20 per cent in other Asean countries and 10 per cent in the rest of the world.

Needless to say, a great number of them have tertiary education and are professionals like doctors, accountants, scientists and researchers. There are right now around 7,000 plus research scientists, which is about 70 per cent of the total in Malaysia, working overseas.

Such a haemorrhage of skills, knowledge and talent is bound to erode our scientific and technological capacity, at a time when we badly need this to effect the economic transformation of our country from a low to a high value-added economy.

Setting up the Talent Corporation

This explains why the Federal Government seems rather anxious to draw back some of this talent. It proposes to do this by setting up the Malaysian Talent Corporation next year.

According to the Minister in the Prime Minister’s Department, Tan Sri Nor Mohd Yaacob, this corporation hopes to draw back at least 70,000 Malaysians from overseas over the next 10 years by offering a package of very attractive incentives. What these are have not been specified but will only be announced later.

For the record, this is not the first time the Federal Government has taken the initiative to lure Malaysian talents back. It has previously attempted this through the Returning Scientists’ Programme and the Brain Gain Programme. These have however flopped. The response to these packages from those who have migrated has been poor.

Although it is still too early to evaluate, I am afraid this latest move by the Federal Government to draw talent home may not succeed again, unlike both Taiwan and the Republic of Korea, which successfully attracted their highly qualified and experienced scientists back in the 1950s, 60s and 70s.

Why not?

Not addressing the real causes.

This is because the programmes drawn up by the current Federal Government are unlikely, as in the past, to tackle the real causes of large-scale human capital flight from the country.

READ MORE HERE.

Comments (17)

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written by justice seeker, July 26, 2010 20:17:02

This explains why the Federal Government seems rather anxious to draw back some of this talent. It proposes to do this by setting up the Malaysian Talent Corporation next year.

According to the Minister in the Prime Minister’s Department, Tan Sri Nor Mohd Yaacob, this corporation hopes to draw back at least 70,000 Malaysians from overseas over the next 10 years by offering a package of very attractive incentives. What these are have not been specified but will only be announced later.

FOR THIS BLOOMING IDIOT, THE MAIN CRITERIA WOULD BE EZAM, SAIFUL OR NALLA MOULDS.
THEN YOU HV A VERY BRIGHT FUTURE.

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written by batsman, July 25, 2010 23:30:06

First a Truth Ministry, now a Talent Corporation. No wonder the Zionist linked consultants are riding high in Malaysia.

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written by Better My, July 25, 2010 02:24:30

Re: written by mikewang, July 25, 2010 13:29:18 Once the emigrants have established their network of friends and associates there, it will be very difficult to lure them back, especially those who live in other continents. "
mikewang got it right. Once a young family roots take hold in a foreign country, all bets are off of them returning for good. You can tell easily from speaking with young talented ones, returning with parents to Malaysia for visits to elders and relatives. I have spoken to a few and Malaysia is the last thing on their mind to departed young ones. Malaysia issues dont interest the permanent overseas resident much either when they are back in their home, overseas. They are gone for good. We have 3-4 decades of permanent country change with incredible 1000% or more loss of talents.

To way to rebuild long term talent pool in Malaysia
1) change of government to an open PR government with the full rule of law and order
2) develop our own talent pool from every rakyat in Malaysia, recruit the best and smartest people for most jobs
3) raise productivity, wages and standard of livings of the masses comparable to the world standard.

Then, the talent flow out would trickle or cease. The reverse migration may even occur ih high numbers. Until PR begins the process of effective governing, any measures to attract talents are all dream by Tok Kin Woon within another dream by Minister in the Prime Minister’s Department, Nor Mohd Yaacob. Double dream, nested in each other. You could almost put another layer of dream, in the post Tok KW dream - the dream of the the kampung malay producing talents among their breed with the way the mob runs the country.

In triple dream nestling summary
So you have the mobster Nor Mohd Yaacob dreaming of talents. In Nor's dream, you have Tok KW dreaming for talents. And finally in Toh KW;'s dream, you have kampung malay dreaming of talents production with their twinkle2 starry$$ eyes.

Sound familiar. Yes, you might have guessed it.. I think that is what the Leonado DeCaprio Inception movie is all about from the synopsis and overviews here. Lucky u if have seen it already on pirated Petaling St DVD.
http://www.fandango.com/incept...serreviews

And Robert DeNiro should be competing for these Inception lead role and get paid another U$20 million, instead of F..ing around in malaysia with the "yuk women and get roti canai with some daging pieces as rewards.

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written by mikewang, July 25, 2010 00:29:18

Once the emigrants have established their network of friends and associates there, it will be very difficult to lure them back, especially those who live in other continents.

The best bet is first to make a conceited effort to lure those who are now settled in Singapore before we venture into getting those who are now residing in OECD countries.
If we can make this country as colour and religion blind as Singapore, then I believe Malaysians may start to return.
The Taiwanese were successful in luring highly trained and respected Taiwanese scientists and technocrats from the Silicon Valley 4 decades ago because those migrants still felt Taiwan their home.
Unless Malaysians who left the country feel the same about their home country, they will not return.

If the government does not have the political will to do this, let's change the ruling party in Putra Jaya.

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written by Semuaok, July 25, 2010 00:02:13

If you are good and smart you can't be that stupid.

And there is not must fun since RPK is not around.

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written by Malaysiaputra, July 24, 2010 21:59:51

Ai yah, why is the govt trying to fool the public and syiok sendiri ?. Those who left had gone through a great upheavel to uproot themselves from Malaysia to plant new roots in where ever they went. Does anyone sincerely think that these people are going to uproot themselves again to come back to a bolihland where they are forever considered as pendatangs no matter how many generations they have been in Malaysia .

Further more, would they want to come back to a place where they will be forever marginalised as second class citizens through the Ketuanan Melayu agenda ?. No matter how loyal they are to the country ?. Some of them have grandparents , parents, uncles etc who have given their lives for the country but are still considered as Pendatangs.

Face the truth, and as Mahathir has said , our Unis are to produce graduates for our own consumption in the country, so half bakes are acceptable as long as the colour and religion is right. So with this type of attitude Mahathir has injected in to the mind of his followers, Malaysia in general must learn to live with the idea that half baked is better than unbaked.

So, let's produce more half bakes.

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written by Old Man, July 24, 2010 19:25:03

Once people have decided to leave for the sake of their children's future, there'll be NO looking back. They will bring along their talent and wealth to the Country they decided to settle down.
Since the mid-80's the Govt keep on importing Indons and Filipinos who background is questionable. The culture they're brought along and continue to bring is nothing but stealing, robbling, killing and raping! In their early 90's the Indons were already flashing their Malaysia passports!
Is this the Talent Corporation that was established since mid-80's that you're talking about???

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written by educationist, July 24, 2010 18:03:17

Yes, it shall again be a NATO - no action , talk only corporation!!
Also to park some umnoputras to draw public salaries!!

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written by bloodhound, July 24, 2010 09:13:48

Why should any intelligent, qualified and experienced professional return back to Malaysia knowing that they will always have to report to some superiors who are not even in their league and who will claim all credits of work done by him?

Would a real profesional ever work under such circumstances where there is no opportunities to advance to the very top of their profession but have to always plays politics with their uneducated superiors?

Money is not everything. Other factors will decide on the success or failures of any programs.
Taiwan and Korea are not different from Malaysia in terms of these professional's needs and expectations.

The major difference is in the environment in which the professionals are expected to work within. Korea and Taiwan does not practice Ketuanan Melayu or Ketuanan Taiwan.

They apply the basic principle of unrestricted opportunities for those who return home. They do not require those returning professionals to work under incompetent superiors and stifled advancement in their professional careers.

That is a MAJOR difference. Moreover, there are no racial tensions or race baiting activities tacitly approved by the government.

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written by syd, July 24, 2010 07:37:20

BN govenrment has no intention if getting the nons back. They will ensure that the process will be tedious and unfriendly. Then they will inform the public that there were no takers for the programme.
The reason, in my opinion, that PPSMI was abolished, was due to the fact that the nons were enrolling back into sekolah kebangsaan in droves. This will jeopardise UMNO's long term University intake based on meritocracy as the nons will crowd the malays from these higher institution.
And the Chinese educationist supported the move because the enrollment into Chinese schools dropped, thus endangering their long term existence.
So you see. BN is not doing what is good for the citizens. They are messing up the country due to race based policies. And many people are fed up of this. Including malays themselves.

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written by datuk tanah, July 24, 2010 06:32:54

Toh,

You can keep on dreaming that those who have migrated will return to bodohland. Many of them migrated because they were short changed by the UMNO/BN regime. The Malaysian government was and is stiil divisive against non Bumis especially the Chinese. Why the hell must a 'pendatang'and 'prostitute' contribute to their country or origin defies all logic. The corrupt government has institutionalized racial policies against non bumis and this will never change. Those who have migrated are welcomed with open arms in their adopted country. Malaysians who currently reside in Australia , NZ. UK Canada and the UK. are given equal opportunities in education, business and freedom of speech. They have left a third class seat to first class. Malaysia will find this a hard act to follow. Many have no second thoughts in taking up citizenship of their adopted country and they are proud if it. .

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written by Taikohtai, July 24, 2010 05:17:30

Mr Toh is too optimistic to even think that those who have migrated can be lured to return.
Yes, I can tell all Malaysians that the grass is GREENER on the other side, as long as BN is in charge. The push and pull factors are both in play: BN is pushing the non-Malays away while even the Malays are now lured by Western values.
Pakatan must not be distracted by side issues that are the makings of BN. Once the country is properly governed, no Malaysian will want to leave on a permanent basis. Once Pakatan is in power, the only migrants will be UMNO and cronies and who is the right mind will want them back??

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written by PeacefulMalaysia, July 24, 2010 05:09:25

BULL SHIT
IF YOU ARE NOT BUMI
DONT WASTE YOUR TIME
HIS IS ALL "HOT TALK"

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written by sang kancil, July 24, 2010 03:37:10

It will fail simply because the UMNO is UNWILLING to resolve their racists policies. This is just LIP SERVICE!

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written by DreamLady, July 24, 2010 03:28:34

Who is so bodoh to return to Malaysia when the overseas Malaysians are enjoying freedom of rights, freedom of speech, for the expertise they contribute to foreign countries, in return they are rewarded handsomely, twice, possible triple the amount paid to them; neither do they have to worry about wearing jersey or T-shirts with 'Devil's pictures on them lest they should be reprimanded by the religious goons; nor do they have to hand out unwillingly the 'token' demanded by the traffice police when their cars are made to stop; the perks are aplenty when they could sleep soundly without Jais or jakim knocking on the door to ascertain their wives are truly their wives in black and white; nor do they have any worry when they make enquiry at any government offices, that they might accidentally fall from the window of high building like what happened to Teoh Beng Hock...But the best of all perks is: They are men of their own destiny, sky is their limit, cos' they are given the chance to climb as high as they want without having to follow Malaysian's 30% quota for Bumiputra....

God bless the overseas Malaysians! Enjoy life as much as you can, forget about the tainted PM and his puaka witch lest you shall have endless nitemares!!!

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written by budak kampong, July 24, 2010 02:51:29

Copied from MIrror, Mirror on the wall: guess which state is TDM refering to?

A brutal regime that has no respect for international law;
A brutish regime that has no qualms in murdering unarmed civilians on a humanitarian mission;
A brutish regime that has created the largest open prison in the world, the enslavement of 1.5 million people within its borders, through blockade and economic sanctions of Gaza;
A brutish regime that brainwashes its young to be mindless killers of unarmed civilians, men, women and children;
A brutish regime that practices apartheid.
A brutish regime that wages wars through deception and lies.
A brutish regime that practices and fosters state terrorism.

perhaps he cpoied and paste into the wrong file?

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written by NSTPravda, July 24, 2010 02:23:56

Read my Qur'an Swearing Pink Pouting lips: to say that my NEP@NEM is in fact a plan to nurture cronies is a blatant lie, quite symptomatic of your disloyal renegades running anjing of the subversive Opposition. The Never Ending Money is strictly limited to nuture my RICH cronies. The victims of this race-based policy are the poor and middle class of all ethnic groups which proves my point. No RICH cronies need to be victims. So $emua-nya OK!

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