Rafizi: TalentCorp won’t bring them home

A recent visit by PKR strategies director Rafizi Ramli to the United Kingdom has convinced him that allowing overseas Malaysians to vote will be more effective in bringing them home than the a government agency like Talent Corporation (TalentCorp).

by Stephanie Sta Maria

Part of his trip involved a debate with Umno Youth chief Khairy Jamaluddin organised by the United Kingdom and Eire Council (UKEC) for Malaysian students.

Being a former UKEC chairman himself, Rafizi gained access to a vast network of past and present Malaysian students who proffered their views on the country’s future.

What he heard confirmed that overseas Malaysians were more clued in and connected to Malaysia’s current affairs than they were being given credit for.

“Of course their understanding and opinions are also shaped by the distance from which they are observing the country,” he acknowledged during a recent interview with FMT.

“They are quite critical of both Barisan Nasional and Pakatan Rakyat despite being pro-establishment but many are also a little too optimistic of the country’s growth and prosperity.”

According to Rafizi, many Malaysians abroad had taken advantage of the social media to engage in real-time conversations with politicians and felt strongly about various issues back home.

Such interest, he said, should be rewarded with the opportunity to cast their votes when Malaysia goes to the polls next.

Last month, the Parliamentary Select Committee (PSC) confirmed that overseas Malaysians were not included in the category of postal voters and would therefore not be able to vote in the upcoming general election.

Currently only civil servants, their spouses and full-time students were allowed to vote via post.

A powerful lure

But Rafizi pointed out that allowing the overseas diaspora to have a stake in the country would be a powerful lure in bringing them home.

“Voting is akin to expressing or exercising your stake in the nation’s future and that is a lot more effective than having an agency like TalentCorp,” he stated.

His skepticism comes ahead of TalentCorp’s latest initiative to connect locally-based companies with Malaysians in the UK through job fairs and networking dinners over the next week.

TallentCorp would also be supporting the UKEC-Graduan Career Fair in London this Sunday, touted to be the largest employment event for Malaysian students in the UK.

But Rafizi doubted that anything much would be achieved by a government agency that “glosses over problems” and limits itself to tackling “administrative issues”.

He compared TalentCorp to the Performance Management and Delivery Unit (Pemandu) in its inability to delve beneath the surface where more serious and fundamental issues lurked.

“The question is whether we need another government-run employment agency and I don’t think we do,” he said. “Because it’s not so much about overseas Malaysians being unaware of what’s happening back home but their desire to see key issues being addressed.”

“TalentCorp is an advertising agency that can’t make a difference in any of the core issues that concern the overseas disapora. So I don’t think it will be effective nor deliver what is expected of it.”