Why are qualified Malaysians not returning to serve in Malaysia?
It is a "no-brainer" question and has a few dimensions.
First of all, there are problems in our system such as:
1."Ketuanan Melayu" policy which creates discrimination against non-Bumis so that career prospects are severely curtailed.
2.Extremely poor working conditions, especially for new doctors.
3.Failure to administer scholarship programs properly so that bond holders are made to return after their courses.
4.Failure to prevent scholarships holders from marrying overseas and creating excuses not to return home.
Things back home are so bad that even Malays are staying back in foreign lands as life is much better there with little political meddling in appointments. So this letter in malaysiakini Chua: Why skilled M'sians don't come home is kind of a no-brainer. .
My own experience with children working overseas:
My second daughter, an accountant is working in London and after having worked in Singapore for a few years prefers the life-style there compared to Singapore.
Another daughter graduated as a doctor in Canada and has signed up at a hospital in Newfoundland. To encourage new residents, the hospital has given her a sign-up grant of C$50,000 for a 3-year contract.
So I think Malaysia is find it difficult to attract graduates home unless we have better policies and a more even handed administration.
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2 comments:
Just wanted to post that I agree with you here. People often lament how the average salaries of workers in Malaysia have stayed relatively stagnant compared to countries like Singapore and Hong Kong and keep saying that we need to improve our educational system so that we can create better and more highly skilled workers.
But if you don't have an environment that such people would like to live in, then there's no way to keep such people. It's a fact that the more creative, intelligent and well educated a person is, the more highly that person values a society that is both free and fair. Unless Malaysia improves its score in that regard, it will keep bleeding talent no matter how hard it tries to produce more of them at home.
I agree to what you have said. I have a friend, whose son graduated as a chartered accountant in Ireland, Dublin to be exact. After 5 years, he was the highest paid employee in the firm he was working. Unfortunately, as his family wanted him to return to help in his father's firm he reluctantly left. As things turned out, his former firm still retained his services and with new technology he is able to work in both time zones while being in Malaysia. He services his clients in China, who looks to invest in Europe. He enjoys the benefits of being able to communicate well in Chinese and English.
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