Malaysia: The Brain Drain

We have one great James Bond movie. It's called 'From Russia with Love".

Now, that our DPM is in London, will we have some great stories titled,"From London with Love" on his return?

Sure, he got to meet the many Malaysian students studying in London. The pictures of him mingling with a multi-racial crowd was nothing short of comforting.

Bringing back top Malaysian brains is nothing new. The Ministry of Science had been doing that for decades without success, shying away from the issue of the impermanence of returnees.Scientists that returned felt short-changed. They felt like laboratory mice and went back to their foreign employers, by and by. Why, the conditions were less than what was previously represented.


Like smart money, best brains stay away from low income areas. Malaysia is in the backwaters as far as paying good salaries is concerned.Perks are few and there is hardly any motivation for the returnee nor his family to stay on.

Until the country start to be more serious and have a long term plan to retain returning knowledge workers, irrespective of race, religion, creed and political correctness, there will be outflow year after year. Even 'bumiputras' are not returning and are prepared to slug it out in their adopted countries without affirmative crutches.

I am worried this 'touch and go' approach of sending a politician-cum-salesmen to London is good for optics and is but a successful public relations job. As usual, I tip my hat and say 'Bravo' to Wisma Putra for its politically correct 'coups and success stories'.

Most of the brain-drain is to neighboring Singapore and to Australia. In fact, from Singapore, many Malaysians are now working in China. And believe me, with the current back pedaling of using BM instead of English for Science and Mathematics come 2012, get ready for the exodus of the younger set of brain drain exiting at the secondary school level for Singapore.

So, when will this nation be addressing this serious brain drain issue to Singapore? It should be an NKRA area, shouldn't it?