Brain drain still a major problem
Many Malaysians – a majority of whom are Chinese – still prefer to remain overseas, despite Talent Corp's recent efforts to bring them back.
PETALING JAYA: Despite Talent Corp’s efforts to bring Malaysians home, many still prefer to seek their future overseas.
And like the World Bank’s report on the Malaysia’s brain drain last year, the reasons for staying away are still very much the same.
In a survey involving 518 people, social injustice (80%), better career prospects (76%) and more attractive benefits (73%) were the top reasons why these Malaysians preferred not to come back.
Drafted by social group Wake Up Call Malaysia, many of the survey’s respondents would return if the government were to shift from a racial agenda to a needs-based one (76%).
Seventy-four percent of the people surveyed also said that they would come back if they saw evidence of “fundamental and positive change” in the government.
Other factors also highlighted included a positive business environment (57%) and a greater investment in public education (54%).
Most Malaysians surveyed in the report left Malaysia when they had to further their studies (77%), though a smaller number left for work (44%).
The report also added that 90% of the people surveyed found brain drain to be a serious issue, and that 69% of them believed that their professional goals were met after migrating.
Even so, this did not mean that they did not forget home.
Emotional attachment
Emotional attachment
Sixty-nine percent of the survey’s respondents were either patriotic or still felt a strong emotional attachment to Malaysia, while 57% said that they would return home at one point in their lives.
Twenty-five percent of them, however, were not sure about coming back.
FMT noticed that a large majority of the survey’s respondents were of Chinese descent (81%), with Malays (13%) and Indians (3%) .
The report’s ethnically skewed findings are hardly surprising. A similar result was also noticed in the World Bank’s April 2011 Malaysia Economic Monitor (Brain Drain) report.
More than one million Malaysians living overseas are ethnic Chinese. According to a previous news story, Singapore housed some 385,979 Malaysians in 2010, many of whom are Chinese.
Speaking to FMT, Wake Up Call Malaysia country coordinator Choo Choon Sian admitted that the survey was a “bit biased” towards the Chinese.
This, he reasoned, was because there were more Malaysians of Chinese descent studying overseas than the other races.
“The Chinese (presence) overseas is more significant,” he said, adding that it was also easier to get survey responses from this group.
“We were pushing very hard to circulate our questions among the Malay and Indian connections…We found it quite difficult.”
“Maybe (the others) are not too concerned (with brain drain), or maybe the Chinese are louder in voicing their opinions, especially when it comes to social injustice and inequality,” he said.
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