Seeking But Finding The Unexpected

A lot of them come to seek jobs in Malaysia. After all, Malaysia has a huge need for low-skilled labour.

Apparently only 30 to 40% of them were Rohingya; the rest of them were Bangladeshis seeking their fortune.

They never found it.

Unfortunately, many of them met their ends at transitory migrant camps at the border between Malaysia and Thailand. These were suspected human trafficking camps, about 139 of them.

My nationality - and the consequent opportunities that it brings - are an accident of birth and not of my choosing, but it does make me stop and wonder how misfortunate some groups of people can be.

BERSIH and Overseas Malaysians

In 2011, two out of every ten Malaysians with tertiary education opted to live abroad. That is a significant number.

I have been documenting various reports on the Malaysian brain-drain, but to date, no measures have been taken by the BN government, simply because they do want the Chinese (who make up the majority of the migrants) to leave.

So a bunch of them do leave for greener pastures. But not for good.

If the BN government thought they were rid of this bunch, they were wrong. Desperately wrong.

These motley crew of disillusioned and disgruntled walk-outs may be far in physical distance, but emotionally close to the nation that gave birth to them.

They're back, stronger than ever, thanks to the issues highlighted by BERSIH.

They're interested in the progress of the nation, and are not afraid of the BN government.

Thanks to the exchange rate, this group is probably also responsible for funding projects carried out within Malaysia by social and political activists.

So much for the BN government's hopes and plans of unrestricted domination.

Free Malaysia Today | A House is Not a Home

By the time this article comes out, a close friend of mine will be getting ready to leave the country. Newlywed and pregnant, she will be joined by her entire family to migrate to Australia after obtaining their permanent resident status they applied for nearly a decade ago.

She isn't the first of my friends to start their lives anew in another country, and she won't be the last. And while they will be terribly missed, can we really blame them for choosing to leave?

Statistics keep showing an increase of Malaysians migrating with each passing year. The brain drain is a true problem in this country, as more and more of our creative and intellectual minds leave, never to return.

Read the rest: A House is Not a Home/

Another Brain Drain Story

From: Brain drain: The story behind the dwindling Chinese in Malaysia

Excerpt:

Migration has always been a part of our history, especially in a country like Malaysia, where most of our forefathers were migrants looking for a promised land. They worked their fingers to the bone making their fortunes far away from their places of birth, often with little help and lots of hardship.

There is also the rural-urban migration, where the main pull factor is the seeking of better education and better job opportunities compared to those available in the rural sectors. But the worse kind of migration is what is happening in developed countries today - the migration of fully qualified, hard working professionals to other countries, not because they cannot find jobs, but because they are unhappy with the political system practised by the state.

A brain drain is one of the worst things that can happen to a country; that is the reason why states like Singapore are doing their best to retain not only their own people, but foreigners who study in their local institutions of higher learning. These new graduates are dangled not only with scholarships and a stable career after graduation, but also offered the security of a citizenship.

And it was Malaysia who gave these bright sparks 11 years of free education; Singapore merely complemented it with a few years of university and then got to keep them. Now, who are the biggest losers? Who are the real dummies?

I believe in us — Phua Kai Lit

In spite of the many things that are wrong with Malaysia today — e.g. the decay of our political institutions and the greatly coarsened state of our political discourse and deplorable public policies which are threatening to turn us into a Nigeria-type “failed state” — there is still hope that Malaysia can change for the better.

Read the whole piece HERE.

Malaysian Brain Drain

The World Bank did a survey on the great Malaysian brain drain:

Malaysia's brain drain worsening and social injustice the cause

I noticed only one reader was perceptive enough to get to the root of the problem. This is his comment:

We do not need talent in Malaysia as long as we are resources rich. We only want people who could not think to stay behind so that that we (who sit on top) can continue to steal and loot without being questioned.

We continue to steal and loot while other counties benefit from our brain drain. Don't you think this is a perfect win-win situation?????

Malaysia Boleh!!

That is precisely what the BN government thinks. After all, it makes a huge sum from oil revenue, why should it even bother with improving the economy?

The problem is, Malaysian have allowed it to go on. They either oblige the government by migrating or simply find a way around the abuse and injustice.

I can't blame those who migrate. When there is a better place out there, why stay back and suffer?

But I wonder about those who actually stay back (and complain). Why aren't they more politically aware and concerned?

Losing All That Talent

It is always gratifying to hear it straight from the horse's mouth, and this time, the mainstream media (and Bernama at that) does not disappoint when it acknowledges that Malaysia is losing a lot of talent to the rest of the world.

This, of course, is something that the average Malaysian has known for a very long time.

It is only the BN government that is too busy putting its 1Malaysia plan (People First, Performance Now) into action to notice the great exodus.

"We are not developing talent and what we have is leaving," the NEAC says.

The report says industry players often lament the absence of right skills in the market, suggesting mismatch between the skills provided by the education system and those demanded by firms.

The most recent assessment by the World Bank suggests that firms have become increasingly concerned about information technology (IT) skills, technical and professional skills of Malaysian workers and complaints about inadequate creativity and proficiency in the English language.

It is hardly surprising.

Talent generally decides to depart for greener pastures when the political climates gets unstable.

With the racial and religious issues like the cow-head and church-burning issues, the numerous deaths in custody, usage of the Internal Security Act on political opponents, I believe Talent is highly motivated to leave.

The majority of those who are left behind are the twinkling stars of affirmative action.

This affirmative action is what allows a faction to enter the shorter and simpler pre-university matriculation programme, while others are either forced to go through the STPM (Higher School Certificate) for two years or wing it on their own through private colleges.

Obviously, there is going to be a difference in standards.

The quick-fix matriculation programme could hardly be expected to provide superior technical and professional skills.

And it would be an exercise in futility to elaborate on the issue of proficiency in the English language when it has been ruled that the education system has reverted to teaching Maths and Science in Bahasa Melayu instead of English.

The government, hand-in-hand with the MSM may attempt to reach into complicated and sophisticated-sounding solutions like 'revert to sustained and systematic programmes' and 'better collaboration between private sector employers and universities'.

However, the simple truth is, abolishing discriminatory practices would go a long way in retaining and building up Talent.

Kuala Terengganu And Politics

So UMNO got resoundly thrashed again.

After 51 slothful years of apathy and indifference, UMNO (and by extension, Barisan Nasional) is not quick to learn its lessons.

Instead of ditching its old policy of divide the races and conquer - which, evidently has not gone down so well with Malaysian citizens of late - it has continued to perpetuate it.

It has insulted the citizens of Kuala Terengganu by pulling every trick in the book. By offering journalists money. By giving free food, lucky draws and offering other enticements to potential voters. All at the taxpayers' expense, of course.

It didn't work.

They say you can't teach an old dog new tricks.

When it comes to UMNO, I believe in that saying. Which is why we need to retire the old dog to green pastures (and I'm being kind here), far away so it can do no more harm.

The by-elections in Kuala Terengganu was a step towards that.

I think the good citizens of Malaysia have finally come to realise that once the administration of a government goes wrong, the people who can afford to, will migrate elsewhere.

When the brain-drain occurs, there is only is much development that can happen.

For one, it will cost more to get foreign expertise. Subsequently, higher expenditure from hiring too many foreigners (and it doesn't matter whether they come from India, Europe or America) will result in either higher taxes or poor amenities and infrastructure, which affects citizens directly.

If you have no clue what I'm on about, take Petronas for example. A lot of experienced Malaysian engineers have gone abroad, seeking greener pastures. So Petronas hires foreigners.

I once came across a job recruitment site for expatriate engineers. The client was Petronas Carigali and they were offering USD20,000. Sure, it was on a contract basis, but convert that and check out how much that translates into MYR.

That's a lot of money going into foreign pockets. With the current economic downturn, people can no longer afford to stand around and smile benignly.

Sadly, people only act when it affects them directly. Malaysians are no exception.

But at least something is happening on the Malaysian political forefront. I was beginning to lose hope.

I reckon if by-elections were our only shot at choosing our government, then we all have a role to play in getting Barisan Rakyat into Putrajaya.

First things first, we'll have to get voodoo dolls fashioned after the Barisan Nasional MP of our constituency. If your MP is from Barisan Rakyat, then you may either sit back and relax or help a friend who lives in a BN constituency.

Now three times a day everyday, take some time out to stick pins into your BN MP voodoo doll. Hopefully, this will cause your BN MP to obligingly keel over and croak so that the BN government will be forced to hold a by-election.

If this happens about 30 more times, I wager we have enough MPs to send Barisan Rakyat to Putrajaya.

Malaysians Are Migrating

Malaysians appear to have finally thrown in the towel.

Along with their houses, cars and jobs, I should add.

Since last month, more and more Malaysians have been enquiring about migrating. Between Nov 14 to Nov 19 alone, there were about 6,500 enquiries for migration to Australia, 5,500 enquiries for New Zealand, 4,000 for Canada, about 3,500 enquiries for other countries, including Norway and Switzerland.

Are Malaysians trying to ditch the country?

It wouldn't surprise me though. Between the needless and wasteful spending that comes out of the taxpayers' pocket, the corruption that is rampant and the racism that minorities have to endure, it's about time Malaysians looked for greener pastures.

It's gone beyond the wake up call for politicians and their race-manipulative agendas, but I'm not holding my breath for the Great Awakening.