Keeping Us Here

I read a recent article where the head of Talent Corp, Johan Mahmood Merican, asked the Malaysians overseas to ignore the race rhetoric in the press and to focus on what the government policies and actions are.

Unfortunately, the problem happens when these race rhetorics are used as excuses and translated into government affirmative action for the majority – a world leading Malaysian innovation.

I can fully appreciate the daunting task that lies ahead for Talent Corp to try to woo exasperated and dejected Malaysians overseas, to come back to serve the nation. I see them doing some good things in terms of the kinds of programmes that they are doing to achieve this.

However, as long as there are no massive structural and institutional changes in the country, keeping these people here would become a problem. So, I hope that Talent Corp will look into changing things internally in order to keep people here, which is a far more important problem.

There is no point in wooing back 750 talented Malaysians if they end up leaving after that.

Another aspect of the issue that they should look into is the existing talent already within the country – and how these people can be further nurtured. As it stands, the present structural issues within the country are an impediment to our local talent. So, these people are being pushed out as new ones are being brought in to replace them.

Talent Corp has certainly got its work cut out for it and I hope that they actually have enough talent within themselves, to carry through the necessary reforms to drive Malaysia into becoming a modern and developed nation.