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Showing posts with label Brain drain. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Brain drain. Show all posts

Friday 1 March 2024

Unlocking the nation’s ‘brain bank’

Greener pastures: Among reasons why Malaysians opt to work in Singapore are enhanced job prospects, attractive salaries and advantageous exchange rates for the Singapore dollar. — THOMAS YONG/The Star

‘Rethink strategy to entice skilled talents to come back’

 PETALING JAYA: The country should set up a comprehensive registry of Malaysians working abroad, say human resources experts.

They said this can be done by using big data so that the government can formulate strategies for better “brain circulation” to lure our skilled workers into either returning home or contributing to the economy.

National Association of Human Resources Malaysia (Pusma) president Zarina Ismail said Talent Corporation Malaysia Bhd (TalentCorp), an agency under the Human Resources Ministry, should maintain a database of Malaysian professionals abroad.

“They can collaborate with embassies or high commissions for the most updated information and figures, so that we keep track of how many Malaysians are out there and what their expertise is.

“This should include Malaysians who went abroad for career prospects and who may have not been kept track of before this.“TalentCorp and the ministry should do more to help Malaysia turn the brain drain into brain circulation, which is doable,” she said in an interview yesterday.

The term “brain circulation” was bandied about in a statement by the Statistics Department last week.

According to the department, the nation must reframe the “brain drain narrative” and transform it into “brain circulation” in which the Malaysian diaspora will “eventually return to Malaysia after a predetermined period, thereby contributing the valuable expertise and experiences they acquired (overseas) back to the country”.For the short term, Zarina said Malaysian employers should use expatriates in the country to train locals to be on par with field experts.

“Make them train our local workforce and utilise their expertise since we have them here now so that the trained ones can become experts later and train future talent.

“We should also limit service terms for expatriates so that trained successors get an opportunity to perform and have hands-on experience for the job.”

Acknowledging that talent cannot be stopped from looking for better pay and opportunities abroad, Zarina said Malaysia should focus on strengthening its workforce with better career prospects and benefits.

“We have many people who are willing to work, such as women who want to take up welding jobs. We should identify those who want to work and train them.”

The emphasis should be on how to harness these workers’ capacity and skills in a productive way, she added.

National Council of Professors fellow Dr Syed Alwee Alsagoff said Malaysia has a hidden asset in the form of a “brain bank” consisting of a network of academic professionals abroad to plug the talent gap.

“This ‘brain bank’ represents knowledge, experience and global connections.

“By engaging this bank effectively, Malaysia can unlock a powerful tool for development and innovation,” he said.Syed Alwee said diaspora academicians can help Malaysia revolutionise its education by having world researchers injecting international experience into local universities.

Other ways, he added, include modernising research collaboration and innovation in a knowledge-based economy and creating a wellspring of fresh ideas, tackling issues from climate change to healthcare.

“These ‘academic ambassadors’ could bridge the gap between Malaysia and the world.”The diaspora, he said, can become a bridge to the world, boosting Malaysia’s global standing.

He added that engaging the diaspora is not just about tapping into existing talent but about strengthening connections.“Imagine ongoing collaboration, continued contributions and even potential future repatriation.

“By fostering these relationships, Malaysia can ensure a continuous flow of knowledge and talent, turning the ‘brain drain’ into a ‘brain gain’,” he said.

Syed Alwee said the key is engagement and connecting diaspora academicians with local professionals.

“We should transform isolated experts into a powerful collaborative force. Knowledge transfer programmes can link international academics with local professionals, sparking innovation and capacity-building.

“This ‘brain circulation’ fuels the ecosystem further.

“Short-term collaboration, seminars and guest lectureships act as bridges, injecting fresh ideas and perspectives into the local academic scene, keeping it dynamic and responsive.

“Malaysia’s brain drain might hold the key to unlocking its brain bank,” he added.

By engaging its vast academic diaspora, Syed Alwee said the nation can transform challenges into opportunities, thus moving towards a brighter future.

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Poor ringgit performance due to a lack of competitiveness in Malaysia, a 28-year-old problem as a result of 1MDB financial scandal and the subsequent corruptions.

 

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Saturday 28 October 2023

Govt has ‘duty’ to accept English but Official letters not in BM will be returned, can the return improves the weak ringgit and brain drain: Grand plans for Malaysians working in Singapore

SIBU: The Federal Government is obligated to accept letters that are written in English in official communications from Sarawak, says state Deputy Public Health, Housing and Local Government Minister Michael Tiang.

“The Federal Government, in fact, has a duty to entertain English letters from Sarawak for official communications, as the National Language Act 1963/67 was never extended to Sarawak,” he said in a statement yesterday.


“Sarawakians are therefore free to opt to use English or Malay for letters to federal government departments since both languages are official languages in Sarawak.

“Particularly the use of the English language in Sarawak which is guaranteed by Article 161(3) of the Federal Constitution.”

ALSO READ: Federal Govt must accept official correspondence in English, says Sarawak minister

He was responding to Prime Minister Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim’s directive to all government departments and universities not to entertain any letters written in languages other than Bahasa Malaysia.

Tiang, who is also Pelawan assemblyman, reminded the Prime Minister that English and Malay are official languages in Sarawak.

In KOTA KINABALU, Deputy State Secretary (Development) Datuk Dr Ahemad Sade said Sabah will keep to its optional use of English in all its official correspondence until decided otherwise by the state leadership.

“This (directive) was announced by the Federal Government, so we will look at it in detail,” he said after an event yesterday.

The question of whether to follow this policy, he said, will be discussed in a meeting with the state leadership closer to or after the state assembly meeting scheduled for the end of next month.

ALSO READ: Sabah keeping to optional use of English in correspondence until further notice

“For the time being, both Malay and English can be used,” he added.

Former Sabah chief minister Datuk Seri Dr Salleh Said Keruak, who is Usukan assemblyman, said new policies should be coordinated with Sabah and Sarawak before being implemented.

He said that this is to ensure a smooth implementation while also bringing benefits to all.

“It cannot be denied that Malay is our national language, and we welcome this new policy (directive on all-Malay letters).

“But the importance of English also can’t be questioned,” he said during an excellence in education event in the Kota Belud district yesterday.

Another former chief minister, Datuk Seri Yong Teck Lee, said the policy could be detrimental to economic development.

LSO READ: Provide an early foundation in English

He noted that some government departments, by necessity and the nature of their work, must communicate in English.

“English is the lingua franca of international trade, communication and diplomacy.

“I am not only referring to Wisma Putra (Foreign Ministry) but also to agencies like the Malaysia Industrial Development Authority, Malaysia Trade Agency and Bank Negara.

“Returning incoming mail that is written in languages other than Bahasa Malaysia will also send a negative message to the international community.

“It will suggest that Malaysia is not open to foreign investment or trade and that it is not interested in collaborating with other countries,” he said in a statement.

Parti Warisan deputy president Datuk Darell Leiking said the directive should not have been issued arbitrarily but only carried out after seeking the feedback and consensus of the Sabah and Sarawak governments

Sunday 27 August 2023

Reversing declining R&D investments

 


SIX decades ago, Malaysia was richer than South Korea and Taiwan.

But today, the country is behind these two technology superpowers and is still trying to break out of the middle-income trap.

Taiwan overtook Malaysia’s gross domestic product (GDP) per capita in the mid-70s, and not long after that, South Korea overtook Malaysia in the mid-80s.

A major reason for Malaysia lagging behind Taiwan and South Korea is the failure to invest adequately in research and development (R&D) that ultimately resulted in low local technology creation.

This is reflected in the number of patents granted, as mentioned in the World Intellectual Property Indicators report.

In 2022, a total of 6,876 patents were granted in Malaysia, out of which almost 85% were granted to non-residents.

In contrast, South Korea granted 145,882 patents in 2022. Three out of four patents in that year were granted to residents.

Official figures show that Malaysia’s gross expenditure on R&D (GERD) has been declining in the past several years, even before the Covid-19 pandemic.

In fact, the country’s GERD per GDP dropped to just 0.95% in 2020, which was the lowest since 2010.For comparison, countries like South Korea, the United States and Japan spent 4.81%, 3.45% and 3.26% of their GDP in 2020 for R&D, respectively.

Notably, China’s GERD per GDP stood at 2.4% in 2020, significantly higher than Malaysia despite having an almost similar GDP per capita.

It is noteworthy that Malaysia is well behind its GERD per GDP target of 3.5% by 2030. The intermediate target is 2.5% by 2025, which is just two years’ away.


Science, Technology and Innovation (Mosti) Minister Chang Lih Kang

In a reply to StarBizWeek, Science, Technology and Innovation (Mosti) Minister Chang Lih Kang acknowledges that the gap to achieve the 2030 target is “stark and significant”.

He also adds that there is a funding shortfall of RM40bil to achieve the 2025 target.

“The slump in GERD before 2020 primarily stems from a dwindling contribution from the business sector, which started around 2016.

“While the government has consistently provided substantial R&D funding, it’s imperative for the business and industry sectors to substantially participate.

“After all, these sectors stand to gain the most from R&D innovations, utilising outcomes to enhance products, refine business processes, and overall drive competitive advantage,” says Chang.

Malaysia’s long-delayed ambition to become a high-income nation relies on the country’s ability to effectively spend on R&D efforts in high-potential areas.

Increased R&D efforts that would lead to greater technology adoption in the country are highly necessary, considering that Malaysia is set to become a super-aged country by 2056.

Amid declining fertility rates, more of the country’s workforce must be automated and mechanised to avert any crisis in the future.

Mosti Minister Chang also says that a higher expenditure on R&D serves as a foundational indicator in many global indices like the Global Innovation Index (GII) and the Global Competitiveness Index (GCI).

In the Madani Economy framework unveiled by Prime Minister Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim last month, these two indices were mentioned as some of the key performance indicators (KPIs), moving forward.

Anwar envisages Malaysia to be among the top 20 countries in GII by 2025. As for GCI, Malaysia aims to rank in the top 12 within the next 10 years.

It is understandable why Anwar hopes to improve Malaysia’s ranking in such indices.

“These indices are meticulously scrutinised by foreign investors when determining potential investment destinations,” according to Chang.

Spending it right

A similarity between South Korea and Malaysia is the fact that both governments have in the past invested significantly in building local industries, including for R&D efforts.

“Chaebols” or South Korean mega-conglomerates were once small businesses that received generous support from the government since the early 1960s. This has helped to nurture internationally recognised brands such as Samsung and Hyundai.

Similarly, Malaysia has also channelled billions of ringgit into profit-driven entities such as car manufacturer Proton and semiconductor wafer foundry Silterra.

However, unlike in South Korea, these heavy industrialisation projects that were introduced during the administration of Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad failed to sustain commercially and continued to depend on government handouts.

These two projects have since been privatised. Proton Holdings Bhd made a rebound after China’s Zhejiang Geely Holding emerged in the carmaker with a 49.1% stake.

Meanwhile, Silterra was sold to Dagang NeXchange Bhd (Dnex) and Beijing Integrated Circuit Advanced Manufacturing and High-End Equipment Equity Investment Fund Centre (Limited Partnership) – also known as CGP Fund.

Dnex holds a 60% stake in Silterra, while CGP Fund owns the remaining 40%.

An analyst explains that the failure of Proton and Silterra was the result of continued government funding in the past, even if the management did not achieve tangible results.

“South Korea was different. You have a set of KPIs outlined along the timeline. If you don’t perform, you won’t get the money,” the analyst says.

Like it or not, the government has a big role to play in stimulating R&D efforts in the market.

The US government, for instance, is a major funder of R&D and is also a major user of the new innovations that may have yet to receive demand from the public.

It is noteworthy that the Internet and the global positioning system (GPS) began as projects under the US Department of Defence.

It is typical of the private sector to innovate and to create new products only when they foresee market opportunities.

With shareholders’ ultimate focus being on profit, the private sector may have its limitations when it comes to risk-taking.

In the case of Malaysia, businesses do not reinvest an adequate amount of their profits into R&D, despite the fact that Malaysian companies retain high operating profits.

In 2022, the gross operating surplus of businesses constituted 67% of GDP, which increased from 62.6% in 2021.

The easy supply of cheap foreign workers, particularly before the pandemic, has further allowed Malaysian companies to avoid R&D and automating a large part of their operations.

Distinguished professor of economics Datuk Rajah Rasiah agrees that the domestic private sector does not invest adequately in R&D.

“As firms move up the technology trajectory towards frontier innovations, they expect strong support from the embedding ecosystem, especially the science, technology, and innovation (STI) infrastructure.

“Although Malaysia did attempt to create the STI infrastructure after 1991, almost all of them (such as Mimos, Science and Technology Parks and the incubators in them as well as the Malaysian Technology Development Corp) were not effectively governed, and hence, they have become white elephants.

“Given the lack of such support and ineffective governance of incentives and grants in the selection, monitoring and appraisal of their output, private firms are unconvinced that attempts to upgrade to participate in R&D will materialise,” he says.

Techpreneur Tan Aik Keong also points out that Malaysian companies face fundraising difficulties for R&D purposes, especially small and medium enterprises and unlisted companies.

Tan was recently appointed as a member of the National Digital Economy and Fourth Industrial Revolution Council. He is also the CEO of ACE Market-listed Agmo Holdings Bhd.

“Investors and lenders may hesitate to support R&D initiatives due to the inherent risks and uncertainties associated with these endeavours.

“The lack of a guaranteed correlation between R&D investment and immediate revenue generation can lead to doubts about the return on investment (ROI),” he says.Tan opines that the lack of “proven success stories” whereby R&D investments in Malaysia resulted in significant ROIs contributed to the scepticism.

In addition, he says that companies with no prior experience in R&D investments would find it challenging to start investing heavily in R&D.

“For listed entities, there is relatively more flexibility in terms of fundraising for R&D purposes.

“Capital market instruments such as private placements and rights issues can be leveraged to raise larger sums of funds to support R&D initiatives.

“Fortunately, the availability of matching grants from agencies like Mosti, MDEC, Miti, and MTDC can provide much-needed financial support and incentive for companies to invest in R&D activities,” he says.

Acknowledging the challenges, Mosti Minister Chang says that alternative financing mechanisms are being considered

A notable example is the Malaysia Science Endowment (MSE), which has set an ambitious goal of raising RM2bil.

“MSE is more than an alternative R&D funding for the nation.

“The working model is to utilise its interest, which will be generated from the investment.

“The fund would be optimised further through a matching fund mechanism – bringing quadruple helix stakeholders together to focus on solution-driven R&D and prioritising based on the nation’s needs,” he says.

Mosti, with Akademi Sains Malaysia, is currently actively developing a fund-raising mechanism to establish the MSE.

In addition, Chang says the government will continue to deploy a myriad of fiscal incentives that include tax exemptions and double deductions on R&D expenditures.“The overarching goal is to promote a symbiotic relationship where both the private sector and the government collaborate seamlessly to advance Malaysia’s R&D aspirations,” he says.

Lack of quality researchers?

R&D efforts are not just about investing a large sum of money. They will only yield best results if they are supported by qualified, world-class researchers.

Unfortunately, in the case of Malaysia, brain drain has become a major challenge in pushing for greater R&D.

The ongoing decline in interest among schoolchildren in science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM) studies will only worsen the situation in the future.

Agmo’s Tan notes that the declining interest in science subjects among students threatens the availability of skilled researchers, scientists, and engineers needed for a thriving R&D ecosystem.

“The potential for brain drain is a legitimate concern if Malaysia does not foster an environment conducive to R&D growth,” he says.

In 2020, Malaysia saw a decline in the number of researchers per 10,000 labour force at only 31.4 persons, as compared to 74 persons in 2016.

At 31.4 persons, this was the lowest level since 2010.

Rajah says that Malaysia lacks quality R&D researchers, as well as engineers and technicians to support serious R&D participation.

“Malaysia’s researchers and R&D personnel in the labour force fall way below that of Japan, South Korea, Taiwan, Singapore, and China.

“In fact, this is one of the major reasons why national and foreign firms participate little in R&D activities in Malaysia,” he adds.

When asked about the commercialisation of research done by Malaysian universities, Rajah says the commercialisation ratio against grants received in Malaysia is very low.

This is compared to the Silicon Valley and Route 128 in the US, the science parks in Taiwan, and the Vinnova targeted areas in Sweden.

However, Rajah says the blame for the low rate is mistakenly placed on the scientists.

“Most universities in Malaysia focus on scientific publications, which is a major KPI for them. Malaysia does well on scientific publications.

“Mosti and the Higher Education Ministry should make intellectual property (IP) and commercialisation equally important.

“In doing so, the government must tie grants and incentives to link researchers and firms by offering matching grants so that the research undertaken by the scientists are targeted to the pursuit of IPs and monetary returns.

“Firms in this case will ensure that the 1:1 sharing of funds with the government brings returns for them – widely undertaken successfully in Japan, the Netherlands and Taiwan,” he says.

At the same time, Rajah suggests a critical appraisal of previous grants approved to ensure that mistakes are not repeated.

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In further strengthening the country R&D expertise, there are calls to improve universities’ curriculum more holistically.

Technology consultant Mohammad Shahir Shikh said there is a gap and misalignment between industries’ requirements versus theoretical research in new knowledge discovery by the universities.

He calls for greater partnership between universities and the industry, including for improving business operations via the integration of new technologies.

Mohammad Shahir has previously served as an engineer with chipmaker AMD for 11 years.

He raises concerns about the severe shortage of STEM graduates in Malaysia to serve the needs of the industries.

“The country’s target was to have 500,000 STEM graduates by 2020, but we now have only 68,000 such graduates.

“Even then, the highest number of unemployed graduates here is from the STEM stream.

“My proposal to the government is to start assisting potential schools and STEM students become familiar with scientific terms in English and improve their communication skills,” he adds.

Mohammad Shahir points out that about 30% of Finland’s workforce consists graduates from the STEM stream.

“This is a priority that needs to be addressed if we want to achieve our national innovation goals,” he says.

National STEM Association president and founder Prof Datuk Dr Noraini Idris laments that only about 15% of form four students take pure science subjects, namely physics, chemistry, biology and additional mathematics.

The percentage has fallen from abogaut 19% back in 2019.

“This is alarming. We need more students to take pure sciences if we want to create more scientists, data analysts and researchers for the future.

Noraini calls for a complete revamp in the national education system, whereby “STEM culture” is fostered among children from a very young age.

“My team and I have proposed the “cradle-to-career” model which instils the interest for STEM from nurseries and preschool to tertiary education.

“It also needs formal and informal support, whereby informal refers to family, peers and community to foster the interest in STEM.

“For this to happen, we need the effort of various ministries and not just the Education Ministry,” she says.

It is high time, according to Noraini, to set up a department for STEM directly under the Prime Minister’s Department to coordinate the joint-efforts across ministries.As the country works towards improving STEM’s acceptance, Agmo’s Tan says Malaysia must put more emphasis on R&D efforts in emerging technologies such as artificial intelligence, blockchain, extended reality and cloud computing, among others.

“We must encourage the establishment of R&D centres by high-tech companies through attractive incentives,” he adds.

Looking ahead, the government has a lot of issues on its plate to address.

To reboot the economy, it is not only about spending more money on R&D.

More importantly, every ringgit invested must be spent efficiently in high-growth research areas that will yield strong ROIs.

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Tuesday 27 December 2022

Malaysia faces brain drain in every skilled sector, officials say

 

 Cause for concern: Dr Noor Hisham said the migration of health professionals was fuelled by many reasons, including economic factors. — LOW BOON TAT/The Star

Migration of health professionals was fuelled by many reasons, including economic factors. PHOTO: THE STAR/ASIA NEWS NETWORK

 

Brain drain is everywhere, says DG - The Star

  Docs seeking greener pastures away from home

 Private healthcare experts: Give doctors the chance to advance

 ‘The Doctors Are Not Okay’: Ipoh Timor MP https://codeblue.galencentre.org/2022/12/23/the-doctors-are-not-okay-ipoh-timor-mp/

PETALING JAYA - Malaysia’s healthcare sector is not the only one facing a brain drain as other skilled sectors are facing the same problem, top officials say, as they responded to comments by a leading academic that the country’s top university loses at least 30 of its best medical graduates to Singapore every year.

New Health Minister Zaliha Mustafa said the brain drain is definitely a loss, but insisted that the right skills be inculcated to ensure that Malaysians continue to receive the highest quality services.

She said she was aware of the recommendations of the Human Resources for Health Strategy of her predecessors, including on the recruitment of doctors, improving the quality of training with clearer career pathways and improving their working conditions.

Health director-general Noor Hisham Abdullah said on Friday: “The issue of brain drain cuts across the workforce. It’s across all specialities, not only in the medical field.”

On complaints by medical students of poor working conditions, bullying, low wages, as well as inadequate training and career opportunities, he said there was no guarantee that migration would stop even if these issues ceased.

He said the migration of health professionals was fuelled by many reasons, including economic factors.

“Singapore’s currency is three times better than ours. Many Johoreans cross over to work in Singapore, so can the same argument be used?

“Even Singapore’s healthcare system has a similar issue with its citizens migrating elsewhere like to Australia,” he added.

The issue of brain loss was raised on Thursday by Professor Adeeba Kamarulzaman, who said the top college, Universiti Malaya, loses at least 30 of its best and brightest medical graduates to Singapore every year.

The professor of medicine and infectious diseases at Universiti Malaya’s medical faculty said in a tweet on Thursday that the brain drain will continue if nothing is done to address issues such as a lack of clear training and career pathways for doctors, nurses and allied health professionals

A male nurse working in Singapore told The Star that working in the Republic provided him the opportunity to gain wider experience.

“Singapore practises international standards and if I want to find jobs in Australia, New Zealand or even the United Kingdom, it will be easy for me,” he said, adding that nurses in Singapore undergo procedure competency courses frequently.

Malaysian Medical Association president Muruga Raj Rajathurai said the government needed to take steps to provide better career prospects in terms of career advancement and remuneration.

“Better pay is among the main reasons the junior doctors are leaving to work abroad. It doesn’t help that the cost of living has gone up in the country.

“Issues such as the contract system, permanent positions and even burnout need to be resolved or doctors will lose hope in the system and leave for greener pastures,” he said on Friday.

National Association of Human Resources Malaysia president Zarina Ismail, who runs a recruitment agency, said her firm found employment for qualified Malaysians such as nurses, doctors, lecturers and oil and gas professionals to work overseas.

“Many of the nurses say they don’t make enough here to have any savings at the end of the month.

“That is why they choose to look for jobs in countries like Saudi Arabia and other Middle Eastern countries, where they can earn RM12,000 (S$3,700) monthly,” she said. THE STAR/ASIA NEWS NETWORK 

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Monday 9 May 2022

Keep our talent

 

Malaysian pride: Tan, who is from Muar, was appointed to the most senior technology position at Nasa recently. – nasa.gov

 NASA Engineer Florence Tan presented a Maniac Lecture entitled, "From Malaysia to Mars." Florence talked about her journey from Malaysia to NASA Goddard Space Flight Center, where she has been working on planetary mass spectrometers, which is characterized by challenges, frustration, excitement, and rewards.

 Only with the application of inclusiveness will retain our best workforce.

EVERY time we read about Malaysians making a mark globally in their respective fields, pride and joy course through our veins knowing these people have elevated our country’s standing.

Recently, that proverbial uplifting news featured six young Malaysians acquiring seats in the prestigious Harvard University for the class of 2026.

The students received offers of admission amidst stiff competition from a global applicant pool of 61,220 students, it was reported.

Last week, another piece of good news surfaced. A Malaysian from Muar, Johor, Florence Tan, was appointed Deputy Chief Technologist at the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (Nasa) – the most senior technology position.

She had left Malaysia at 18 to study in the United States, and then started to work with Nasa, beginning as an intern at one of its research centres.

When I read those two stories, I couldn’t help pondering if the six Harvard students would return to Malaysia someday, perhaps after gaining experience in the US and other countries.

And what can Tan really do in Malaysia, even if she chose to return home? After all, we can’t cater to her expertise, experience and skill in Your chance to fly Singapore Airlines to London for free with this new card from Maybank

But more and more, when we read of these high achievers, the media is compelled to refer to them as “Malaysia-born,” which is a euphemism for Malaysians who have emigrated overseas and are not nationals of our country any longer.

At least we’re sure that two legendary Malaysians of global repute, Hollywood actress Tan Sri Michelle Yeoh and shoe designer Datuk Jimmy Choo are hanging on to their Malaysian passports.

Unfortunately, Malaysia is one of the countries most affected by brain drain, as it faces a major problem in not only being incapable of delivering the required talent, but also in failing to retain the current local talent or attracting foreign ones, as a report in cs.stanford.edu put it.

The World Bank defines brain drain as the migration of talent across borders, which has an impact on Malaysia’s aspiration to become a high-income nation.

“Human capital is the bedrock of the high-income economy. Sustained and skill-intensive growth will require talent going forward.

“For Malaysia to be successful in its journey to high income, it will need to develop, attract, and retain talent. Brain drain does not appear to square with this objective: Malaysia needs talent, but talent seems to be leaving.

“Brain drain is a subject of intense debate and controversy, but surprisingly few studies have characterised the phenomenon in the Malaysian context – be it in terms of magnitude, impact, or policy response.

“What complicates matters further are the statistical discrepancies that limit the quality, availability, timeliness, and comparability of international migration data,” wrote its senior economic advisor Philip Schellekens.

He quoted the World Bank’s Malaysia Economic Monitor saying that the Malaysian diaspora – the group of skilled and unskilled Malaysia-born women, men and children living overseas – is estimated conservatively at one million worldwide as of 2010.

“A third among these represent brain drain – those with tertiary education among the diasporas. This is not to suggest that others are not ‘brainy’, but educational attainment is the only available proxy that is consistently available across recipient countries.

“To put the numbers in perspective, two factors are important: the size of the skills base and the profile of immigration.

“Because of the narrow skills base, brain drain is intense in Malaysia and is further aggravated by positive selection effects, as the best and brightest leave first.

“Further, brain drain is not alleviated by compensating inflows, since migration into Malaysia is mainly low-skilled with some 60% with primary education or less and the number of high-skilled expats has fallen by a quarter since 2004.”

As of 2019, there are 952,261 Malaysians or Singaporeans of partial or full Malaysian origin residing in Singapore. And including the permanent population in the country, about 350,000 Malaysians cross the Johor-Singapore Causeway daily to commute to work or school.

Australia is another popular choice for Malaysians, with 177,460 people living there in 2020, according to a report, while the 2016 census from the Australian Bureau of Statistics reveals that 138,364 Malaysians became permanent residents or citizens.

There’s nothing wrong with us continuing to look for low-skilled labour for our oil palm estates, restaurants and homes – many West Asian countries are in the same predicament. However, Malaysia needs to embrace the global mobility of talent, too.

For a start, we must admit that the biggest criteria are the differences in earnings, career prospects, opportunities, professional exposure and quality of life.

The elephant in the room for many Malaysians is the discontent with our country’s affirmative policies, particularly among the non-bumiputras who see their chances of climbing up the ladder hampered by their ethnic origin.

The painful truth is, many talented non-bumiputras, especially the Chinese, make up the bulk of the diaspora.

In all fairness, the government, via Talent Corporation Malaysia, has developed many initiatives to encourage Malaysians to return, but a better carrot needs to be dangled.

Singapore, one of the best-run countries, has the same problem as it faces a challenge to retain quality citizens because the country’s brain drain rate is higher than the global average with six in 10 Singa-poreans willing to leave the country in pursuit of a better job, according to a Randstad Workmonitor research report.

The study revealed that the brain drain rate in the Lion City is higher than the global average of 50%. It’s also higher than Hong Kong’s 56%, but slightly lower than Malaysia’s 66%.

It said 68% of Singaporean workers, aged between 18 and 34 years old, are willing to pack up and leave their country.

In many ways, ethnic Chinese, like their forefathers, are a migratory race, regardless of their nationalities, with many selecting Canada and Australia as their choices during the last 20 years, according to statista.com

In 2013, the United States and Canada became the countries with the highest immigration rate of millionaires from China, according to Hurun Research Institute.

China is reportedly one of the world’s largest emigration countries as well as the country with the biggest outflow of high net worth individuals between 2003 and 2013. Likewise for many Hong Kongers and Taiwanese.

Our politicians love to use the term “world class” when they talk about Malaysia, but we need to really walk the talk or else it remains hollow and unconvincing. If we’re indeed top of the heap, we should be getting top notch workers queueing up to work here. 

Wong Chun Wai

Wong Chun Wai began his career as a journalist in Penang, and has served The Star for over 35 years in various capacities and roles. He is now group editorial and corporate affairs adviser to the group, after having served as group managing director/chief executive officer.On The Beat made its debut on Feb 23 1997 and Chun Wai has penned the column weekly without a break, except for the occasional press holiday when the paper was not published. In May 2011, a compilation of selected articles of On The Beat was published as a book and launched in conjunction with his 50th birthday. Chun Wai also comments on current issues in The Star.

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Wednesday 18 September 2019

Malaysian talent lost due to racial bigotry

Leng Siew Yeap
Leng Siew Yeap, a Malaysian, a graduate of UMS applied for a scholarship to do a doctorate degree but was refused outright by the local govt.

She was however offered scholarships by University of Edinburgh, London University and Cambridge University. She chose Cambridge University's Dorothy Hodgkin postgraduate award to study stem cell.

On graduation she accepted the offer from Harvard to study human immunology. She is now working in research for a Shanghai university hospital.

She has successfully helped to create an method/procedure 4 the body to secrete an antibody to fight HIV. She is now married to a Shanghai citizen, living and working in Shanghai. She and her achievements are never mentioned in any Malaysia newspaper.

View Full Profile - Shanghai Institute of Immunology


Shanghai Institute of Immunology, Shanghai Jiao Tong University School of Medicine, China.




Research Interests
Our body is constantly attacked by pathogens. To fight against various pathogens, B cells produce a large antibody repertoire through different processes that involve genomic DNA alterations. During B cell development, a DNA cut and paste mechanism called V(D)J recombination generates a primary antibody repertoire by producing V(D)J exons that are made up of combinations of different V, D and J segments. Upon activation by pathogens, mature B cells undergo secondary antibody diversification, whereby Somatic Hypermutation (SHM) generates antibodies with higher affinity, while Class Switch Recombination (CSR) generates antibodies with different effector functions. In theory, our body has the capability to generate all necessary antibodies to fight against different pathogens through antibody diversification mechanisms. However, this is not the case. For example, in certain infectious diseases such as Human Immunodeficiency Virus Infection/ acquired immune deficiency syndrome (HIV/AIDS), only a small percentage of the infected patients were able to produce effective antibodies. Our research aims to elucidate molecular mechanisms that facilitate approaches in generating highly effective antibodies to fight pathogens and infectious diseases. We employ various approaches including mouse models, cell line systems, CRISPR-mediated genome editing and next-generation sequencing technologies (Yeap et al., Cell, 2015, Figure below) to address our aims.



Top Malaysian researcher working to wipe out infectious diseases
Dr Yeap heads the antibody diversification team at Shanghai Institute of Immunology, Shanghai Jiao Tong University School of Medicine, China.

LIKE many of her peers, Dr Yeap Leng Siew, 39, was raised believing that noble careers only include doctors and lawyers.

So when the Selangorian failed to enter medical school because she didn’t get straight As in the Sijil Tinggi Persekolahan Malaysia (STPM), her childhood ambition of becoming a doctor came crashing down.

She was upset for awhile but remembered that as a secondary school girl, she had done well in Biology.

It encouraged her to take up Biotechnology at Universiti Malaysia Sabah (UMS).

“I passed with flying colors and was the best student at university. If I hadn’t been rejected to do medicine, I wouldn’t have the career that I now enjoy. It was a blessing in disguise.”

Now married to a Chinese national and living in Shanghai, the mother-of-two graduated with first class honours from UMS in 2003, and received the Royal Educational Award and Tunku Abdul Rahman Medal. These awards recognise the country’s best student from each public university. After graduation, she was still unsure about her career path until a research stint at the Genome Institute of Singapore (GIS) sparked her interest in cell biology.

She went on to do her doctorate in stem cell biology at the University of Cambridge, before continuing as a Harvard Medical School postdoctoral fellow at the Boston Children’s Hospital.

“Initially I wanted to do a Ph.D in Singapore but my GRE score (a US-based graduate entrance exam) was not great.”

Though she did not receive any offers during the first round of application, she was determined to pursue a Ph.D degree.

“People are bitter about rejections because they do not have backup plans. Prof Bing Lim, my supervisor at GIS, once told me to be open-minded because a narrow mind narrows potential. His words were etched in my heart ever since.”

She was later granted the Biotechnology & Biological Sciences Research Council (BBSRC) Dorothy Hodgkin Postgraduate Award – a full scholarship for outstanding students from developing countries to pursue a Ph.D degree at the University of Cambridge.

She continued to make her mark when she was awarded the St Catharine’s College Graduate Prize for Distinction in Research during her stint in Cambridge. She then went on to receive the prestigious Cancer Research Institute Postdoctoral Fellowship in the United States.

Disappointment, she said, is part of life.

“It is how we overcome disappointments and take up challenges that distinguishes us from the rest.”

The former research assistant at GIS now heads the antibody diversification team at Shanghai Institute of Immunology, Shanghai Jiao Tong University School of Medicine, China.

“Prof Huck Hui Ng from GIS once told me, ‘work hard, and the sky is the limit’. I now tell my students those very same words.”

In 2017, Yeap was selected by the National Natural Science Foundation of China (NSFC) to receive the Excellent Young Scientist Fund, which is aimed at nurturing young talents with innovative potential.

She speaks to StarEdu about her work and advises young science students to expand their horizon. The world doesn’t end just because you didn’t get into medical school. There are many opportunities for those interested in Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics (STEM).

> What is your area of research?I am interested in understanding why some people develop effective antibodies to fight diseases while others do not. For example, only a small percentage of HIV-1 infected patients develop potent antibodies against the virus, which is why this remains a major health problem globally. Another example is how despite being vaccinated for the flu or hepatitis B (HBV), some do not develop protective antibodies and are still susceptible to these illnesses. My research group is studying how the antibodies acquire high levels of mutations and other special characteristics. Understanding how these rare antibodies develop will shed light on developing HIV or new vaccines for the flu or HBV.

> How long have you been away from home? Sixteen years. During the final semester of my undergraduate studies, I did a 10-week research attachment at the National Cancer Centre of Singapore. It was a time when biological research was just starting to bloom there. I was very fortunate not to be sent home because of the Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome (SARS) outbreak, and even luckier, because I landed my first job as a research assistant at the Genome Institute of Singapore (GIS).

Seeing that I graduated from a university that didn’t even exist when he left his hometown, Kota Kinabalu, my supervisor at GIS, Dr Bing Lim, decided to hire me. He has been a great mentor ever since. In his laboratory, we were trying to culture human stem cells and I was fascinated by the idea that these cells may be turned into any type of cells for therapeutic purposes.

I realised then that I would have to pursue a Ph.D degree if I want to move further along in my research career. Two years later, I moved to the United Kingdom to begin my postgraduate studies in the lab of Prof Azim Surani at the University of Cambridge. When I completed my doctorate, my parents were expecting me to come home. So when I told them that I had planned on continuing my postdoctoral training in the United States, they were shocked. It took a while to convince them that a Ph.D degree is just the beginning of a career in research and that to have a chance of running my own laboratory one day, I would have to undergo a postdoctoral training as well.

In 2010, I started my postdoctoral training in the laboratory of a top immunologist, Dr Fred Alt at Harvard Medical School. During the five years of postdoctoral training, I met my husband and gave birth to my first child.

In 2015, we decided to move closer to home to start our career as independent researchers.

> What is it about home you miss the most?The food definitely – nasi lemak, durian, and my mum’s cooking.

> You helped find a way for the body to fight HIV. Tell us about that breakthrough.During my postdoctoral training, I developed mouse models to study how different antibody genes undergo mutation. We found that certain DNA sequences are more prone to mutations and that the same DNA sequences are also prone to deletions, another common characteristic of anti-HIV broadly neutralising antibodies.

These results suggest that DNA sequence direct the evolution of antibodies and these results were published in Cell in 2015, a top journal in the biological field. In 2017, we published in Proceedings of National Academy of Science on a related work where we analysed a mouse model carrying a human antibody gene and found that many mutations in anti-HIV antibodies are not easily achieved. Understanding how our bodies are able to elicit these rare antibodies will help in vaccine design strategies.

> What are you currently working on?We are continuously trying to elucidate the molecular mechanisms underlying highly effective antibody generation and developing approaches to guide our bodies to produce such antibodies during infection. We use animal models, cutting-edge gene editing techniques and next generation DNA sequencing in our research. We hope to one day wipe out infectious diseases like HIV.

> Are there any plans to work with other Malaysian researchers moving forward?We are constantly reaching out to researchers from all over the world, and Malaysia is definitely a priority. On Aug 9, I was in Malaysia with a delegation headed by Shanghai Jiao Tong University School of Medicine chancellor Prof Guoqiang Chen, and Shanghai Institute of Immunology director Prof Bing Su, to promote collaborations with Universiti Malaya’s Faculty of Medicine. We also visited the International Medical University (IMU).

With the Chinese government’s ‘One Belt, One Road’ initiative, there are plenty of funding opportunities for academic exchanges and scholarships for graduate studies. Hopefully, more people will come to know about research and academic opportunities in our school.

I have been exposed to different research environments in top laboratories and research institutes around the world, and the current biomedical research environment in Shanghai and other major cities in China, is definitely on par with the places that I have been to.

>What is the most challenging aspect of working in a lab?As an independent researcher, my job is to design and supervise experiments, analyse the results with my students and postdocs, and write manuscripts for publications. I also have to make sure that the lab has enough funding to do research.

Some of the challenging aspects include dealing with failed experiments, manuscripts and grants being rejected, and harsh criticisms by peers. But the satisfaction in being the first in the world to discover something new and potentially textbook-changing, makes all the hard work worthwhile.

> What qualities would a young, aspiring researcher need?Passion, persistence and determination. In the labs I’ve been to, I’ve seen college or even high school students doing research internships during school holidays. These kinds of opportunities allow students to experience the laboratory culture and life as a researcher. Being exposed to different career options at an early stage allows students to make better career choices and develop greater potential. I hope young Malaysians can be more pro-active and seek out such opportunities to enrich themselves in their spare time. I didn’t know there was such a possibility when I was in school.-Source link

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