Brain drain continues to put the country on the losing end

http://thestar.com.my/news/story.asp?file=/2010/11/2/sarawak/7339395&sec=sarawak

Tuesday November 2, 2010

Brain drain continues to put the country on the losing end

By YU JI
yuji@thestar.com.my


REPORTS on the brain drain come and go every so often, but behind all the headlines and letters to the editors, there exists a real problem that will take generations to remedy.

First off, let it be clear, there can be no solving of the brain drain. The exodus of human capital is part and parcel of globalisation. It is the result of universities with international reach, the Internet and borders that are getting more porous by the day.

Indeed, when so much economic talk these days is focused on free trade agreements and foreign direct investment through which commodities and money move so freely, the very idea of nationality erodes.

This is not to say, however, that Malaysia’s brain drain should not be tackled.

In February this year, a report based on Parliamentary proceedings stated that between March 2008 and August 2009, about 305,000 Malaysians left the country for jobs elsewhere.

The figure was almost double the number of Malaysians who left in 2007.

Throughout the years, Singapore has been the recipient of some of the brightest and most hard-working workers from its neighbouring country. An estimate a few years ago claimed that about 40% of those leaving Malaysia headed for the tiny island nation.

Other countries that Malaysians prefer are Australia, New Zealand, the United States and Britain.

On a smaller scale, the brain drain happens inter-state as well.

The Sarawak Progressive Democratic Party has set up clubs in Johor, where the party says almost 40,000 Ibans are working.

Meanwhile, thousands of rural Sarawakians continue to arrive in the state’s towns and cities every year, looking for better salaries.

Take Bario, the fertile Kelabit Highlands, as an example. Well known for its rice, the area’s youths, however, have left in droves over the past three years.

Its rice production is in decline. Rice fields have been abandoned while some locals have started importing rice from nearby villages.

Even Padiberas Nasional Bhd, the country’s regulator and distributor of rice in the industry, said it faced great difficulties in promoting the award-winning Bario rice as the export volume was inconsistent.

To counter the migration of youths, farmers left behind in Bario have been employing Indonesian workers.

Multiply Bario’s situation by a few hundred and you have Malaysia’s scenario – talent leaving, influx of low-skilled foreigners.

The country’s policymakers have never denied there is a brain drain, yet they also seem to resist taking drastic measures. Some politicians have spoken up in support of a true 1Malaysia, but then balked at the smallest sign of trouble from certain groups.

What brain drain comes down to is opportunity. Simple as that.

National Heart Association Malaysia president Prof Dr Sim Kui Hian, rumoured to be a state election candidate, is among a few who had been enormously successful overseas, but eventually returned to Malaysia.

“When people ask me why I came back – mind you I left a better paying job overseas – I say it’s because I miss my laksa, my kolo mee.

“But when I really think about it sometimes, the reason why I’ve stayed back is because of the prestige. I like the challenge of heading a cardiac unit here (in Kuching),” he told StarMetro recently.

Dr Sim is a founding member of the Sarawak General Hospital’s Cardiac Unit, which is making a move to the Sarawak Heart and Cancer Institute in Samarahan.

Had there been no cardiac unit to be set up here, would Dr Sim have returned?

Why should talented people stay put anywhere when better, more challenging and more rewarding opportunities abound somewhere else? Even if you don’t feel that way, would you deny your child such an opportunity?

Opportunity is dependent on equality. The rate of the brain drain can only increase further if a disadvantaged social environment continues to be felt in a world made smaller by great leaps in technological progress.

The Gini Coefficient Index is the internationally-accepted standard to measure inequality, usually used to estimate the difference between the rich and the poor.

It’s saddening to note that the index shows that Malaysians have been growing apart in wealth in the past decade.

It indicates a trend where the rich are getting richer while the poor remain poor, or make so little progress on income levels that any increase is negated by inflation.

Surely, one of the best ways to improve on this would be to introduce the much-talked-about but long-delayed minimum wage scheme.

You see, setting a minimum wage will also positively adjust salaries up the job ladder. It will likely offset the brain drain to some extent.

The minimum wage scheme wasn’t introduced in Budget 2011, but a council was founded which would look into how the scheme could be implemented.

The worry, though, is whether such much-needed efforts will come too little too late. Much has been said about Malaysia falling into the middle-income trap.

Putting targets on higher income levels is a noble aim. And there is no reason to assume the country can’t reach them. Still, rebalancing income distribution and to stem the brain drain are faraway goals from where we stand.