The Malaysian Insider

My thoughts exactly!!!

Very direct senario especially similarity in political & govt mismanagement trend also. Do we allow or not,,..... or just human history need to repeat itself.

Can someone do a comparison also on the present govt and the critical point when Philippine and Indo make the turn down. Wheather we have reached the pleateau towards south IF...... its allow.

Pls tell us something we don't know. THe points highlighted here is all stalled. Repeated over and over again, the only difference? diff news portal.

As long as we have the unwritten policy that only Malays are allowed to head the top jobs in the government civil service, Government Link Companies and in some cases the private sectors your prediction may come true. Other bright Malaysians sees no alternative but to immigrate to other countries where their talents are appreciated and that their children's education are based on merits instead of race.

Very well written .

Yep...all our female graduates starting from UITM,UPM, UTM, UM, UKM, UUM UMS, UNIMAS, etc etc etc....will now be scrambling to be trained as maids so that they can work in the UK, Singapore , Taiwan Hong KOng, Japan, Australia and in the not too distant for rich families in Thailand, Indonesia, India, China, Brunei and the Middle East.....the end result of 52 years of mismanagement and 30 years of looting by Mahathir and co.....a country cursed with the likes of goonish organisations called UMNO, MCA and MIC...

The average Malaysian now is out on the street ...beging bowl in hand . He owns nothing....and owes everything to just about everyone in town.

IF the govement wants to bring back the Malaysians if has lost overseas, it need to get out of race based politics and policies and have a level playing field for all malaysian irrespective of race and religion. It has to be transparent in doing so and not just "talk the talk" but need to "walk the talk".
if this is implimented, then there might be some hope that alaysian overseas might consider coming back.

70% chance that we'll be exporting maids in 20 year? I give it 100% chance that we'll be exporting maids in 15 years if BN is still in power

even if export maids, they will not be able to go to high value markets cos they can't speak english. Maybe to Indonesia cos Indonesia will be ahead of us in 20 years. but hey the govt will be happy cos it is an export. This govt is so stupid, they rather let talent go cos of selfish and stupid reasons. then later go about giving incentives for these very same talents they let go, to come back. Will they come back when they are all settled down and when they see this govt practising Ketuanan melayu and worse of all no respect for law and fair play???

Malaysia’s next export: Maids?

WELL, WITH THE RINGGIT SLIDING TO SAME LEVEL AS RUPIAH AND CORRUPTION INDEX EVER
RISING, THAT IS THE NEXT SURE THING TO HAPPEN.

The present government had been told about these problems year in year out but still heading no way. These show that they are good at curtail resenting view through propaganda on MSM for the past decades. Although attempts had been made to rectify the shortcomings but, alas, none of them have the political will to have hands-on approach to solve it. Instead of competing among the best players in a globalized world, we are competing among ourselves for a small piece of cake and yet they called it meritocracy. Besides, policies had been enacted, both good and bad and bulldozed through Parliament with ease before GE 12 without obtaining public feedback. In generations to come, we will face the real hardship when petrol dollars dried up and the present habit of lavish spending continue. We need to build up capacity and find a niche market for our products and services as our neighbours had surpassed us in terms of growth percentage.

His father said 'Good Riddance'.. Now he want us to believe the prodigal son can change that perversion?

Actually Malaysia IS already exporting maids. They are called Nannys and they go to US, Canada for rich families where the pay is pretty good and they go to college part time...

Wrong!!! not only maids, construction/plantation/factory operator/security guard/road sweeper and other un-skilled workers also.

Those who has the chance are seeking better pay overseas, nearest is Singapore and Thailand. Soon, Indonesia will be another good hunting spot. The reason behind this was the pay was low compare to the living cost. Generally, most mid income level earners do not have enough savings for future and retirement needs.

I work in the overseas over the last many years because of the low pay and long hours of work in Malaysia. I would not mind work long hours but the pay must be justifiable, RM 5 for meal allowance from 5pm~7pm was an insult ! Worst, most working contract stipulate that one must willing to work the extra hours yet mention nothing about overtime compensation. In the overseas, we were not encouraged to work to long in a day and is rewarded accordingly !

Malaysia employer tactic of continuing paying low will definitely drive Malaysian abroad, and i will not surprise one day, we will be exporting maids as we are sending out our nurses into US, UK, NZ and OZ ! As i always say, you pay peanut, you get monkey.

I was in Sydney a few weeks ago on business and met a professional Asian. he has a Malaysian maid.

What are you talking about Lim, it has already happened

Change this UMNO/BN government, that's the only hope for Malaysia.
Change it before it's too late.

Absolutely my sentiment! I've been telling ppl we will export maid sooner or later. Msian chinese maid will be exported to HK/Macau/Aus/Spore/Vietnam/Myammar bcos of their ability to speak mandarin n other chinese dialect. But i worry abt Msian Malay maids, dey have no where to go, Indonesia got surplus and other country tak cakap melayu lar....
I want the future maid to know this, if you are not happy, blame your parents and grandparents for supporting BN for 50 yrs and will continue to support another 50 yrs. To the parents, if u want your children to bcome maid and hate you, continue to support BN.

As long as the BN government still use the divide and rule, NEP, Bumiputra status and not by merit Malaysia will definitely go down the drain. BN/UMNO are only interested to let "Indonesians" labourer to be PR or citizens for their political benefits. I am sure Tuan Hj. Shamsuddin knows about this very well but not admitting that the real problem is because of "Ketuannan Melayu" Bumi status and all the jazz by UMNO is the biggest stumbling block to Malaysia progress.

Should more 'ketuanan' chants and you will get the world community to supplement your 'ketuanan' income. Otherwise, slog it out as the next indonesian hard labor when the BN regime cannot sustain after oil revenue runs out.

We are already a training ground for others. In fact if given the opportunity, many of us still in the country would leave. The govt know what it must do but that would mean dismantling a lot of policies that will ne strongly opposed to vested interests. Does the govt have the guts to do it? I have serious doubts.

The funny thing is even our Sultan prefers to seek medical treatment in Singapore. And the specialist doctor there is a malaysian.
haha

If our Education System continue its nationalist and regressive policies, we will become a talent third world. Soon we will not be able to produce at all, as all the current crop of talent including qualified teachers may have migrated elsewhere.

This is what NEP has done, only good for in breeding..

I wish I was that optimistic of Najib's hopes. But dream on. As long as we have the Never Ending Policy in place, fat hopes that we can improve and advance. Young and experienced talents will flock overseas for many years to come. God help our contry for change and equality!

1 malaysia.....mesia boleh....tepuk dada tanya selera.....why this thing happen.....

Maybe this is what the ruling elites wanted all the time. Keep the natives stupid n poor. For these elites, Malaysia can continue to be a cheap place to stay and play, since most of them have invested their ill-gotten gains abroad.

Yes, we will export maids in future and the irony is that most of them maybe local graduates too.You can find many of them now as salesmen, waittresses, waiters etc.
This happened to the Phillipines as many maids were graduates too and the politicians really screwed the country. Didnt we see the similar traits here?

“Whoever manages to excel in our education system will be courted by Singapore,” he points out.

Many were forced out as well - in 1973/74, 26 of the 32 students in my pre-university class were Malaysian. At last count, jobs held by them in Singapore include CEO of Mass transit, SGX audit chief, Head of Hospital dental department, navy officer, CEO of listed company, doctors, Sec. school head master etc

Talking is cheap.
If you want to save this nation, Najib, tear down the walls of NEP and discrimination now.

The sad truth of our country is not just mismanagement of human resources; it is the deliberate policy of not valuing talents bcos of racial origins. If you do not have the right kulitfication there is the proverbial glass ceiling and quota system to prevent you from achieving your fullest potential. Secondly we also screwed up our education policies in the misguided notion of nationalism and language chauvinism.

It would be unfortunate for Malaysia if what is predicted by Mr. Lim Tze Cheng materialises in the next 20 years. Many of us would be dead and gone by then but the younger generation of today would bear the brunt of the government's shortsighted policies and failures.

The government should stop preaching and move seriously towards re-engineering its socio-economic policies. It is pointless to just preach that Malaysia should become a high income society when in the first place the people of this nation are not viewed as equals. It would be a shame to witness the young Malaysian women working as maids in our neighbouring countries.

The type of jobs created these days are precarious in nature and I wonder how on earth can the government's plan to make Malaysia a high income community ever be achieved. Precarious work includes, temporary, casual, contract, sub-contract, agency work and all other form of non-regular and no-permanent work. This type of jobs are spreading like wildfire and no one seems to ever address this plague, which would not only affect workers and their communities but also create political repercussions. Workers who have worked under such type of employment would not be employable after certain age and this would drive them to survive in the informal sector, which in my view does not represent the nations pending developed status.

If Malaysia were to become a High income country, free collective bargaining should be encouraged in all unionised sectors including government services. Workers should be allowed to excercise their rights to be unionised, bargain collectively and take industrial action where necessary to stop exploitation through low wage regimes.

The government should also ensure that a fair national minimum wage is introduced and this would act as a buffer to check general wage declines (both direct and indirect) among workers. Over dependence on cheap foreign labour also contibuted to the low wage regime in Malaysia.

I urge the government to take a serious view of the finding as published and act swiftly. No talk but concrete action is required.

Arunasalam.P

But we're still on par with Korea - North Korea that is

For all the shouts of ketuanan melayu and towering malaysian, this is really a wake up call. In reality, we are so minute becoz we are major in screwing our very own people.

Equality, transparency and meritocracy for all Malaysians. Then I'll come back.

This is what inevitably happens when a nation is impoverished through corruption, beggar thy neighbour mindsets, my-race-is-ketuanan, brain-drain-lest-these-brains-rise-above-my-brains, my-religion-is-superior, etc.

Not bad lah, if we export maids like Philippines and may be lots of nurses as well. Can speak English and top end of the pay. But I am afraid that in 20 years time, the maids we export will not be able to speak English. Like the Indonesian maid, at the bottom of the pay scale.

If Najib wants to turn Malaysia into a high-income economy, he would have to work very hard for it and step on many tails to get to his goal. I think he wouldn't dare do that. How many PMs dare to change the policy of this nation and shake the foundation of this country to achieve his goal? Not in this lifetime would I expect to see a PM that is capable of doing this.

...who is Najib kidding? I've left and I know many more who have. None of us are ever looking back. "traning ground?" who is Haji Shamsuddin kidding? Even the Chinese and giving Malaysia the skip and head towards Singapore or Australia. Who are these people kidding? “We will create more opportunities, more excitement and more buzz in Malaysia to attract the Malaysian diaspora and expatriates to the country,” what a bloody insult!

"one fast way to lure talent was to" start yet another money-sucking, reality-concealing marketing campaign?

Malaysians will NEVER enjoy 'high quality of life' until their maids do. The problem with 'overseas talent' is that - by and large - it has the option of leaving again, and it can tell when someone is relieving themselves on the talented person's face while telling them it's a shower of gold.

If Malaysia is to compete with the rest of the world for its talent, it has to accept that 'talent' is going to see through shadow theatre and notice the ugly stuff behind the screen. It's the underlying machinery of liberty, safety and a decent standard of life for all that must be addressed first. Perhaps a Malaysian can feel successful for a moment while they're mocking their maid. For a longer, more valid feeling of pride, I suggest dealing openly and rationally with your problems instead of perennially pretending they don't exist.

As long as we do not purge ourselves of our 'jaguh kampung' mentality and daring to take up the challenge to compete on meritocracy to improve ourselves, our home-grown talents will keep running off to greener pastures...and we'll end up being swamped by unskilled foreign labor...just make a trip to Pudu Station area on any Sunday and you'll know what I mean...

"We will create more opportunities, more excitement and more buzz in Malaysia to attract the Malaysian diaspora and expatriates to the country,” said Najib.

LOL. Why not just stop being racist?

There are a lot of talented Malay from Malaysia are moving out too. Most of them study abroad and when they see the greener ground, none of them want to come back. Knowing that without a good connection they will not get a fair play ground even if they are "bumi".

I as a profesional Marine Captain is seeking job outside malaysia now. not only because of better pay, but also for better benifits...Philippines and indon sailor are paid higher in Malaysian company compared to Malaysian Sailors....
Seafarers in malaysian company are not well taken care of even by the goverment. Like we say, MISC owns Marine Department..

From MyVi to MyMaid.

malaysia boleh!

We are doomed ...

hahahaha... it'd seem that only the marginalised races are commenting on this 'issue'...Semua Ok lah.

aiiyaa, those people in power really dont care la.....they rob us nowand later their children, who will then be "placed" at top positions, will continue......we, the rakyat, will be running from pillar to post looking for our next meal whilst they wine and dine in the likes of Paris and Amsterdam.......

Yes, I agree 100% with the article. I have been travelling around Indonesia for business recently and have into smaller cities such as Cilacap, Cilegon, Yogya, Malang, etc. I must say I am very impressed with the developments in the country and with the confidence the people (that I spoke with) concerning the current government and the right direction the country is heading. I have even told some of the Indonesian workers whom I have engaged recently to do some minor home improvements that it won't be long before it will be us Malaysians who will be looking for menial jobs in Indonesia the way our country is being managed. Bottomline is we have incompetent and corrupt leaders unlike the leadership in Indonesia and Singapore.

The government (whoever it is or will be) should revamp the education system to make our children more knowledgable and creative. I work in Saudi and send my kids to international school. When we compared the syllabus in Malaysia we realised our kids are far behind especially in math and english. Start the school age at 6 years old instead of 7. Many countries are doing this already.

There is nothing wrong in teaching in English. My kids were forced to adjust learning in English and in addition is learning French and Arabic in school. Our English standard is very poor now. If you read Star Blog a lot of comments written in english contain spelling errors. Do not be like the public school in Saudi where English is introduced at secondary level only.

I have never doubted the possibility that Malaysia will become a poor nation by 2020. By then, most, if not all of the "first-class" citizens (those with skills, knowledge or funds) would have left the country for a fair and equitable life elsewhere. Left behind would be the "second-class" citizens (those with little skills, limited knowledge and no funds). By then, Malaysia will be classified as a third world country. Investors will come to take advantage of our cheap labor. Malaysians will find it extremely costly to travel, as it would cost them a fortune just to stay a night in most countries as our curency would have depreciated to extreme levels against most currencies. The Malaysia in 2020 will find that his monthly income of MYR2,000 is pittance compared to the average working man elsewhere in the world who is earning an average of MYR15,000 a month.

This is an eventuality that most non-bumiputra Malaysians are braising for. They will work hard, save hard to ensure that their children study overseas, graduate, and find employment wherever they are and later repatriate the parents to live there. This is the reality that most Malays do not see or refuse to see.

In time, the non-bumiputra citizens will dwindle to single digit % and what's left behind would be "second-class" Malays to feed the nation with whatever small remuneration they receive from the private sector. Those who depend on the government for employment will find it more and more difficult as our petrol dollars would habe dried up by then. To feed the biggest civil service in the Asia Pacific, the government would borrow heavily externally while FDI continue to shrink and the foreign migration of local factories continue to accelerate.

Elsewhere, China, India, Thailand, Philippines, Vietnam, would have replaced Malaysia as the preferred investment destination as their technologies and language of communication continues to improve while Malaysia remains the only country in the world stuck with a business language that no one understands nor uses.

Does the majority of the Malays understand this? They don't.

if we go down to that level, do not be surprised if Malaysian maids may not be wanted by any countries except Indonesia because they could not speak English. And the people who were responsible for this situation will most likely be living it up Australia, UK, USA..etc, anywhere but Malaysia.

I am firm of not coming back to Malaysia to work!!! After my stint in London, New York is next or even Tokyo. I want to feel wanted and not appreciated for my contributions to the economy and society by merits and not by racism.

I wrote a similar piece for my undergraduate essay on Malaysia after my visit to the Philippines a while ago to which my lecturer agreed. Thanks the confirmation.

How about Malaysia will be exporting slogans in 20 years time. We are good at it. In fact, that's all the govt ever does. make catchy slogans. "We want to move malaysia to a high income socialty" Nice and easy slogan. No follow up with any concrete steps needed. Where are the measurable steps to be taken? None -

By the way - do you know that the govt values a graduate Bachelor degree at only about Rm$2000/- per month? Try living on that in Klang vally???

I don't think so far Malaysian govt had done enough to stop this. Student especially from the Chinese School are being lure by the Singapore. What did Malaysian govt do? They don't recognized the Chinese education in secondary school to be admitted to university. Najib, please wake up! There is more thing to be concern than the Ketuanan Melayu. If nothing being done on the brain drain, whole Malaysia will collapse. No one is tuan in this world. God is the only Tuan.

Don't cry over the spilled milk...

For 22 years a man driven by pure egomania and ruthless self-serving ambition pulled the wool over the eyes of the entire nation, offering them a hollow meaningless "vision" devoid of any real substance. For 22 years the thrust of "development" was focused entirely on physical infrastructure - while the mental and spiritual life of the nation was relegated to the care of a half-starved artistic community faced with endless obstacles - lack of government funding, censorship, entertainment tax, minimal media exposure (unless the material was totally tame and purely ornamental) - a whole generation of Malaysian youth was systematically dumbed down by a below par education system designed to indoctrinate rather than truly educate. Umno warlords with the right family connections were transformed overnight into Bumi Billionaires regardless of their ability and talent (or atrocious lack thereof) whilst the lower rungs became obsessed with the glamorous trappings of wealth and success - and were prepared to close their eyes to hanky-panky at the top so long as they received a few loaves of bread; the crumbs went to the working classes and when inflation hit them hard, they began turning to crime. Consider the absolute mess we are now in: muzzled and obsequious mass media, politicized civil service and law enforcement agencies, crooked judiciary (especially at the uppermost levels), spineless rent-collecting backbenchers, and criminal leaders in chronic denial. Reform cannot possibly happen without a massive shakedown involving a complete change of government - and it has to happen soon, not in a few years when it will be far too late!

this is the result of BN's rule........now exporting maids.

I wonder what's next.

I ain't gonna call myself a Malaysian anymore........i don't want to be associated with a maid-producing country.......i'll just call myself a Singaporean from now on.

You and I and many many Malaysians know this sad reality deep down in our hearts, don't we? Many of us travel much more than before and further away thanks to Air Asia. And we do see with our own eyes, don't we, how are neighbouring countries are charging ahead of us.

Yet back home, year in and year out we are torn apart by narrow and shrill racist chest thumpings and ketuanan and that. Public's coffer are being pilfered, pillaged and drained with impunity. Corruption fast becoming the cancer of our society with a clueless and generally incompetent cabinet and civil service.

Only solution - BN must go. Period.

I am not sure the government is aware of the repercussion of its actions or not: By implementing a dual admission standards into local public universities (Matriculation for Malays, STPM for non-Malays), the government has effectively created a situation where the non-Malays would have the right qualifications for entrance into Singapore universities as the STPM is equivalent to the GCE 'A' levels.

In a sense, the government is effectively telling Singapore: "Here, take as many as you want of our 'A' level-qualified non-Malays, with 13-years of public education. They are free of charge!! It's ok for you to bond them as long as you wish, to work for you."

The country, currently struggling financially will continue to spend more than it can produce. Mainly due to over-pricing in order to siphon off federal and state funds (under BN control, and maybe later under PR control) through non-productive projects (the current trade center and the old story, PKFZ are prime examples). This leads to less investment in the people who will continue to be kept uneducated and in-the-dark, especially the rural poor.

In about 15 years, the oil runs out. Or at least we will need to import significant amounts. Our foreign exchange earnings will have been spent. We will have no where else to turn. Unlike Philippines, where OFAW repatriate billions each year, Malaysians who venture overseas will be the educated and affluent. They will take their savings and families with them. There will not be any income from them as they build their lives overseas. We already see the wealthy non-bumiputra tycoons parking assets (some are moving wholesale) in other countries.

Our education system will collapse. Our infrastructure will collapse. The rural poor will suffer the lack of development, bad healthcare, etc. The urban poor will resort to petty jobs and possiblly seeking jobs as housemaids in Singapore. Fortunately, due to proximity to Singapore and similar history, our citizens will be readily be accepted by the Singaporeans....

Just my view....

“We will create more opportunities, more excitement and more buzz in Malaysia to attract the Malaysian diaspora and expatriates to the country,” said Najib.

Say only, every PM also said that (different wording but same meaning), so far, what are the achievements ? every one also can open big mouth and just talk, talk, talk.

I have no confidence at all, by the time we create more opportunities, more excitement and more buzz in Malaysia, our neighbour will have been created more than us, then we still lacked behind.

then our dear leaders will talk all over again to create more bla bla bla,,,,,,,,,,,,

Being an optimistic person, we should consider to switch our career from any profession to Maid Services now. Whether is upstream or downstream business relating to MAIDs. With this, we should able to face the transformation in Boleh land later :)

come on people, wake up. those who left this nation for greener pastures are not just non-malays. malays too left for greener pasture.

it is obviously something is very wrong with this country where we can neither give proper directions nor inspire others to come to our shores. our poor governance (read: corruption) should give us an indication on what are some of the causes. other than opportunities during adversities, poor sense of security would merely push more to leave while deter others from coming.

abandoning race based politics is one thing but opening up the economy is the way forward.

we can no longer pretend we are self sufficient (read: dwindling petroleum reserves). we do need those around us and acknowledging our neighbours (instead of demonising them) should be the first step forward.

All we need is an article like this. And we get is tons of suppressed feelings waiting for the chance to let go. Yes, we Malaysians are a depressed lot. But hey, what are you going to do in the next election. The same old. Make your resolution now even if it is not the new year.

Najib stops deceiving yourself and the ppl unless the discriminating policies are totally replaced with an fair and equitable ones. And with the current level of service of the government agencies, we can only dream of becoming a high income economy. But mind you that other countries are moving forward faster than us too.

The country's infra is collapsing my fellow comrades. I cannot believe that the entire stretch of road along jalan raja chulan, at the heart of the capital's commercial and financial hub, is filled with potholes! what;'s happening? We do not have the money to tar the roads no more?

We have already started export maids to Singapore/HK/London in small numbers!

Well, what do you expect if they only grant citizenship for Mid-east economic refugees, cheap labour from Pakistan, Bangladesh, Indonesia in just a few months? Even the rich investor so-called our Muslim brother from Dubai refuse to inject more fund, instead they feel safer to put piles of their money to Singapore.

Even our government scholarship holders are not coming back despite all the terms and conditions stipulated in their contract. They chosed to stay not only bcoz the money is good but also the work, social and political environment. If we continue to perpetuate policies along racial lines, the brain-drain problem will be a permanent feature in our human capital management. We don't have to look far to learn how to manage our human capital. Just look at our neighbours. Ignore at your peril!

Whatever the goverment proposes will be contaminated by politics - we can't expect substantive changes as long as the present government continues the way it's going. Even if it wants to do the right thing, it can't - simply because it has dug itself into a very deep hole.

Just be at the causeway @ 6.00am and 6pm and you can see the thousands upon thousands of maids drivers etc.etc are we that blind that we cannot see???Our workers cross the causeway and we open our gateway to Indos,Banglas,who does part time criminal activities.

What can our Malaysian maids do when they work abroad?

When our maids work abroad, they can demand the following:
1) privilege (handicap) of employment consideration over others,
2) our maids should enjoy higher pay than others even though our maids are so much less capable
3) Bumiputera status,
4) the employer's family must learn to speak our language

Agreed with the article. I'm currently based in Germany and been looking for opportunity to return back, sent quite lot of job application and non respond to me but I have 100% respond from Singapore. So blame the government for positive discrimination....

NEP is the culprit on the surface but the real problem lies in the mindset of our ethnic Malay fellow countryman. Najib cannot dismantle NEP overnight because that is political suicide. He, as a well as all educated Malay elitist, knows everything is wrong with the NEP. They do not need the layman like us to remind him. In order to remain in power, his political will to dismantle race based programs is so diluted

If our education system was as good as it should be, after 30+ years of NEP, we will mostly have very very educated and talented Malays and Malaysians. They will all reject NEP in one voice as its detrimental to the nation at large in the longer. As this is not the case, most rural Malays are still ill informed about economic policies and world issues. It may seems BN have kept them stupid so they can always sing the Ketuanan song to get their votes but this theory is a bit far fetch in my opinion.

Mr PM i hope you will really revamp the education system. Educate each and every of your citizen well and you will realise the Malays will soon be smart enough to realise the NEP is a disease akin to drug addiction. It gives short term pleasure to the users but will bring havoc to oneself and its closest family members (i,e the other countrymen such as Indian, Chinese and etc). Rehab the users and wean them off this nation destroying drug known as NEP.

Looking forward to have a Mara graduate as my maid soon.

It is distressingly true but the warning signs have been there many many moons ago. The irony is the government remains relatively unconcerned about the dire consequences of failed government policies over umpteen years. There is a serious problem of brain drain in the country and the costs of depleted human capital will severely impact on the country's ability to compete effectively in the globalized world.

There is nothing more depressing to see so many of Malaysian brains working and residing overseas in search of equal and/or better opportunities in life which their home country can not provide because of failed government policies.

Only when equality, transparency and meritocracy arrives in Malaysia will I even consider leaving my job at the NIH. Till then I will stay in the States where I am appreciated and paid for my skills and knowledge.

From the looks of it, Malaysia will even soon lose the 'jaguh kampung' position.

In a few short decades, our neighbour Indonesia, Thailand and Philippines would have beaten us. And as for the small dot Singapore? Well they have beaten us a decade ago.

In 1996 someone ask Jiang Zemin (ex president of China), What is the future Hong Kong in China? He answered " Ten years ago u are ashamed to be called a Chinese but now u are proud to be called Chinese and wanted to be known as Chinese." Hopefully, we Malaysian are not the opposite!!

The sad fact is that the exodus of Malaysians overseas started in the 70s when the medium of instruction was changed from English to Bahasa Melayu.
When the government tried to reverse the decision just before TDM retired, the complacency/incompetence of the Education Ministry to produce/hire qualified teachers who could teach using English ensured that the results were not entirely satisfactory and we have moved back to square one for education.
About 30% of my STPM(1966) classmates have settled in Australia and all my 4 children are qualified so they can work overseas.
Just visit Johor Baru between 6am to 7am and you can see thousands of school-children making the trip for better education in Singapore.
That is just one symptom of a nation that has failed miserably in its education programs.

Well look on the bright side, we are only predicted to be exporting maids. We haven't reached the level were Malaysia's primary exports are mail order brides and human organs.

So look on the bright side of life!! :)

This is all as a result of "dividing Malaysians" according to BUMIPUTRA and NON BUMIPUTRA while providing Bumiputras with "special privileges"! Unknowingly, the government is actually breeding a whole lot of "JELLY FISHES" who are protected within Malaysian waters only. When these "jellyfishes" swim into the open sea, they are sure to become food for the much stronger species!!!! Did our government ever realize this?????

I am actually sadden by this assessment when I read this article but like many other Malaysians reading this, it is indeed an bitter truth. Some of the readers had commented by blaming all bumiputeras for this predicament which i think is plain racist as I worked in the private sector with some them and I dare say that those that i had the pleasure of working with was a true asset to the country. There are also many non-bumis that I dealt with which was just as bad as the stereo-typed bumis which make me wonder how on earth did they manage to survive in the workplace with such behaviour.
By the way, it is a common knowledge that many govt scholarship holders who are in US, UK, Australia will quickly set up a family with their children born in the place where they study in order to get consideration for citizenship in future. Perhaps that shows how lacking in faith that they have on the Msia govt affects everyone else. It makes me so moody just thinking of this.

I am not surprised by the article as this topic have been bashed, analysed and written for so long. The govt don't really care or give one shit as long as they are in power and living like royalty.

What really amazed me is the big number of citizens who are now awakened to this mad rush into abject poverty and damned future of the country. But still many sleepy heads are still unaware when I speak to my relatives about migrating. They think Malaysia is still ok. They just read the MSM.

As for me, these feedbacks convinced me to the point of no return as I plan to head to Thailand. About 30 over years ago, Thais look up to us and we can spend there like princes. Now I can clearly feel the Thais are not as impressed by our disposible income.

Evil days will be here soon. Better run while you can.

All these buy low sell high motherhood statements are going to attract brains into the country, right? Fat hopes, when policies and actions are not in sync with such motherhood statements! It's good to dream because dreams create visions. But if visions are not driving the right action plans supported with the right policies, dreams soon become nightmares.

Malaysia is going downhill day after day and our government is still in his slumber. 20 years later, we will be on the same par as Myanmar, Pakistan and Zimbabwe. Just blame ourselves of not booting out this government sooner...Malaysian! time is ticking and please vote for change in the next GE

Interesting article and well written. The reality is that many Malaysian have left or are leaving. Truth be told that the grass is not greener outside Malaysia, but why leave? Better be treated as second class citizen in the country of my choosing then in the country of my birth.

I think Puad or whatever his name is should read this.... after it has been translated to malay because we do not want to show disrespect to the National Language!!!

Alomost everyone who were watching the mismangement of the country knows that 10 years ago. It is not surprising. there were many philippinas who are university graduate working as maid in Singapore, Hong Kong and Middle East. Any surprise, NO definitely. In 10 to 20 years if the umno goons still retains power, then our graduates from universities in malaysia will really be working as maid oversea.

Malaysia is already a major exporter of sex slave to the western world....I mean high class sex worker. Bohsiah is the next big commodity to be exported follow by maid.

This piece of reporting will never make it to the mainstream press. And that too is what is wrong with this country, editor-in-chiefs that forsake their journalistic integrity just to advance their own personal agenda, and continue to be beholden to their political masters.
What we are facing in this country is not about race but the damage CORRUPTION at the highest places. Only the Malays can save this country when they overcome communal interests and value integrity, honesty, and hardwork!

Never ending rhetorics by Najib to attract Malaysians back. The fact boils down to RM vs foreign currencies like singapore $ and the rest of the world which have been appreciating for the last 40 years against the agong head. How are you gonna to attract them when our purchasing powers and living standards have been declining against their currencies. To do that u need to dismantle all racial policies, improve transparencies, productivity and efficiencies in all sectors of the economy and that will by itself strengthened the RM. That is where the attraction lies not in stupid adhoc programmes that benefits ur cronies and screwed the coffers of the tax payers.

The prediction will come sooner than later

To be more accurate, a "space nation" that export maids.

AdamRazak, maybe you weren't educated in local schools. Lucky chaps like you wouldn't know how the education systems here doesn't require the students to be innovative and creative in their own way and be the best they can be. What's important and considered the benchmark for the Ministry is the percentage of straight As student without caring if the children is prepared for the real world with what they learned.

On a more relevant note to your comment, Malaysians in general, couldn't fight the systems that have been put in place by the authorities. Things like NEP, ketuanan and racism continue to impede the growth of the wealth of the population. It can only change if the government is willing to change the policies to one that is more growth and development friendly. This would have been in line with Najib's vision of high-income nation. I would expect not to see him walking the talk because he can't put his money where his mouth is, only in his pocket.

On a final note, I would say high-income nation is a product and result of implementation of the right governing policy and not something that a person to wish for and gets it at the same time.

We are now abusing foreign maids, mostly from Indonesia. And now Indonesia is structurally reforming better than us, especially the direction of anti-corruption. Maybe one day we Malaysian would need to work for more wealthier Indonesian and we Malaysian would have the chance to taste the bitter 'fruit' of being abused that we planted years ahead.

The only way to prevent this thing to happen, we must stop to produce baby:P

When I read this, I was reminded of a joke my friend made 5 years ago about Malaysians working as maids & plantation workers. At the rate we're going, this joke will become more & more real.

Anyway... some humor for all. Beware, as parody can eventually be reality...


2012:
Malaysia passes boundary of net oil exporter to net oil importer. Budget deficit jumps to double digits

2013:
Fearful of opposition, Malaysia bans all political parties except Barisan Nasional. Elections banned, with Deputy Info Minister Zainuddin Maidin saying no need for erections. Ruling government declares itself 'Sole Guardian And Protector Of Nation'. Internet is banned, making Malaysia laughingstock of the world. Since we now cannot go online, we don't feel the shame.

2014:
Foreign & domestic investors pull out. Following in the wake are thousands of Malaysian professionals... Malays, Chinese, Indians, mixed, etc. Vast industrial regions & financial buildings lie abandoned, with lalang reclaiming the land.

2015:
Due to high crime, armed security companies do brisk business. Premier Najib declares self Grand Generalissmo Of The Federation Of Malaysia For Life. A second campaign of Wang Malaysia, oops, One Malaysia is initiated: One Mind = One Malaysia.

2016:
To cut costs Utusan, NST, Star, Berita Harian fires all staff and replaces them with 1,000,000 monkeys with typewriters. Readers don't notice the difference.

2017:
Interior Minister Datuk Seri Profesor Madya Dr. (H) Khir Toyo declares a new race class called 'BNPutra'. He defends the move saying some Bumiputera are more Bumiputera than others

2019:
Malaysian maids start appearing in upper-middle class homes in Jakarta. Remittances become major income source to nation.

2020:
Wawasan 2020 is celebrated with multimillion dollar parades. Inflation reaches 100% in March. Oil runs out, petrol is RM45.25/liter (incl inflation)

2021:
Fedup with high crime rate, government launches multimillion ringgit campaign: 'Snatch thiefs... its a fact of life. Deal with it! Semuanya OK!'

2022:
Malaysian construction workers, road sweepers, general workers seen in Bangkok, Bombay, Bandung, Beijing. English speaking ones get higher pay. Remittances now #1 income source. South Africans move to Malaysia to work in security sector, experience with rifles being in high demand.

2023:
Malaysia on World News for two things: 1)Top 20 in Most Corrupted Index, 2)tragic sinking of boat with 400 Malaysian immigrants en route to Manila.

2026:
Food shortage due to farmland converted to housing estates & megaprojects that are undersold and underused. Extremely low value of Malaysian Ringgit hinders food imports from Thailand & Indonesia. 1 Euro = 12,000 Rupiah = RM50,000

2029:
"Greetings to u! I nephew former Malaysian Prime Minister Khairy Jamaludin! My uncle has U$1,000,000,000 in bank. I as benificiery want transfer money to foreign account. Pls reply my email with account number and help me in good faith. If success, I give you U$5,000,000 as reward. This not scam like Nigeria email. Tank you n god bless"

2031:
Malaysia print RM500,000,000,000,000 banknote. Finance Minister celebrates this occasion, declares 'every Malaysian now a billionare!' Price of 1 packet of magee mee is RM650,000,000,000,000.

2032:
Sign on toilet in Hat Yai (translated from Thai): 'Use Toilet Paper only! No Newspaper, no banana leaf, no Malaysian Ringgits'

2035:
Factionalism in UMNO-BN turns ugly. Various BN warlords split, each employing own army of mercenaries. Arms traders do good business selling surplus tanks, AK47s, pickup truck with machineguns, and attack helicopters.

2037:
Piracy becomes major problem in Straits of Malacca, like in 1600. Global shipping harassed by Malaysian pirates. World navies intervene...

2041:
Factionalism in UMNO-BN turns really ugly. Warlordism rampant, with People's Front of Malaysia vs. Malaysia Peoples Front. Nationalist Justice Morality Force of Pahang attacks Johor Power Militia. Sabah & Sarawak says F.U. and leaves Federation.

2043:
A new world record for Malaysia! Tallest pile of stones in the world! Built from former Petronas Twin Towers, now destroyed by various warring militias. Malaysia is now playground for proxy wars for foreign nations.

2045:
LONDON: De-facto Prime Minister Tan Sri Datuk Doktor Profesor Angkasawan Mahmud bin Mukhriz Mahathir bets on horses using Malaysia as leverage. He loses...

we are making tons of money for helping malaysians to migrate!! we just setup our company a couple of years ago and got as many as 50 over submission per month for families who want to migrate to australia and even new zealand. Let's leave Malaysia to UMNO and find new lands to develop ourself and forget bout Malaysia for good as all these crab by UMNO is destroying our country. Since UMNO loves to destroy their own country, let them do it while we migrate as many countries wants malaysians to work for them!! we will be coming out an incentive called "Budget Migrate Package" and it is RM9.90 to migrate - watch out our advertisements soon!!

Roughly 7 out of 10 of my ex-schoolmates and colleagues have chosen to work in Singapore, Australia, US, and UK for various reasons. They ended up becoming the permanent resident there and never wanted to return to Malaysia.

Some of them were even given scholarship to study in NUS with their Chinese school certificate, in which our government does not even bother to accredit it for our local university admission. It is also not difficult to find out some top SPM or STPM scholars were denied scholarship from the government. These are the real talents that our government give away cheaply. And now the government is calling them to come home to serve the nation. You think they will heed the call from the government?

Something is wrong that we all know where. If the sleeping government still refuses to wake up and make a drastic change, Malaysia will surely be nowhere to compete with its peers...

Has the reality bitten the Malaysian Government hard enough to REFORM? We shall see and i will witness it in Malaysia. Perhaps, a new government will save Malaysia!

we need a bumi maid whom can speak good english in France(age requirement 23 - 30 years old and UiTm graduate). Offer : USD3,000 per month on salary plus accomodation and all meals covered to take care of our kids. For those reading and blogging here, pls post a suitable candidate for us. thanks.

This is the sad but bitter fact. Never has the morale of the country been at such a low level.

Many middle class Malaysians are scrambling to put a foot outside Malaysia. This is evidenced by the following;

1. Brain drain of tens of thousands of Malaysians over the past 30 years or so. Many Malaysians who graduate from top tier overseas universities have no intention of returning.

2. Malaysians buying property elsewhere, particularly in Singapore and Australia. It used to that, the Indonesians, were the main purchasers in Singapore, but today, the Malaysians are the top foreign buyers.

3. Net outflow of FDIs over the past three years.

3. Dwindling private investment especially in manufacturing.Due to a variety of reasons, Malaysia is less competitive, compared to neighbouring countries, and many SMEs etc are relocating elsewhere.

4. Major non bumi tycoons are moving their assets out of the country. YTL is a major player in the property market in Singapore, and also owns one of the big three power plants. It also owns a major water facility in the UK. Genting is spending nearly S $ 6.6 billion for the Genting casino in Sentosa Island.. Wilmar International, the worlds largest oil palm group, and owned by Robert Kuok is based in Singapore. Quek Leng Cheng has major banking interests in Hong Kong. Ananda Krishnan is increasingly focusing on investment in Singapore ( property )India (telecom ), Australia and elswhere. Tony/Fernandes and Air Asia's proposed listing in Thailand and Indonesia. Being shrewd businessmen, they have already seen the future.

Mahathir and the NEP has mollycoddled the majority ethnic group for far too long. The result is that they have become uncompetitive, with the majority being employed either by the government or GLCs, or as wage earners in the service industry ( fast foods,guards). The former is being propped up by oil and gas revenues. In about 5 years time, when we become a net importer of oil, the fiscal revenue will be insufficient to support the fattest civil service in the Asia-Pacific region. The result will be tens of thousands of unemployed graduates who will be scrambling for low wage and unskilled jobs, and in direct competition with foreign labor. With the impending fall in the value of the Malaysian ringgit and stagnant wages, Malaysians will find it more economical to work as maids in foreign countries, whose economies would have grown by leaps and bounds.

Maid exports will be the final culmination of the NEP and the polices of the Father of Racism, Corruption and Nepotism.

I fear that we may not only be exporting maids, but also manual labour and even call girls.

Under the strong leadership of BN/UMNO Govt we have achieved:
1. Independence (next)
2. Transformation and Growth of Agriculture Economy
3. From Agriculture to Industrial Economy
4. From Industrial Economy to an era of Malaysia 'Boleh' to its sister slogan '1' Malaysia
5. From this article seems to suggest from Malaysia Boleh/'1' Malaysia to Maid in Malaysia

the next choice of our government in power is going to really determine whether we will be creating high income economy or exporting maid .... your vote counts ... and think of the current govt track record in particular the kind of record breaking feats in the last 5 years

This will not happen in the future. It happened already. At a massage parlour in JB recently, a Malay girl did the service. And on further conversation, turned out she is a graduate of Universiti Infrastructure Malaysia. Being jobless, the gov got her a job in the post office. And as the salary was a pittance, a masseur she became. And there are many more such graduate girls doing this, especially after office hours.

And in Singapore, all those toilet cleaners and sweepers in those gleaming malls and office towers are Malaysians. Seems the Malaysians do a better at these tasks than Banglas and Indons. The helpers in the stores in the malls and food courts are primarily Malaysian Chinese, those who could not get a higher education. The waiters and waitresses at the Ocean Seafood place are all from Perak.

So don't think its not happening. It began 15 years ago, and now, just yesterday we heard about a Malaysian maid being abused in Switzerland. Welcome Vision 2020, the failed state of Malaysia.

Not suprising especially with Malaysia'a actual inflation rate and cost of living one of the highest, even higher than many western countries, thereby salaries of public and pte sectors are also one of the highest and so it becomes cheaper to do business in other countries. We must check inflation and bring down salaries.

I agree with the above report but what is more important is that these foreigners are free to work and do business freely in Malaysia.

Permits are issued without poper due process, I have foreigners living in my apartment in Brickfields who do not speak a word of English but are here with a IT work visa. So, what are they doing here?

They are doing business, MOM and POP business (small SME). Providing laundry, baber, cleaning, transport (even bus sekolah service) and etc.

When interview if they do not fear being caught, simple and frank answer is taht the enforcement personnel are easily bought (and cheaply).

Forget about innovation, firstly, we must be able to develop and retain simple MOM and POP business an not let foreigners hijack these business and make it their domain. what happens then, not all Malaysian can hope to undertake innovative ventures, a majority of us must accept reality that someday we will need to fall back on these businesses to earn a living.

If we dont check this problem, some time in the near future, Malaysian young will be working for foreigner owned businesses. They will be the 'towkey; and we the 'kuli'.

I know of two top Malaysian Malay executives working in a well known merchant bank in Singapore, and another young one with the OCBC Bank headoffice here in Singapore.

I don't think Malaysia is even cut out to exporting maids.

We will fail and they are returned to us........

Few people are aware of the recent case of Agnes Wong Siew Teng - the Malaysian maid who murdered a toddler in UK, was imprisoned then sent back to Malaysia, after serving the minimum number of years in prison, but returned with a sweetener of GBP 4,500......just apply a little caution, who's minding your baby......

tun razak once said:"this is not brain drain, it is trouble drain"

don't worry, we are still better than Zimbabwe, and will be... we will import maids from Zimbabwe and export them from Malaysia... alibaba style.

As an expat, I earned USD, Sing $ and it's twice or triple higher pay than earning MR, yet, knows English will travel. Who wants to come back here and suffer the claptrap of the idiotic nerd who is deputy education minister who would say only Malay language can be spoken in the work place; how the hell the well western trained professionals and technocrats cope with such mediocre and polio idea!

I saw this coming almost 30 years ago. I left Malaysia with my family the first opportunity I got when my employer offered me an overseas job. I saw no future for my children in Malaysia, being not of the Malay race. How true it is today. One need not go into the details. Choosing to live abroard in my adopted country, which I am very proud of, is the best thing I have done for my family. My kids had the opportunity of going to one the fine universities and have the opportunity to succeed in their in careers. This is unthinkable if I had chosen to live in my country of birth, Malaysia.

We are already draining our brainy talents to other countries. With the kind of education system we have where government sanctioned discrimination have be enforced for many decades, we are now waking up to realize that we don't have enough talents. The talented one have gone looking for a fairer place to grow their family.

It may be already late because all those decades of discriminatory policies have already got the life of its own and it'll be many years before the rakyat knows what is fair and good for the country anymore. Talking about giving drained talents better opportunity at home is not going to cut it. Actions speaks louder and all those talks are a waste of time.

I lament how we can fall so far behind Korea. We got better resources, better cultures. Our diverse cultures are assets to the nation but the governing body wasted them. Had we got fairer educational opportunities for all and a non discriminatory government, I have no doubt today we'll be on par with Korea.

Non racial discrimination should be enshrined and not be an ad hoc policy which can be rescind anytime by force or threat. The come home forums to proffessionals are just mere empty promises. So long as Barisan is in power, there will always be racial discrimination in Malaysia and everyone will suffer, eventually. It's not too far fetch to read about Malaysian maids being ill treated in Manila. Barisan would have failed us all.

I am in primary one since Dr M takes the Prime Minister office. He give me inspiration to have high hope on our economy and education system which produce quality people and I am proud to be Malaysian until the end of his office, I change my though to further my study in Australia because I just can’t see Malaysia can go anywhere after Dr M step down. I don’t support many of his policy but realise that Tun need to do something to secure his office while getting the country intact during his closing stages. I am now a professional that work in Australia, a victim of policy that forced me to a new path, now I am getting great benefit, a member of an amazing professional board somehow still has dilemma in deciding to surrender my achievement that I am proud off where government of foreign land support me and encourage me to continue to stay on or getting back to my root that continue to decay. A root that my family keep holding on, a root that my brother hold on to even after he graduated from UK and now settle with his foreign wife that continue to have problem in get her visa to stay. Well, I can only say that Malaysia is a land of fighting for poor where the government give away PR and citizenship to construction worker from neighbouring country but access denied to professional and the develop countries on another hand, open door to the professional and talented. Malaysia take the justice call in order to safe the poor and needy, a call that have great meaning even sacrificing her own people for others.

I'm glad many Malaysians can see that BN's NEP, racial policies, corruption and economic plunder are not abstract concepts which we can close our eyes over. They are monsters which will eventually affect their lifestyles. Which is easier, vote out BN or get BN to change? You decide!

We are one of the malaysian families living abroad and our income is more than RM 1.5million per year. We were once offered jobs at Motorola for RM84,000 per year in 1996. We were glad that we turned down the offer.

The NEP and Bumi policy has driven many professional Malaysians abroad and is continuing to do so.... plus the use of Malay in schools does not help to encourage Malaysians to educate their children in Malaysia, they much prefer to send their children abroad........
Now is the time for the BN to end the NEP and Bumi policy and to embrace equality .... and bring back the old English medium schools too.....
Najib, if you do that you may encourage some of the professional Malaysians who have already left to return....

What's so "bad" about a maid's job? It an honest job although some might say " no glamour". We have to accept in reality, that in any country or society, we will need people of all walk of life to make the country prosperous. I can't imagine our economy without them. And more importantly, if we have honest people we would not have ended up like this today, having dubious people running the Federal government. Money all going everywhere to "VVIP"'s pet projects. The Putrajaya convention center is a big JOKE! Hundreds of million spent and under utilised. Bah!!!

The real question is, putting aside all those racist overtone, What is happening to our economy? As long as our Ringgit is so damn low in value and working opportunity in Malaysia sucks. Any Malaysian will go abroad even for a janitor's or dish washer's job if the pay is good. The common slang among Chinese Malaysians, go "jump airoplane lah and wash big biscuits" translation, "work illegally in a foreign country as a dish washer" We have many of them in the restaurants in the UK and other English speaking countries. We also have many Chinese Malaysian "labourers" in Japan that work as janitors, construction workers, etc. It's already a reality today.

The question is, will the other Malaysians start to realise this and do what the other less fortunate Chinese Malaysians are doing? The government can ill afford to provide subsidies in the future. Don't sulk if your education level is low and you don't get good paying jobs. And for the so-called local graduates from our universities, don't lament for no job, if you just sit around doing nothing and waiting to choose for the "dream" job and please don't demand as if your are the best among the best if you are really not, look at the mirror first. Look at the statistics, market force prevails, if there is more supply than demand, blame the BN government for not working hard enough for the people by doing the right thing to create more job opportunity. The "performance first" thing is a very bad JOKE!

"This piece of reporting will never make it to the mainstream press. And that too is what is wrong with this country, editor-in-chiefs that forsake their journalistic integrity just to advance their own personal agenda, and continue to be beholden to their political masters."

It's not the journalists or editors but the owners of the mainstream media, most of which are government party coalition party members or government cronies which won't allow them to publish it.

Have the same thought too.....by year 2020.....at least or earlier...
Our Univ graduates are mostly half past six, so we have most of all are half past six skills and talents.....so do the policies and implementations....
If you do not believe.... you can see every where now...
Tragedies ..... runtuh stadiums.....badly built hospitals.....even paliment house.....1Malaysia bridge in Kampar....our backward education system.....
So, if you are not talented professionals....you will be maids or Kuli....

Dear All,

For the past two years I've been telling my friends that in about 10 (not 20) years time we will be exporting maids. Thanks to you, Lim Tze Cheng, for bringing up this point and in about 10 years time the value of our currency will dip below that of Thailand, Indonesia and the Philipines. We are all still dreaming and think that we are still ahead of them.

Fat hope for a high income economy with the outdated policies like racial quota, domination of a race, privileges & rights for one.

All are intentional, is a driving force to systematically forced the minorities out to other countries. Therefore, Brain Drain is encouraged.

Do we all know Zimbabwe and mugabe and co.Now at what status is zimbabwe now?
Well malaysia will be the same and the only difference is that we are deluded by mega projects.
We know the father of mega projects and his close relationship with mugabe.
We also know that mugabe is transparent with his motive and shouts it aloud to the world.

Our infamous leader does it with "pink elephants to give us superficial euphoria/ Delusion mega style"
He is linning his pocket and he had created an elite group of "nation plunderers and murderers"
With their self styled justice,law-enforcers and hachet-man.

one of the causes is Proton. When everyone needs to pay high price for cars, led to llittle or no money to improve themselve in term of knowledge e.g. buy books or enrol into learning programs.

Protect Proton for so long is a big sin.

I am definitely not returning.... We have been a long forgotten bunch to BN and why should we still hoping to put our faith on the hand of the incompetence, bias, unscrupulous, unfair and irresponsible government?

We always have a big group of Malaysian gathering here and non of us is keen to go back at all. We found our hopes and dreams here and being treated 1st grade citizen even though we are not, what else could ask for more?

It doesn't make any logical and economical sense to go back. We can not get that kind of pay we are getting here, not talking about quality of life, it's zero in Malaysia.

You cannot imagine the high profile Malaysians here living in high life and excel in countless fields of specialty. Our skills and knowledge are not sorted after in Malaysia. If you think we Malaysia is struggling here to meet end need, let's me tell you, you are damn wrong.

It will take at least 2 generation to transform Malaysia into a competitive economy with the right thinking and ideology if and only if the opposition win the GE13. I will not convince to see such a change in the rest of my life.

Dream on Malaysia Boleh.............

We are also taxed too much indirectly. Look at the price of our commodities esp Vehicle and Machineries. Now Nazib want to implement GST. MATI lah. We earning cannot cope with any more TAX please

Haji Shamsuddin says that the government needs to put in place the right policies and structures to retain local talent. Sure, just make sure the donkey is in front and not the back of the cart e.g. bumiputra status, religious supremacy, and all other laws not to the advantages of non bumi.

Can't wait to see it happen.... I am observing from Sg

how truly ironic - all those champions of malay rights, ketuanan issues, et al, are condemning their people and descendents to being servants and slaves, far away from their precious tanah air.

Why are we talking of expatriates and foreigners. Let's talk of our local talent development. This thing about war for talent is a lot of crap. You have abundance of local talent waiting to be tapped, groomed, nurtured, engaged and optimised. The biggest problem is we are divided within - racially - as you can see from majority of the comments.

lets leave race aside and see it purely from talent perspective.

I work in a PLC. I am keen to know how has MEF contributed to retaining talent in the private sector. Exec Director Haji Shamsuddin Bardan says, "The government needs to put in place the right policies and structures to retain local talent.". But what has he/MEF done so far towards retaining local talent.

I attend their monthly meetings and what do you have?. All they focus on are legal and administrative issues. The bulk of the members are SMEs and there to learn of industrial dispute cases and workplace issues.

MEF is pathetic in comparison to FEM, which focus more on HC growth through training initiatives. Before they can talk of what the government should do, MEF should lead in calling Employers to calling out to Employers to invest in local talent development, even if they have to pay a premium.

How many of you know the status of the private sector involvement in supporting vocational skills development such as National Dual Training Schemes. The result is pathetic. Why?. Employers prefer to engage foreigners for their cheap labour!.

Let us not get overly pessimistic. Let us not get too worked up on trying to entice people to come back. What is more important is checking futher brain drain!

Dear HR Practitioner, talents are big threat to the system hence the mediocre being rewarded year in year out ... Yes boss is the mantra of the day ... they just don't give a damn about it lah. They will never ever acknowledge new talent simply because it only makes their pathetic existence a disgrace. It has to be the next generation coz the older generation is gone for good. That is if the next generation are not dumb enough to be trapped in their older generation mental siege ... God please have mercy on them...