Chua: Why skilled M'sians don't come home

The government has failed dismally in attracting skilled Malaysians to return home from abroad to serve the country, said MCA deputy president Dr Chua Soi Lek.

“As at the beginning of last year, there were 985 applications, of which 485 were approved. Of those approved, only 330 Malaysians have returned,” Chua told a press conference yesterday.

“On average each year, only about 50 Malaysians have returned to work here.”Chua, who heads the MCA Government Policy Monitoring Bureau, blamed the failure of the programme - launched in 2001 - on various factors including implementation weaknesses and red tape.

“The 2009 budget allocated RM47.7 billion or about 23 percent of the total for education and training. In 2008, the government sponsored 17,000 students in universities abroad,” he said. Despite this, the government has failed in stemming the brain-drain, resulting in many Malaysians preferring to live and work abroad.

“There is no systematic human capital retention programme in terms of job placement and career development. Very often these students, including post-graduate students, feel frustrated and disappointed with their job-postings,” Chua said.

“Frustration and disappointment are the driving factors of the brain-drain.” As early as 2005, the human resources minister had reportedly said the programme had been unable to entice professionals to return.

Only 665 applications had been received, of which 279 were approved - comprising 94 in the medical sector, 59 in Information Technology, 50 in accountancy and finance, and 12 in science and technology.

Many applications were rejected because these did not meet the criteria or were from fresh graduates.