I am glad that Pak Lah is trying to get back some of our talents who are working overseas. Each time that I read newspaper boasts about our 'Malaysian-born' expats doing exceptional jobs overseas, I feel both sad and proud.

Sad because this talent could have been doing Malaysia proud by working here. Proud because we can boast of world-class talents. With so many of our brainpower flowing overseas we need to ask why.

Lately, I have travelled to Australia and Canada where I met quite a number of former Malaysians. In the course of conversation the topic of migration inevitably cropped up. Hence the question, why migrate?

Practically everyone gave almost the same answer - fair treatment by the government of their adopted country. No discrimination in education intake. No special colleges for any race. All their children sit for the same exam. No such thing as one race monopolising the government jobs. The list goes on and on.

I still believe it is not too late to stop the outflow of brainpower. We can only do it if the government is fair in providing equal opportunities in education and job opportunities. Just look at the government offices and school. They are virtually staffed by only one race. This is not healthy.

The best place to start is education. The number of Malay Malaysian teachers has overwhelmed that of non-Malay Malaysians. Opportunities for non-bumis to enter teaching colleges are virtually non-existent.

Next would be health services. Increase the number of non-Malay trainees. A daughter of a friend tried to apply for nursing. She was not selected even with her outstanding results. Frustrated, she applied for the said course in Australia and she got it. Naturally she stayed on in Australia and thus, that is another brain gone to Australia.

Hope Pak Lah could succeed in this aspect and make Malaysia a better place to stay.