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Many countries have tried to develop an IT industry much earlier than us with more and better resources. They have not succeeded. Therefore, the chances of us succeeding, given our handicaps, are not good. It begins with poor politics, then poor government, then poor education, and then poor business environment (eg, small market).

What is remarkable to me is that some people have managed to make good money and build companies despite our problems. Among them are Mobif, Jobstreet, Green Packet, etc.

Nevertheless, the government would do better to get out of the way rather than actually have any sort of grand plan like the Multimedia Super Corridor. The only real way the government can help is by having open, competitive bidding in government procurement of IT and putting competent people in charge of this.

Nothing else they do would really mean anything much. I would argue all the spending on grand projects, computer labs, computer courses etc, amount to basically nothing. There is no hope of the MSC really succeeding but we can still benefit from better IT and that perhaps is, would be better because at least it means less waste.

The truth is there, the MSC was never a great idea. It was an opportunity for government spending more than anything else and as Bill Gates told us very politely, it would not work because of that.

A couple of years ago, there was this idea of attracting Malaysians overseas to come back to run Malaysian GLCs (government-linked companies). Within my network of business and personal associates abroad, this was discussed it and the idea unanimously shot down.

The reason? Quote: 'Smart people can't stand inconsistencies. Malaysian politics make things too inconsistent to do the kind of work they do'.

You want to know why we will never attract the best? At one time, we all agreed what the future of Malaysia was and will always be based on - secularism, rule of law, multiracialism and meritocracy. Today, even among those in power, there is no agreement on these basic things.

Why would the best people subject themselves to these inconsistencies? Maybe out of naivety, but how long will that last? For every one brain that comes in, fifty brains will leave the country. And with the affirmative action policies in place, do not even talk about attracting the brains. For decades, Malaysia was losing its best people to developed countries and taking rejects from developing countries.

While we can forget about bringing back those lost brains, we still can keep our bright students now, and love and care for them. First, the government has to figure out what it wants. It has to decide on certain policies before it can really retain the best, otherwise we are merely exploiting those who do not have better choices elsewhere.

People with the best brains inadvertently mean they know how to think. Therefore, they are wise enough not to choose Malaysia as their destination, as it could spell disaster to their reputation as we work differently. Singapore will still be the ideal landing point of for people of such calibre.

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