Attending farewell dinners for my Malaysian seniors in Taiwan sometime around June and July, (the graduation season in Taiwan) didn't really make me feel sad. I, however, felt rather aggrieved to see that so many of them were preparing to work in Singapore as Mandarin teachers.

Welcoming Malaysian freshmen juniors in September (the opening month of the academic year in Taiwan), again, made me feel like I am receiving bright Malaysian students who, again, might work for other countries when they graduate.

We are indeed Malaysian orphans in Taiwan. Most our degrees are recognised in many countries, namely the US, United Kingdom, Canada, Australia, New Zealand, Singapore, Europe, Japan, Korea, etc. Everywhere except in our homeland Malaysia. It's really unacceptable that Malaysia, whose academic performance lags behind that of Taiwan, refuses to recognise Taiwanese degrees.

The Higher Education Ministry can refuse to recognise the degrees from good universities in Taiwan, China and Hong Kong if - and only if - the top universities in Malaysia are better than the Ivy League universities and Oxbridge. Is Malaysia academically qualified to reject degrees from good universities in Taiwan, China and Hong Kong, which are fully accepted and recognised by the top Western universities? The answer is so obvious and this reluctance has caused the perpetual brain drain that has been going on for decades in our motherland.

The medium of instruction in Taiwanese universities is Chinese. I once thought this was why the Malaysian government refused to recognise Taiwanese degrees. But then I soon found out that degrees from some universities in certain countries whose academic standard is much lower than Taiwan like Ukraine, Russia, Indonesia and Morocco are recognised by Malaysia. I do know and understand that many Malaysian graduates from Taiwan are accused of poor English and Malay proficiency but is this the reason why their degrees are rejected by their homeland?

If we really practice multiculturalism, can we acknowledge that for some people, learning English and Bahasa Malaysia are not easy? Can't we see the benefit of letting them to complete their undergraduate, graduate and postgraduate studies using their own mother tongue instead of being dropouts because poor English and BM proficiency?

Those who are lucky to be proficient in English and BM should also think of those groups who can't command English and BM that well. Instead of rejecting them, our country which brags of its multiculturalism, should recognise their degrees so that they can come home and serve.

Any language learned and spoken by true-blue Malaysians be it English, BM, Mandarin, Cantonese, Hokkien, Hakka, Hainam, Tamil, Hindi, Iban, Kadazan, Japanese, Korean, German, French, Spanish, etc, are priceless language assets for our country and will contribute to our multiculturalism beside being an advantage in the global market.

I don't mind if the Higher Education Ministry sets a English language criteria up before fully recognising degrees from Taiwanese and Chinese universities which don't use English as their medium of instruction.

Let's say those who obtain their undergraduate degrees from any good Taiwanese or Chinese university with a Band 6.5 in IELTS or a 237 score for the TOEFL test would have their degrees fully recognised by the Malaysian government. Any Malaysian student who doesn't meet this mark test should self-examine themselves instead of blaming any Malaysian authority for not recognising their degrees.

Set the language criteria and the Malaysian students who are studying in Taiwan or China will know what to do to best prepare to enter the Malaysian workforce which uses English as its 'lingua franca'. After all, their counterparts in Malaysian public universities also have to sit for the Malaysian University English Test (Muet).

The Malaysian orphans in Taiwan are undoubtedly minorities in the Malaysian society. The Malaysian government should recognise their degrees from Taiwan, China and Hong Kong. I am saying this because I do not want to see the already serious brain drain becoming worse and these student being made to feel that they are not welcome back home.

Malaysiakini columnist Dr M Bakri Musa in his book The Malay Dilemma Revisited said: 'Malaysia does not lack bright and talented individuals. On a proportionate basis, it should have 10 times as many as Singapore. Malaysia just does not appreciate or nurture them'.

The situation mentioned by Bakri must be addressed by the government or else the Vision 2020 would merely be a dream given the fact that Malaysians might end up serving other countries their due to their marginalisation back home.

The writer is attached to the Department of Chinese Studies, National Taiwan University.