I neither claim to be an adept sociologist, nor even an expert economist in this subject; in fact, many of my aassumptions and conclusions are drawn merely from social observations.
Whether you may believe my points of argument to be valid and true or flimsily held together by the coincidental observations in our country, I would like to invite you to first, before hand, thoroughly understand the depth of the situation in our country, that has suddenly compelled this otherwise indolent and indifferent youth to sit and pen down these thoughts to be made present to the Malaysian public.
As a university student pursuing my studies overseas, I have noticed an unsettling and ever growing trend in the mindset of my fellow peers - none of them want to go back to Malaysia.
And what's even more haunting is that, this statement comes to no surprise to anyone; it doesn't really take a statistician to notice the mass draining of discontented and talented individuals leaving the country to search for a place that better appreciates and rewards their skills.
Our country, as if without other problems, is facing one of its biggest right now and right here - a massive outward exodus of talent.
Talent, by what I mean, is the intangible qualities in the individual that help foster and promote creative economic growth via intelligent business innovations, quality entrepreneurial activities and enhancement in fields beyond the typical 'business' sector, such as music, arts, sports and scholarly endeavours.
As The Economist rightly predicts, talent will be the most highly-prized and sought after resource in the near future that will ultimately pivot an economy to either success or failure. Keeping this in mind, Malaysia would obviously be on the high road to failure; and it has already well started.
The effects of this sad decline can be seen strewn across our physical landscape as well as in our contemporary culture: the plain, ugly and unoriginal architectural blunders that are Putrajaya and elsewhere around our urban areas ;the same old faces and voices on our radios, television and LRT destination announcements; dumber and more inarticulate Miss Malaysias; current failures of what was once national sports teams in full glory; terrible singing in Akademi Fantasia and Malaysian Idol; (arguably the most obvious) incapable and inefficient politicians; the Perodua Kenari; need I say more?
These little yet cumulating despairing signs of talent stagnation, across varying industries, points to a very large yet silent fact - we are nation losing immeasurable amount of talent, and day by day, it's becoming even more embarrassingly obvious.
But to those who say, perhaps Malaysia is a land with no talent, I say this isn't true. Was there not a day where we once revered the art of P Ramlee and Sudirman? And how about the ingenious rich blend of modern and traditional in our architecture such as the PWTC and Muzium Negara, which we rarely see these days?
And we were once not unashamed to cheer in a real hope for our athletes' victory? Were we not once considered an Asian Economic Tiger?
And honestly, didn't the word muhibah (that entailed all these past glories of Malaysian talent) actually mean something true in our hearts, and not as it is now, a mad self-delusion and a living lie told halfheartedly by reporters reporting it on RTM and journalists writing about it every time the festive season comes around?
The situation has come to such a bleak state, that even our newspapers, scavenging for any slight trace of talent, must go overseas to half Malaysians, quarter Malaysians and former Malaysians as if to show this as proof that there is hope for talented individuals to be successful.
These tales of Guy Sebastians and Michelle Yeohs merely show that recognition is only fully formed and found, not within, but without our borders.
The most important prevailing question is therefore not (though most obviously) 'where are the Sideks, Santokh Singhs and Samad Saids of this generation?' but 'why are they not here with us today?'
