DAP has slammed Prime Minister Najib Razak's swift dismissal of the World Bank report on Malaysia's brain drain problem, saying it showed that the premiere was in "denial" mode since his own GTP had made similar claims.

The opposition party's national publicity secretary Tony Pua pointed out that Najib's Government Transformation Programme (GTP) had also attributed the country's brain drain to the National Economic Policy (NEP).

"Najib was extremely quick and swift to ‘refute' the conclusions of the World Bank report on ‘brain drain' in Malaysia without providing any substantive evidence in doing so.

"He first denied that the NEP which dictated priority for bumiputeras had led to the brain drain. At the same time, he also denied that the NEP and brain drain has resulted in a drop in investment flow into the country," said Pua in a statement today.

NONE Pua, ( left ) who is Petaling Jaya Utara MP, cited Najib's GTP document that reads:

"An unintended outcome of the National Economic Policy (NEP) was a sense of deprivation, discrimination and even resentment felt by the non-Bumiputeras, which was attributed to the over-zealous attitude and approach in implementation by some officers in certain agencies.

There has also been a widening of the income gap within the bumiputera community, leading to rising discontent amongst certain segments of that community.

"These factors have pushed many Malaysians, especially professionals, to work and reside overseas, in economically more advanced countries with attractive pull factors such as higher income, wider exposure and opportunities, better quality of life and education for their children. Many have chosen to settle permanently, and there are signs that this brain drain has become increasingly serious.

"It is imperative that these issues [...] are addressed, as not only is our economy's competitiveness, stability and sustainability at stake, but continued widening and rising disparities will jeopardise national unity." [GTP]

"Is Najib now saying that the GTP got it completely wrong?" asked Pua.

‘Underperformed by five times'

Pua also punctured Najib's excuse that the increase of FDI to US$9 billion in 2010 from US$1.4 billion in 2009 was proof that Malaysia was still an attractive destination for foreign investors.

"Firstly, the fact that a student improved his mathematics score from 10/100 to 50/100 isn't something to be celebrated joyously.

"2009 marked the second lowest FDI Malaysia has received over the past 20 years, and making an improvement over the sum doesn't suddenly make Malaysia a super attractive FDI destination," he said.

He said the World Bank study having been carried over a period of time was more indicative of the real situation, as opposed to the PM's selective citation.

"...Between 2007-2009 and 1990-1992, the World Bank showed that we were the only country in the region where FDI has declined and significantly so!

"Malaysia's FDI dropped by 35.5 percent over the period while all the other countries increased - Indonesia (+23.3 percent), Philippines (+51.6 percent), Singapore (+53.8 percent) and Thailand (+119.0 percent)." said Pua.

The World Bank, he says, also created a hypothetical model that projected Malaysia's FDI for the 2007-2009 period would have been over five times what had been actually achieved, if measured according to the country's potential relative to its neighbours' respective performance.

"This proves the severe under-achievement of our potential under the BN administration," said Pua.

The DAP parliamentarian also slammed the premiere's Talent Corporation, saying that it was "doomed to fail" if the government continued to be "steadfast in its refusal to recognise the impact of

‘social injustice' on talent leaving the country."