YOURSAY 'It is a waste of money for the govt to set up Talentcorp if it has no intention to address the fundamental issues of fair and open competition.'

Early gains for Talentcorp as 450 come home

your say Tkc: Based on the World Bank report in 2010, out of one million Malaysian diaspora, about 60 percent are geographically concentrated in Singapore.

Other significant countries are Australia, Brunei, United Kingdom, United States, Canada and New Zealand.

In terms of brain-drain - defined as emigration of persons with a tertiary education or above to the destination country - Singapore has more than 50 percent of our talented people. Our loss, Singapore's gain.

Pemerhati: Most of the million people who left the country did so because they were unhappy with Umno's policies.

The liberal and educated Malays left because they love the freedom they have in the West without worrying about the religious police which dares to impose its strict Islamic rules only on those who do not belong to the royalty or are not well-connected to those in power.

The non-Malays left because they were disgusted with being treated as second-class citizens. They felt that under the apartheid-like discriminatory system practiced by Umno, the future for them and their children would be bleak.

No amount of promotion will bring back these people. Only a drastic change in the current policies where there is religious freedom for the Muslims without any interference from the religious authorities and an end to the blatant discrimination against the non-Malays, would persuade some of those who have left to come back.

Hope: The West is facing extreme unemployment problems, and many overseas Malaysians have been laid off and cannot even survive. Some are too ashamed to come back, but the wise ones will.

Europe is expected to cut another 5-6% in jobs this year, and this will bring back our Malaysians.

Let us hope for the sake of the country, they will put their political differences aside and come back.

It is disgusting to see that supporters of the opposition actually want Malaysia to fail just to prove their point, much like the famous English saying, "Cut off your nose to spite your face".

Malaysiasakit: ‘Hope', your shallow understanding of the global situation shows that you are no more than a ‘katak di bawah tempurung' (a frog under the coconut shell).

Firstly, if Europe and US face massive unemployment, Malaysia will suffer even worse as it is an export-oriented economy. Do you think your money grow an coconut trees?

Secondly, we overseas Malaysians are highly regarded at our work places and retrenchment may come but we'll be able to find a job elsewhere.

Thirdly, the standard of living in Malaysia is pretty low and the political situation makes the country a last resort for investors as well as migrants. Unless Malaysia makes a major oil discovery and becomes like Saudi Arabia or Libya, don't expect overseas Malaysians to return anytime soon.

SMC77: ‘Hope', you are right and we should be happy to see talented and experienced Malaysians return to our home country but the big questions are:

1) Who are these 450 Malaysians?

2) Are we able to retain their services if the global economy improves in future or Malaysia is just a stepping stone for them to weather the global economic crisis?

It is useless to spend millions on these talented peoples if we can't retain them, especially when the pitfalls of the previous programme are not entirely addressed by Talentcorp or the government.

Will they be happy work for government or GLCs when Perkasa is barking loud and clear about bumiputera privileges? Will they be happy to work under a stupid ex-politician or unfair promotion policy?

I am afraid it is a waste of money for the government to set up Talentcorp if it has no intention to address the fundamental issues of fair and open competition in the country.

Pemandu chief Idris Jala, please don't underestimate the intelligence of foreign investors. They won't make their investment decision solely based on the comments on Malaysiakini .

Instead they will look into policies, law enforcement and other international rankings on our competitiveness.

I am surprised with your comment on this point, especially given that you were the former chief executive officer of MAS (Malaysia Airlines). I am sure MAS will not plan or terminate the flight routes solely based on the comments from the domestic media.

Hann Wei Toh: There have been lots of opportunities for overseas Malaysians to work in Malaysia on a short-term basis before deciding to return permanently or to stay for a longer period.

I suppose if they are talents, they know what to expect and understand what they are likely to experience. There is plenty of important things to consider and deal with than to pay attention to what Perkasa says.

SusahKes: Sometimes Idris' simplistic thought pattern baffles me. Statements such as "investors who pull their money out of Europe, may decide to invest in Malaysia" - just goes to show the shallowness of Najib Razak's administration.

If I am an European investor, why would I want to park my money in a country where I have to set aside 30 percent for cronies under the guise of NEP? Why would I park money in this country after reading the latest Auditor-General's Report (something which Idris has either not read or content to ignore?).

Why would I park money in a country that is losing talent faster than retaining them?

The 450 applications are nothing compared to the numbers that are leaving our shore every year to Singapore - just attend any of the education fairs held annually, and the Singapore booth has the largest number of job applicants.

Borg Kinaulu: I wonder what's the KPI (key performance indicators)? Is it just to surpass the previous figure of 1,286 returnees? Is there a KPI for the number of returnees who remain for at least a couple of years?

This is because we know many returned talents left shortly afterward, totally disillusioned, after they found that the organisations/institutions/bureaucracies that they have come back to serve are as bad as, if not worse than, what they have heard/read about in terms of the lack of professionalism, politicisation of everything, over deference to the issue of race and religion, general incompetence and indolence, and even corruption, all so prevalence in Malaysia.

Talent management must be done holistically. Isolated initiative can only bring short-term results with minimal benefits.

Onyourtoes: First, the figure of returnees Idris quoted is miniscule given the outfit which has already spent much. How many employees and consultants have you got now in Talentcorp? How much first-class travel and club floor accommodation have they incurred so far?

Second, your figure may also have included those who are coming back anyway, but now taking advantage of the incentives offered.

Third, I believe they are those who just want to take the incentives and come back temporary only to go abroad again.

Abasir: "If we focus on the doom and gloom about our country, then they won't invest here." Is that advice for Umno, Idris?

Umno which focuses on running down work down by Lim Guan Eng in Penang, belittling the achievements of the Selangor state government, raising the communist bogey whenever it pleases them, banning the colour yellow, taking immediate offence at a video urging people to vote, and getting the whole country to focus on Mohd Saiful Bukhari Azlan's rear end, where the sun doesn't shine?

 

The above is a selection of comments posted by Malaysiakini subscribers. Only paying subscribers can post comments. Over the past one year, Malaysiakinians have posted over 100,000 comments. Join the Malaysiakini community and help set the news agenda. Subscribe now .