http://www.asiasentinel.com/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=2308&Itemid=199
Malaysia's Brain Drain
Written by Mariam Mokhtar
Thursday, 18 February 2010
It's Not Just Politics and Racial Discrimination.
Malaysia's brain drain appears to be picking up speed. According to a
recent parliamentary report, 140,000 left the country, probably for good, in
2007. Between March 2008 and August 2009, that figure more than doubled to
305,000 as talented people pulled up stakes, apparently disillusioned by rising
crime, a tainted judiciary, human rights abuses, an outmoded education system
and other concerns.
The general assumption is that Chinese and Indians form the majority of
those abandoning the country of their birth because ethnic Malays consider them
pendatang - aliens in a Malay land, regardless of how long they have been in
the country. However, increasing numbers of Malays have already emigrated as
well, or are seriously thinking it, dismayed by corrupt practices as well as
the rigid confines of Islam and the rise of fundamentalism embodied in the
revelation on Wednesday by Home Minister Hishammuddin Tun Hussein that three
women had been caned in Kajang Prison in Selangor on Feb. 9 for having had
illicit sex under shariah law.
In 2000, according to figures compiled in 2007, 40 percent of Malaysian
emigrants headed for Singapore - at the same time Singaporeans are headed
somewhere else. By one estimate, (Singaporeans Seek Asylum Elsewhere, Asia
Sentinel, Jan. 7) the number who put the Lion City behind them is as high as 15
percent of annual births. In 2006, the Transport Minister, Raymond Lim,
expressed concern that 53 percent of Singaporean teens would consider
emigration. One website survey put Singapore's average outflow at 26.11
migrants per 1,000 citizens, the second highest in the world - next only to
East Timor (51.07).
Of the other émigrés, 30 percent go to OECD countries (Australia, New
Zealand, the United States, Canada and Britain) 20 percent to Asian countries
(Brunei, Philippines, Indonesia) and the rest of the world (10 percent).
Malaysian Employers Federation executive director, Shamsuddin Bardan, said in
an interview that 785,000 Malaysians are working overseas. Unofficially, the
figure is well over 1 million.
Nor are people all that is leaving. Asia Sentinel reported on Jan.11
(Malaysia's Disastrous Capital Flight) that there has been an exodus of money
from Malaysia on a scale which surpasses that which occurred during the Asian
crisis. The decline is also reflected in a sudden decline in base money supply
- even while, thanks to Bank Negara, broader M2 has continued to grow modestly.
A major problem is the flight of graduates. As early as 2004, former
Premier Abdullah Ahmad Badawi was becoming concerned, pointing out that as many
as many as 30,000 thought to be working in foreign countries, many of whom had
held scholarships in top universities from the Malaysian government but chose
to stay overseas at the end of their studies. Former Prime Minister Mahathir
Mohamad demanded that other countries pay Malaysia for having seduced them to
stay, " since, by right, the graduates' training and knowledge should be called
intellectual property."
The typical reasons are well-documented: improved employment and business
prospects, higher salaries, better working environments, greater chances of
promotion and a relatively superior quality of life.
Three Malay women put a personal face on statistics in conversation with
Asia Sentinel, sharing their decisions to emigrate. Two are graduates of
overseas universities, the third is from a local school. Their decisions to
leave were made, they say, after a lot of soul searching. But for these women,
money and economic incentives were not the end-all. Their names have been
changed to protect them.
Anita claims to have left because of her sexuality. She graduated from a
university in the United Kingdom but continued with a post-graduate degree
course. At the end of her studies, she worked in a multinational corporation in
London and is now a department head. She was recently married, in a civil
ceremony, in the UK. A Malay, Anita is naturally Muslim. Her partner is another
woman, Nadia, an Iraqi Jew. They met as undergraduates.
For a decade, the two made the annual pilgrimage to Malaysia to visit
Anita's ageing parents, Anita says. When in Kuala Lumpur, they are regular
patrons of lesbian joints in Bangsar. After the Malaysian National Fatwa
Council issued an edict banning lesbianism in 2008, Anita travelled alone.
Nadia dislikes the risk of being 'caught,' The clues to their sexuality are
their short cropped hair, Doc Marten shoes, preponderance of masculine clothes
and, on closer inspection, their identical wedding rings with each other's
names inscribed. Anita is in self-imposed exile because her partner will not be
allowed to reside in Malaysia.
Although male homosexuality is illegal in Malaysia and sodomy incurs a
punishment of 20 years jail, Malaysia's civil code does not ban lesbianism.
Malaysian men are just so big-headed that they cannot imagine any woman not
wanting to sleep with a man.
"It is unacceptable to see women who love the male lifestyle including
dressing in the clothes men wear," said Abdul Shukor Husin, the Fatwa Council
chairman. Harussani Idris Zakaria, the mufti of Perak, says that the council's
ruling was not legally binding as it had not been passed into law. He wants
tomboys to be banned because their actions are immoral. "It doesn't matter if
it's a law or not," he says,
In 2000, Malaysia had around 80,000 official expatriates. By 2008, this
figure had shrunk to 38,000 as the collapsing global economy cut into trade and
thus trade and Malaysian exports. When Bibi worked in an electronics factory in
north Perak, little did she foresee marrying her expatriate quality control
engineer. After his conversion to Islam and their subsequent marriage, he
attempted unsuccessfully to gain permanent residence. He claims to have spent a
small fortune on lawyers, on 'proof' and photographs for the application
process, and several trips to the immigration offices to be 'verified'. He
claims that one low ranking government official even offered him a birth
certificate for RM60,000, as a pre-cursor to a 'red' identity card, which would
help facilitate the PR status.
When Bibi's husband's work permit expired, he attempted to form a trading
company. He travelled to the border every few months to renew his
immigration-social visit pass, while he explored this avenue. He was ineligible
for a sole proprietorship and although he could form a limited company with 51
percent bumiputra ownership, he found that for one reason or another, it was
not viable. Local partners wanted maximum profits for little or no work. A
Caucasian, he was seen as a cash cow, he says.
In addition, the Perak town they lived in was very provincial. Had he
lived in Kuala Lumpur or Penang, he could be anonymous, like the expatriates
married to Malay women in these cities. As an expat convert in his local town,
the Malays expected him to uphold Malay values and scrutinized his every move,
right down to his religious obligations. He was disillusioned with living in a
goldfish bowl and both he and Bibi left for Europe.
According to one local daily, the number of Malaysian researchers,
scientists and engineers working overseas exceeds 20,000 with 40 percent of
them in the United States and 10 percent in Australia. When Ida graduated from
Australia with a chemical engineering degree, she worked in a chemical plant in
Selangor. Her friendship with a chemist blossomed into love, with talk of
marriage. There was one problem - Anthony was a Catholic. He dutifully
presented himself at the mosque for agama lessons in preparation for his
conversion. The imam never appeared for their pre-arranged appointments.
Frustrated with being let down repeatedly, he stopped going. His lucky break
came when he was offered a job in a neighboring country. Ida joined him. She
was free from parental and family pressures, he from the religious zealots.
They married. He retained his faith, she remained a Muslim. They started a
family and have since emigrated to New Zealand. Recently, she embraced
Catholicism.
Malaysian emigration has critical policy implications. There are
questions over what will happen when overseas students receive employment
offers in the country where they are studying, when skilled people leave
Malaysia, when pensioners retire abroad (the silver economy) and the nation
registers an increase in unskilled foreign workers but a decrease in skilled
expatriates.
The challenge for policymakers is to harness the economic and political
potential of this largely ignored diaspora. There is no point pretending
Malaysia does not have a serious problem. The incentives to reverse the brain
drain and attract those who are abroad must be reviewed, as they are currently
ineffective. For many like Anita, Bibi and Ida, it is not just politics and
racial discrimination but also religious and social pressures that drive them
away.
