‘Longkang otak’? FT minister moots system to track Malaysians working abroad to tackle brain drain
KUALA LUMPUR, July 3 — Minister in the Prime Minister’s Department (Federal Territories) Dr Zaliha Mustafa has reportedly proposed developing a system to track the number of Malaysians working abroad to address brain drain.
Answering a question from Oscar Ling (PH-Sibu) to Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim, she had earlier rapped Ling for literally translating “brain drain” as “longkang otak” in the Dewan Rakyat Order Paper.
“The translation that has been introduced by academics is ‘hijrah cendekiawan’, some mention ‘penghijrahan bakat’, but that is not accurate,” Free Malaysia Today reported the minister as saying.
Ling’s mistranslation drew sarcastic jibes on social media, with some suggesting he should have referred to the Dewan Bahasa dan Pustaka website beforehand.
This comes as in March, then human resources minister V. Sivakumar reported that 1.86 million Malaysians had migrated abroad as of 2022, with 1.13 million moving to Singapore.
He highlighted that Malaysia’s migration rate of 5.6 per cent exceeded the global average of 3.6 per cent.
However, Dr Zaliha reportedly informed the Dewan Rakyat today that there are no official figures or percentages on the number of Malaysians working abroad.
“I agree that we need to curb the brain drain to other countries. We need to develop a better system to identify them,” she said in a separate report by Free Malaysia Today, referring to Malaysians working abroad.
Dr Zaliha said the government has implemented several measures to curb brain drain, including a wage hike for civil servants effective in December.
The minister was responding to a supplementary question from Roslan Hashim (PN-Kulim-Bandar Baharu), who asked if the government considered brain drain a “win-win situation” as Malaysians working abroad return with more talent, experience, and skills.
Last September, Anwar said that the government’s plans to address brain drain by attracting skilled Malaysians to return and contribute to the country.
He noted that many scholars, economists, and accountants had left or were planning to leave the country, necessitating incentives to encourage their return.
