He left Penang for Taiwan in the early 90s after failing to get a place in a local university.
From the money his parents occasionally sent him, he somehow managed to graduate with an honours degree in molecular biology - and a scholarship to research molecular biology in New York, then a doctorate at the University of Massachusetts Medical School.
His journey is one of many untold stories of Malaysians who have left, but will sometimes look back for signs of a system change back home. I met up with him, a childhood friend, last year in Boston.
As always, when emigrants meet, we reflect on what we are now from where we were. We think of friends who did not have the chance to leave. We think of parents, who had to hock whatever precious things they could sacrifice to send their 16-year-old son or daughter to a private college and, hopefully, overseas. Among those who left, many stayed on in the new country to carve out a new life.
NONEFor decades now we know that Malaysians, mainly professionals with postgraduate degrees, have settled in Australia through the skills and business migration programs. The top professional groups that left Malaysia for Australia in 2009 were: doctors, accountants, retail pharmacists, civil engineers, computing professionals, chefs and mechanical engineers. Others were students who ended up staying after completing their university degrees.
In March 2009, almost 19,000 Malaysians were studying in Australia - most of them in Melbourne and Sydney.
Talent Corporation
For decades now our government knows why its citizens are leaving. The Talent Corporation, initiated by the prime minister under the 10th Malaysia Plan, hopes to attract home some of the 700,000 Malaysians overseas.
As reported in NST (June 11), "Under the plan, the government will issue open-ended visas to foreign workers earning more than RM8,000 a month and ease restrictions, allowing them to buy cheaper homes costing RM250,000 and above.
They will also have the flexibility to change jobs in Malaysia. They will be allowed to bring in foreign maids and their spouses will be allowed to work, none of which is possible now."
gold coast beach australiaNaturally, Malaysian emigrants do find their place in Australian society rather quickly after overcoming the initial trepidations of their new cultural environment and having the freedom of choice, fair opportunities, accountable public service, social security, clean healthy environment and fair minimum wage for a fair day's work.
A 2009 country profile of Malaysia by the Australian Department of Immigration and Citizenship notes:
"There is a substantial income differential between Australia and Malaysia. On a purchasing power parity basis, GDP per capita in 2008 was US$38,100 for Australia compared with US$15,200 for Malaysia. Australia also ranks higher than Malaysia in respect of human development.
A recent United Nations study examining the achievements of its 182 member countries in terms of life expectancy, access to education and per capita GDP study, gave Malaysia a ranking of 66. In comparison Australia was ranked second internationally, just behind Norway."
Not just money
The odds are certainly stacked against the Talent Corporation. If the Malaysian diaspora are to come home, the deciding factors go beyond an attractive financial package.
Most emigrants would have made enough to live comfortably in Malaysia. Their needs are more fundamental than money. They're concerned with public safety, public health service, a sense of belonging, a sense of personal safety, quality of education, politics, fair opportunities - these are everyday concerns of every citizen that must be addressed if the corporation is to accomplish its mission.
statue of liberty 290805As my friend noted, "The tertiary educational infrastructure (in the US) is so conducive to learning and collaborative research that it attracts researchers from all over the world, and that drives the technological advances we see today."
The international reputation of Malaysian tertiary sector, however, has continually suffered from declining standards in its research output, teaching outcomes and student quality.
Can expatriate Malaysian academics, with their overseas experience and connections, see any reason to come home and work with their local colleagues to help stem the slide?
What needs to be done
Recently, I received a survey questionnaire from a Malaysian academic. One of the questions was: "If you were consulted by the government to recommend how to bring our academic talents home and create a world-class academic and research environment in Malaysia, what would you say?" I responded thus:
1. Repeal the UUCA. The Universities & University Colleges Act since 1974 has prevented more than a generation of students and academics from engaging freely in robust political, philosophical, cultural debates and activism within and outside of academia.
This must change. Universities are places of higher learning, enquiry and research where academics and students should feel free to express, confront and challenge ideas in public without any fear of being pulled up by the police, the ministry or the university executive.
2. Universities must be held accountable for the quality of its teaching, learning outcomes and graduates because universities are public institutions funded by taxpayers and government subsidies.
Professional courses, for example, in medicine, law, engineering, accounting, nursing, and so forth must be accredited by independent professional bodies to ensure the standards of its curricula and research output relative to benchmarks described by overseas institutions. Universities should consider using external examiners (local and foreign) for higher research degrees.
3. The government should publish audit reports of the teaching and research quality in Malaysian universities. These audits are to be conducted by independent authoritative agencies. The reports should indicate clear quality benchmarks (by discipline areas) of teaching, curriculum content, student learning, academic profile, student-staff ratio, research outcomes, graduate attributes, standards of the degrees, teaching/research resources.
The reports will provide a comprehensive picture of where each university stands in its respective discipline area relative to its history and resources, for example, in medicine, humanities, hard sciences and social sciences.
Apart from spurring 'competition' among local universities, which will effectively raise the level of performance and discourage complacency, the benchmarks will also change the public perception of an entrenched culture of mediocrity in Malaysian universities.
4. Provide a clear career path for academics where promotions are determined by objective criteria as identified by the external audit reports, student evaluation of teaching, research outcomes, refereed and non-refereed publications, and community engagement. Research funding allocations should also be determined by similar criteria. Race, religion, political affiliation and seniority must never be the criteria for appointments, promotions and research funding.
5. Theoretically, the intake of students should be based on merit. In reality I understand it's more complicated because of our history of affirmative policies and the quota system. Thus, the quota system should gradually be eased off and out to provide fair opportunities for all qualified students - regardless of race and religion - to apply for their chosen courses.
The beneficiaries of affirmative action policies, however, need not necessarily be disadvantaged. They will be allowed to enrol in bridging courses, and through effective teaching and training, achieve the required results before being allowed to begin their first year of studies.
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