Brain drain: the rot started with Dr M

Brain drain: the rot started with Dr M



From Kua Kia Soong


An EMIR Research report states that approximately two million Malaysians are living abroad and “they ain’t comin back”. This figure has doubled since 2010, and EMIR Research estimates that this talent drain will lower the country’s gross domestic product growth by 2%.

And for this stark reality, the one who was largely responsible for this emigration is none other than the former prime minister who has the temerity to pronounce that he has no faith in the leadership of the new prime minister, Anwar Ibrahim.

It was the former leader of the opposition, Lim Kit Siang, who said that it was during Dr Mahathir Mohamad’s 22-year tenure as prime minister when Malaysia first began to “rot”, thanks to corruption and rampant power abuse.

He further pointed out that “it was during the Mahathir administration that the infamous Operasi Lalang crackdown was carried out, among other mass arrests of anti-government dissidents under the now-repealed Internal Security Act (ISA)”.

Furthermore, Lim said, “he single-handedly destroyed the independence, impartiality and professionalism not only of the judiciary, but also of other important national institutions like the police, the Election Commission, the anti-corruption agency, and the civil service.”

Of course, we know that after Mahathir made Lim’s son finance minister after GE14, Lim did a political pirouette and protested that “I’ve never said he’s corrupt. You can go through all my statements. It’s all on record. I’ve never said Dr Mahathir is corrupt”.

But that is another story. It is on record that he had let the fat cat out of the bag.

Where is the level playing field?

After Mahathir became prime minister for the second time in 2018, he called on Malaysians abroad to come home to build the country.

It reminded me of the more recent attempts by TalentCorp to do the same. TalentCorp mustered a team to try and convince professional Malaysians in Silicon Valley to come home with special perks thrown in as enticement.

At their symposium, TalentCorp tried to put across the impression that Malaysia now has a level playing field and Malaysians regardless of ethnicity would be free to flex their talents in the service of the nation.

Unfortunately, all it took was one query from an observant Malaysian in the audience to deflate the myth of a level playing field: “If, as you say, ‘race’ is now a thing of the past, why is it that the composition of TalentCorp’s team in Silicon Valley is entirely Malay?”

Likewise, my question to Mahathir during his premiership was: “If, as you say, Malaysia is now a level playing field, why are you leading a party that is only for the ‘pribumis’ and have you discarded your so-called Bumiputeraism?”

Sadly, the evidence was clear to see. After GE14 in 2018, Mahathir announced that he intended to privatise our national asset Khazanah for Bumiputera interests.

From his record of 1981 to 2003, this sort of privatisation only benefitted a select group of Malay crony capitalists, and crony capitalism is nothing but endemic corruption.

At the Bumiputera Congress on Sept 1, 2018, then economic affairs minister Azmin Ali announced that the functions of Mara would be enhanced in terms of Bumiputera economic structure, equity ownership and entrepreneurship.

Azmin gave an assurance that his ministry would ensure that the objectives of the Mara establishment would continue to be pursued and strengthened to protect Bumiputera interests.

No doubt this involved keeping UiTM a “Bumis only” preserve, keeping out non-Bumiputeras who fail to get into the other public sector institutions.

The new prime minister, Anwar Ibrahim, will have to prove Mahathir wrong by showing leadership to ensure a genuine level playing field for all Malaysians irrespective of race, religion, gender or culture.

Reformasi to stem the brain drain

If Anwar is serious about reversing the brain drain, the first step is to renationalise our public assets, especially land, water and energy, which belong to the Malaysian people, instead of local and foreign capitalists.

This will not be that difficult to do as, at present, many of these assets are under the ownership and/or control of various government funds and government-linked companies (GLCs).

A pro-people government will be able to open these GLCs to democratic control of the people and direct them to implement good labour and environmental policies.

We want strong public-sector health, education, housing and transport services, including highways which have been privatised to crony capitalists at the expense of the public good.

Our small and medium enterprises, farmers and fisherfolk need adequate support to develop local food and industrial production.

The increasingly serious gap in income inequality needs to be addressed through progressive taxation on the high-income earners, their wealth and property, and effective tax laws to ensure there are no tax loopholes for the super-rich.

Capital allowances and tax holidays for foreign firms must be reviewed while a tax should be imposed on all international financial transactions and hedge funds.

Real democracy means fixed terms for elected office bearers who are subject to recall, free and fair elections as well as participation by empowered communities in local elections and social services.

All elected representatives and senior civil servants should be required to publicly declare their assets and incomes as well as those of their wives and children.

Freedom of assembly and association, and freedom of expression and information are part and parcel of a democratic society.

Real democracy extends to workers having greater control over their working lives and the way decisions in their enterprises are made and dividends distributed.

Wealthy individuals and corporations must be required to disclose which political campaign their money is going to, and we need a publicly funded transparent system of campaign financing.

Human rights and the rule of law are entrenched in our original constitution.



Repeal all laws that allow arbitrary declaration of emergency, capital punishment, torture, and detention without trial.

Implement the Independent Police Complaints and Misconduct Commission (IPCMC) to ensure transparency and accountability by the police and other enforcement agencies.

Establish a law reform commission to restore the independence of the judiciary and resolve the trauma caused by Mahathir’s assault on the judiciary after Operation Lalang.

It is time we had a truly independent anti-corruption commission answerable to Parliament, and not to the prime minister, with the power to recommend prosecutions for all offences of corrupt practice, nepotism and abuse of power – especially by the political elite.

Every discrepancy in the annual Auditor-General’s Report must be accounted for and the officers in charge and political leaders responsible must pay for any negligence or corruption involved.

Many Malaysians have emigrated because they do not have confidence in our education system. Education is seen as the pathway to economic success in an environment where there is a huge differential between manual labour and intellectual labour.

Malaysians deserve quality holistic education that nurtures creativity, critical thinking as well as scientific and technological knowledge required for research and development and vocational skills.

There should be equal opportunities for all with no discrimination in enrolment into tertiary educational institutions.

Besides building national schools using Bahasa Malaysia, mother tongue schools for the various ethnic groups should be built in education precincts sharing facilities to promote integration, ensuring proportionate financial support, and training adequate teachers for these schools.

Sixty years of racially based policies have divided us while enriching the well-connected crony capitalists linked to the political elite.

It is time to replace race-based policies with needs-based measures that target the lower-income and marginalised sectors.

It is common sense that poor rural Malaysians should be assisted based on their needs according to the economic sectors in which they live and work.

Today, with more than 95% Malay personnel in the civil and armed forces, isn’t it high time that recruitment and promotion in these services were based on merit and efforts made to attract non-Malays into the services?

Such a reform starts with the prime minister calling for the end to racism and racial discrimination in all Malaysian institutions, and affirmative action based on social and sectoral need, not on race.

Malaysians who have gone abroad will know when it is time to return to their homeland – when there is truly a level playing field in Malaysia.

The new prime minister has ample opportunities to display his leadership qualities. He must dig deep to think outside the rotten box that was created by his predecessor Mahathir.



Kua Kia Soong is adviser to Suaram and a FMT reader.