National 5.5% brain drain higher than global average, says Sivakumar

KUALA LUMPUR: The Human Resources Ministry is drafting measures to tackle the brain drain phenomenon as its current rate of 5.5% of the population is higher than the 3.3% global average, says V. Sivakumar (pic).

"A total of 1.86 million Malaysians live abroad, and out of that, 1.13 million stay in Singapore,” said the Human Resources Minister after chairing a Talent Corporation Malaysia Bhd (TalentCorp) dialogue session with 20 industry players here on Tuesday (March 7).

According to the United Nations Department of Economics and Social Affairs (UNDESA) in 2020, the main destinations for the Malaysian diaspora are Singapore, Bangladesh, Australia, United Kingdom, the United States and Brunei, Sivakumar said, adding that it was a long-term task to attract Malaysians back to the country.

"There are two things; one, how are you going to pull back those who left to work abroad? What’s the best way to offer certain attractive incentives to get them back? Second, how do we ensure there are no attractive factors (abroad) or alternatively, pushing factors in the local industry causing them to leave," said Sivakumar.

"This is the heavy burden (for my ministry and TalentCorp), we're doing what we can (to solve) this issue the best way possible," he added. - Bernama