Unlocking the nation’s ‘brain bank’

Greener pastures: Among reasons why Malaysians opt to work in Singapore are enhanced job prospects, attractive salaries and advantageous exchange rates for the Singapore dollar. — THOMAS YONG/The Star

‘Rethink strategy to entice skilled talents to come back’

 PETALING JAYA: The country should set up a comprehensive registry of Malaysians working abroad, say human resources experts.

They said this can be done by using big data so that the government can formulate strategies for better “brain circulation” to lure our skilled workers into either returning home or contributing to the economy.

National Association of Human Resources Malaysia (Pusma) president Zarina Ismail said Talent Corporation Malaysia Bhd (TalentCorp), an agency under the Human Resources Ministry, should maintain a database of Malaysian professionals abroad.

“They can collaborate with embassies or high commissions for the most updated information and figures, so that we keep track of how many Malaysians are out there and what their expertise is.

“This should include Malaysians who went abroad for career prospects and who may have not been kept track of before this.“TalentCorp and the ministry should do more to help Malaysia turn the brain drain into brain circulation, which is doable,” she said in an interview yesterday.

The term “brain circulation” was bandied about in a statement by the Statistics Department last week.

According to the department, the nation must reframe the “brain drain narrative” and transform it into “brain circulation” in which the Malaysian diaspora will “eventually return to Malaysia after a predetermined period, thereby contributing the valuable expertise and experiences they acquired (overseas) back to the country”.For the short term, Zarina said Malaysian employers should use expatriates in the country to train locals to be on par with field experts.

“Make them train our local workforce and utilise their expertise since we have them here now so that the trained ones can become experts later and train future talent.

“We should also limit service terms for expatriates so that trained successors get an opportunity to perform and have hands-on experience for the job.”

Acknowledging that talent cannot be stopped from looking for better pay and opportunities abroad, Zarina said Malaysia should focus on strengthening its workforce with better career prospects and benefits.

“We have many people who are willing to work, such as women who want to take up welding jobs. We should identify those who want to work and train them.”

The emphasis should be on how to harness these workers’ capacity and skills in a productive way, she added.

National Council of Professors fellow Dr Syed Alwee Alsagoff said Malaysia has a hidden asset in the form of a “brain bank” consisting of a network of academic professionals abroad to plug the talent gap.

“This ‘brain bank’ represents knowledge, experience and global connections.

“By engaging this bank effectively, Malaysia can unlock a powerful tool for development and innovation,” he said.Syed Alwee said diaspora academicians can help Malaysia revolutionise its education by having world researchers injecting international experience into local universities.

Other ways, he added, include modernising research collaboration and innovation in a knowledge-based economy and creating a wellspring of fresh ideas, tackling issues from climate change to healthcare.

“These ‘academic ambassadors’ could bridge the gap between Malaysia and the world.”The diaspora, he said, can become a bridge to the world, boosting Malaysia’s global standing.

He added that engaging the diaspora is not just about tapping into existing talent but about strengthening connections.“Imagine ongoing collaboration, continued contributions and even potential future repatriation.

“By fostering these relationships, Malaysia can ensure a continuous flow of knowledge and talent, turning the ‘brain drain’ into a ‘brain gain’,” he said.

Syed Alwee said the key is engagement and connecting diaspora academicians with local professionals.

“We should transform isolated experts into a powerful collaborative force. Knowledge transfer programmes can link international academics with local professionals, sparking innovation and capacity-building.

“This ‘brain circulation’ fuels the ecosystem further.

“Short-term collaboration, seminars and guest lectureships act as bridges, injecting fresh ideas and perspectives into the local academic scene, keeping it dynamic and responsive.

“Malaysia’s brain drain might hold the key to unlocking its brain bank,” he added.

By engaging its vast academic diaspora, Syed Alwee said the nation can transform challenges into opportunities, thus moving towards a brighter future.

Source linkl

Poor ringgit performance due to a lack of competitiveness in Malaysia, a 28-year-old problem as a result of 1MDB financial scandal and the subsequent corruptions.

 

Related stories:

‘Rethink strategy to entice skilled talents to come back’

Attracted to greener grass and career growth in S’pore

China zooms ahead in space race - Advancement of China’s space programme is serving as a wake-up call for the US

;China Just Won the Space Race Against America...NASA is in Shock!

China Space Station Tian Gong is now complete and China is in a position to dominate the future of space and replace America as the number one space nation in the world. But how did this happen? How did China become a supreme space nation? Let's break it down

A staff member stands before a Long March-2F carrier rocket, carrying the Shenzhou-17 spacecraft, on the launch pad encased in a shield at the Jiuquan Satellite Launch Centre in the Gobi desert in northwest China on Oct. 25, 2023. — AFP

SHORTLY after New Year’s Day in 2019, China landed an unmanned spacecraft on the far side of the moon, where no mission had gone before. United States intelligence officials say they did so quietly, taking their time to verify the rover had landed in one piece and protecting themselves from embarrassment. Hours passed before Beijing announced its historic achievement to the world.

The landing was a wake-up call in Washington. China’s space program was advancing with unexpected speed. Beijing would soon assemble in record time a space station orbiting Earth, catching US officials off guard once again.

US intelligence officials acknowledge that China’s sudden advances had surprised them. They are no longer surprised. The intelligence community now assesses with confidence that China is poised to succeed in landing humans on the moon and constructing a permanent base camp at the lunar south pole by the end of this decade, four intelligence officials said, just as American space agency Nasa has fallen behind its own deadlines to achieve similar milestones.

It is the first time intelligence officials have publicly detailed their concerns that China may win the race to return people to the moon and establish a lunar outpost – an achievement that could set back US plans for human space travel for decades to come.

“It wasn’t too long ago that China said they were intending to land by 2035. So that date keeps getting closer and closer,” Nasa administrator Bill Nelson said in an interview. “I take it very seriously that China, in fact, is in a headlong race to get to the moon.”

Neither country plans to stop at the moon. Both see it as a training ground for missions to Mars in the 2030s, vying to make history by sending humans deep into space and landing them for the first time on another planet.

“Before, it was more of an afterthought – China was nowhere to be seen,” one US intelligence official said, speaking on the condition of anonymity to discuss sensitive intelligence matters. “Today, China gets the lion’s share of intelligence attention.”

A second US intelligence official said “space is very evident to China as a place they need to counter US power.”

“They don’t want to be the space power of the 2020s,” the official added. “They want to be the space power of the 21st century, the way we were in the 20th.”

More than half a century after the US put men on the moon, a space race is on for the new millennium. The first great competition of world powers since the end of the Cold War is spurring a new era of exploration that could send humans on missions far beyond those of the Apollo program 50 years ago.

But if the original space race with the Soviet Union was a sprint, this new competition with China is going to be a marathon.

“The United States will continue to lead the world,” Vice President Kamala Harris, who also serves as director of the National Space Council, said in a statement. “Our unrivaled network of allies and partners will power our deep space exploration, inspire the next generation of explorers, and will ensure that advancements in space benefit all of humanity.”

At Nasa, all of these goals are linked, forming a “ Moon to Mars Architecture” that is breaking modern precedent in Washington for space initiatives with sustained support and funding from consecutive Republican and Democratic administrations.

“Is China a catalyst? It should be. Chinese ambitions for both the moon and Mars should be taken very seriously,” said Dean Cheng, senior adviser to the China program at the US Institute of Peace. “Because from their perspective, it’s not just about planting a flag. There’s a whole freight train worth of baggage and meaning associated with both of these missions.”

“This is to establish presence,” Cheng said, “but then to establish the rules.”

Competition is already inching toward conflict closer to home. Since landing a rover on the far side of the moon, China has more than doubled its number of satellites orbiting Earth, and has launched a space plane that remained in low-Earth orbit for several months before ascending and releasing a projectile, defense officials said. Beijing is already fielding weapons in space, including electronic and cyberspace equipment, but also devices that can stalk and latch on to satellites to disrupt their orbit.

Nelson expressed concern that China may reach its lunar milestones first – a development that could allow Beijing to monopolize resources critical to a sustained presence on the surface, such as frozen water hiding in crevices of permanent darkness, and solar energy from mountain peaks bathed in eternal sunlight.

“If China were to land and begin an outpost there, I think it would be a Sputnik moment for the American people,” said G Scott Hubbard, Nasa’s first Mars czar and former director of the Ames Research Center at Nasa who now chairs SpaceX’s crew safety advisory panel. “They could claim it as their own.”

The Chinese Embassy in Washington said in a statement that “outer space is not a wrestling ground, but an important field for win-win cooperation. The exploration and peaceful uses of outer space is humanity’s common endeavor and should benefit all.”

Senior officials in the Biden administration said that China’s program could be the motivation the US needs to reestablish the wonder and drive of spaceflight that once captured the American imagination. “There are positive aspects to competition,” one official said, adding, “one person’s pressure is another person’s inspiration.”

Beijing surprised Washington once again last May, when its military-run Manned Space Agency held a press conference ostensibly to deliver a routine announcement.

Agency officials were introducing three new Chinese astronauts who would depart for China’s Tiangong Space Station the following day – part of a steady cadence of new crew members being sent into orbit every six months, an impressive achievement in and of itself. Then officials added that Beijing intends to land humans on the moon by 2030, moving their timeline up by years.

China’s Academy of Military Sciences has previously said that space “has already become a new domain of modern military struggle.” Neither the China National Space Administration nor the China Manned Space Agency responded to multiple email requests for comment.

China’s public plan is to use robots to scout the south pole for lunar water in 2026 and begin establishing its base there, to be called the International Lunar Research Station, in 2028. Beijing aims to complete a new Long March 10 rocket system for its crewed missions by 2027.

US intelligence officials say it would be “high risk” for the Chinese to attempt their first human landing at the south pole, but also believe Beijing will try to distinguish their first landing from Apollo.

“If there is a prestige goal,” one intelligence official said, “it is the south pole of the moon.” — TNS

 Source linkl

US and China vie for lunar real estate | The Star

https://www.thestar.com.my/news/focus/2024/02/25/us-and-china-vie-for-lunar-real-estate#:~:text=SPURRED%20to%20action%20by%20China's,crewed%20orbital%20mission%20in%202022.

The sunrise casts a golden glow on the Artemis I Space Launch System and Orion spacecraft. – NASA/TNS

Malaysia's giant leap into the stars

https://www.thestar.com.my/news/focus/2024/02/25/malaysias-giant-leap

Poor ringgit performance due to a lack of competitiveness in Malaysia, a 28-year-old problem as a result of 1MDB financial scandal and the subsequent corruptions.

 

The ringgit's poor performance can be attributed to a lack of competitiveness in Malaysia over the past 28 years, says a World Bank economist. Apurva Sanghi said this was partly a consequence of the 1Malaysia Development Bhd (1MDB) financial scandal.

 

PETALING JAYA: The ringgit’s poor performance can be attributed to a lack of competitiveness in Malaysia over the past 28 years, says a World Bank economist.

Apurva Sanghi said this was partly a consequence of the 1Malaysia Development Bhd (1MDB) financial scandal.

“Weak ringgit is ultimately a symptom of long-term decline in Malaysia’s competitiveness,” Apurva said on X.

The economist said while many Asian countries also slid following the 1998 financial crisis, Malaysia’s lack of reforms had affected its economy in the long run.

He added that Malaysia opted for short-term solutions to boost the ringgit in the immediate aftermath of the financial crisis.

Apurva said it consequently hurt the currency in the long run, adding that the government’s measures resulted in its GDP and exports falling.

He said the Thai baht and South Korean won outperformed the ringgit as both countries arguably reformed the most after the financial crisis.

Separately, Perikatan Nasional chairman Tan Sri Muhyiddin Yassin said the government should own up to its own failures instead of pointing fingers at others.

Muhyiddin said it is unreasonable for the government to blame the Opposition for the fall of the ringgit when they are the ones in power.

“They are the government of the day and have the responsibility, role and power to manage the country,” he said during his Pagoh constituency Chinese New Year celebration at a temple in Bukit Pasir yesterday.

The Pagoh MP was responding to former Sabah chief minister Datuk Seri Salleh Said Keruak, who said the Opposition’s constant claims about trying to topple the government mean they should shoulder some of the blame for the weak ringgit.

 Source linkl

 

https://www.facebook.com/share/r/htSk5YiWYyri4v5M/?mibextid=D5vuiz

Soul-searching for ringgit solutions