Being frank with Malaysian youth

The “brain drain” phenomenon is nothing new in the increasingly competitive workforce where geographical factor is no longer important to new graduates in deciding job placements.

As a graduate from the USA myself, re-location was something I had to weigh in upon, when making the final decision on my career move.

This particular topic was discussed in earnest at The King’s Discourse last Saturday which brought together some key movers and shakers within the corporate and government sector alike. Themed “Malaysia: A Frank Discussion”, it certainly lived up to its name, especially during the session on Malaysia’s Talent Management.

Made up of a star-studded panel of MDeC chief executive officer Datuk Yasmin Mahmood, TalentCorp Malaysia Berhad CEO Johan Merican and Managing Director of Teach for Malaysia Dzameer Dzulkifli, the discussion was not bare of frills and antics from this enthusiastic bunch.

The first question raised by the moderator, Andrew Khoo, an alumni of King’s College London, brought forth interesting insights on whether the government has been over-promising, but under delivering when it comes to efforts in retaining and developing Malaysian talents in the country. All three panelists were unanimous when it comes to setting up high expectations on this subject.

“We deserve to be a great nation,” said Johan, referring to Malaysia’s wealth in opportunities and resources in building the nation’s workforce. Somehow, that quote reverberated persistently in my thoughts throughout the day.

Within the audience was Nigel Sim, a graduate from Imperial College with a degree in Bio Medical Engineering. Currently a fellow for the Teach for Malaysia program, he brought 2 of his students from a primary school in Kuala Selangor to the event. He shared with Astro Awani the reason he decided to put a hold on his intended career path in place of teaching at a rural school. He also wanted his students to see the kind of opportunities that are available for them, alluding to the factors that led to education inequality in Malaysia and what needed to be overcome.

The session was an interactive 75 minutes with lively engagement from the audience, who were made up of mostly students and recent graduates from various universities in the UK, USA and Australia. It included an opening remark by Senator Datuk Seri Idris Jala and a parliamentary debate between DAP's Ramkarpal Singh and UMNO’s Youth exco, Shahril Hamdan.

The event was received well by the audience, probably a good indication of how far the Malaysian youth has come along in being attune to the issues and problem solutions that are prevalent in the country. As an observer, I was pleasantly surprise with the audiences’ fervor and passion in challenging the panels with their hard hitting questions. And these are some high profile and distinguished individuals, I might add!

I daresay that we, and by that I meant the Malaysian youth, are ready to take claim and be accountable for our role in the nation’s progress. And just like Nigel, we are all finding our own way to make it happen. I’m excited to see what lies ahead for us and the path that we are currently paving for our country because as Johan puts it plainly, we do deserve to be a great nation.