By G. Sharmila
While better career opportunities and a sense of social injustice are some of the factors behind the brain drain in Malaysia, Singapore’s appears to be linked to the political environment in the country. KINIBIZ takes a look at what experts say concerning the situation.
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Previously, we have highlighted some of the reasons highly-skilled Malaysians leave the country, which include both social and economic factors. The situation in Singapore, however, seems a little different.
In their 2015 paper titled “The Causes of Emigration from Singapore: How Much Is Still Political?”, researchers Joel S Fetzer and Brandon Alexander Millan found that the political environment in Singapore seems to be the most important factor in determining emigration from Singapore after one controls for the standard demographics of education and age.
From their research, the authors found that hostility to Singapore’s authoritarian government and appreciation of Australia’s democratic institutions are both push and pull factors for Singaporeans to leave the country.
“Our results furthermore suggest that politics are at least as important a push factor as they were during the flurry of governmental and scholarly interest in brain drain in the early 1990s,” the authors said in their paper.
In order to maximise the number of young, highly-skilled Singaporean natives who remain in the country after university, the authors urged Singapore’s political and educational leaders to make significant changes.
“To reduce the number of Singaporean students who move abroad for their higher education and then often remain overseas, the city-state needs to increase the number of places available to undergraduates, especially those who plan to concentrate on business or computer science.
“In addition, this expansion of university capacity could help reduce the unhealthy level of competition for admission to university, which is another major complaint of many Singaporean emigrants,” they suggested.
However, the most important change Singapore’s ruling People’s Action Party should make is to open up the political system, the authors said, adding that as suggested by other researchers before them, increased public debate before decisions are made would help people feel less dissatisfied with the political conditions in Singapore and therefore less likely to leave.
According to the authors of the paper, previous researchers have also suggested “a more open government” to “erase the credibility gap between the government and the people”.
“The establishment of true democracy would likely foster support for the government and the political system, as free and competitive elections often create a strong national identity,” the authors said.
They noted that while such a policy change is not going to bring back the lost generations of politically-alienated emigrants, it is likely to attenuate the future flight of highly-skilled citizens to democratic, English-speaking countries such as Australia, New Zealand, Canada, and the US.
“For Singapore’s long-term health, the presence of capable leaders is as necessary to continued economic growth as ‘high-quality citizens who can maintain the flow of (democratic) accountability in the electorate’ are to an emerging democracy,” the authors said.
Others have taken the more pragmatic approach towards the brain drain, by grooming existing talent in Singapore to fill in the talent gaps, particularly in leadership roles. This is being done by the Human Capital Leadership Institute (HCLI) in Singapore.
Wong Su-Yen
According to Wong Su-Yen, chief executive officer of HLCI, the institute was established as a centre of excellence to help non-Asian leaders become more effective in leading across Asia, as well as to develop a pipeline of Asian talent with the ability to lead globally.
In an email interview with KINIBIZ, she shared her thoughts on the brain drain in Singapore.
“Throughout history, individuals have ventured far and wide to pursue livelihoods that provide the best opportunities for themselves and their families. Today, we are living in a world that is increasingly globalised, which makes this even more pervasive than in the past.
“Family ties, while still important, are more easily maintained over great distances with the rise of affordable air travel and Internet-based communication mechanisms such as Skype or Facetime.
“Hence, with the rise of globally-mobile talent in search of greener pastures, countries that seek to attract and retain talent need to take a holistic approach including strong employment prospects, good working conditions, opportunities for advancement, robust education and healthcare systems, safety and security, social, environmental, and other quality of life factors.
“As individuals evaluate the career and lifestyle options available to them, each of these factors is a key consideration,” she explained.
She believes that losing talent to other countries should not be viewed negatively.
“HCLI research indicates the importance of a global mindset for leaders who assume regional and global roles. And, many successful leaders we have interviewed point to exposure outside their home country as being a critical experience in their leadership journey.
“The question is, having seen the world, what does it ultimately take to lure such talent back home? In this regard, while there are certainly areas for improvement, Singapore has done well by creating a stable economy, admirable living standards and conditions, and for the most part, an aspirational environment for people to live, work, and play in,” she said.
When asked what best practices from Singapore Malaysia can adopt, Wong frankly said that a one-size-fits-all approach may not work universally.
“Malaysia, and equally for Singapore, would benefit from understanding policies and interventions from all over the world and work to design effective approaches given the local context,” she said.
She explained that The Global Talent Competitiveness Index (GTCI) which HCLI has developed in collaboration with Insead since 2013, provides insights across a multi-faceted range of indicators that suggest possible areas of strength or weakness at a country level.
“In Malaysia, the GTCI suggests that there are opportunities to address the talent drain in terms of both talent retention as well as talent attraction. For example, areas that could affect the ability to attract and retain talent include disparity in gender income earnings, as well as weaknesses in vocational and tertiary enrolment,” she explained.
While Singapore and Malaysia continue to experience brain drain, it is clear that solutions are needed to address the issue before it gets out of hand (if it hasn’t already). In our next article, we explore some of these solutions for the Malaysian situation.
Yesterday: TalentCorp CEO talks about stemming the brain drain
Tomorrow: What can be done to halt brain drain
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