By K.C. Boey
MELBOURNE, Oct 7 — Ninety-nine per cent of the Malaysians living overseas that TalentCorp encounters in its drive to get professionals to return are still patriotic towards Malaysia.
Sherene Azura Azli, general manager of the Malaysian diaspora outreach, said TalentCorp was encouraged Malaysians living overseas were interested in what was happening back home, and asking questions about Malaysia.
“You are the energy that fuels us,” Sherene told the group of about 80 medical professionals at Marriott Melbourne in the opening leg of a two-week, seven-city roadshow through Australia and New Zealand.
She was responding to a question about socio-economic and socio-political issues at a forum that followed presentations by representatives from the government, university and private hospitals.
“There are sceptical questions (through information from blogs), but people are asking questions because they are interested in Malaysia, and interested in what they can do.”
Datuk Dr Noor Hisham Abdullah, deputy director general at the Ministry of Health, spoke about the benefits of service in the public sector.
He cited Thomas Friedman’s The World is Flat on the transcendence of national boundaries in today’s globalised world when suggesting that “returning” to Malaysia was not a zero-sum proposition.
Nephrologist Dr Veena Roberts, who attended the forum, said she was particularly taken by the vision Dr Noor Hisham shared about the integration of the public and private sectors under the concept of 1 Malaysia.
“It has triggered my interest in… collaboration with Malaysia, whether in research or expertise to bring back to Malaysia,” she said.
Dr Roberts is now doing a PhD at the University of Melbourne.
She felt challenged by the opportunity to bring different mindsets back to Malaysia.
“These are exciting times,” she said.
TalentCorp’s sessions in Melbourne coincided with a Careers Fair held over this weekend in which 25 companies from Malaysia representing key economic areas are seeking to tap recent graduates and established professionals.