Talent Corp Is Still Not Ready
Govt yet to decide on details of Talent Corp
newsdesk@thesundaily.com
KUALA LUMPUR (Nov 29, 2010): The government has yet to decide on the details of the Talent Corporation (TC) which would be set up to spearhead the country’s initiative to attract and retain highly skilled human capital.
In a written reply, Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Abdul Razak (BN-Pekan) said preparations were being done by the TC interim team to enable it to begin operations in January 2011.
"In this context, information such as on organisational structure, operational costs and membership of TC was still under discussion," he told Lim Lip Eng (DAP-Segambut) today.
Lim asked about the cost of setting up TC including the monthly salary of the candidate who will lead it and why the government did not advertise to look for the candidates.
Najib said skilled workforce is an important element in the country’s effort to achieve the high-income nation status since at the moment only 28% of the total Malaysian workforce is skilled labour.
"Realising that there is a big portion of Malaysian diaspora abroad and global human capital experts who can be utilised to meet the need for skilled workers, the government decided to set up TC.
"It will function as a coordinator, catalyst, facilitator and propagator to develop, maintain and attract human capital experts," he added.
Hassan Marican appointed to SembCorp Industries board
Hassan Marican appointed to SembCorp Industries board
KUALA LUMPUR: Former Petroliam Nasional Bhd (Petronas) chieftain Tan Sri Mohd Hassan Marican has been appointed a non-executive director of Singapore-listed SembCorp Industries Ltd.In a statement to the Singapore Stock Exchange yesterday, SembCorp Industries said that Hassan would come on board starting today.
SembCorp Industries, which is controlled by the Singapore government’s investment arm Temasek Holdings, has its mainstay the provision of energy and water solutions and is also active in marine and offshore engineering.
Considering his background Hassan should have little difficulty fitting right into the company.
Hassan, 57, had served as the president and CEO of national oil company Petronas for 15 years from February 1995 to February 2010. He first joined Petronas in 1989 as senior vice-president of finance.
During his tenure at the helm of Petronas, he also held chairmanship and directorship positions with several other firms and organisations under the Petronas banner, such as national carrier MISC Bhd, national automaker Perusahaan Otomobil Nasional Bhd (since renamed Proton Holdings Bhd), and Petronas Dagangan Bhd.
He also had stints in Premier Oil plc, Bank Negara Malaysia, and Malaysia-Thailand Joint Authority, and is currently a director for the International Centre for Leadership in Finance, and Sarawak Energy Bhd.
Other positions he holds include energy governor for the World Economic Forum (WEF) as well as a member of the WEF’s International Business Council and Council of 100 Leaders. He is also a member of the Commonwealth Business Council.
After his tenure at Petronas ended, Hassan who is a qualified accountant, was said to have been offered the position of special adviser to Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Razak on gas and energy issues. This appointment, however, never took place for reasons unknown.
tunku : a brilliant person serving other country,yet another brain drain.the government should have tied him down as his experience is vital for the country's oil and gas industry.what a waste.
P Ramlee: A tragedy that no Talent Corp could have saved
P Ramlee: A tragedy that no Talent Corp could have saved
Question: Di Mana Kan Ku Cari Ganti?
Answer: Not in Malaysia
Those who watched the heart wrenching P Ramlee documentary on the History Channel on Oct 31, 2010 must have gone to bed with a heavy heart.
Answer: Not in Malaysia
Those who watched the heart wrenching P Ramlee documentary on the History Channel on Oct 31, 2010 must have gone to bed with a heavy heart.
It transpired that Malaysia's one and only film icon had died penniless and shunned by the public, including his own colleagues.
And the way it was done appears to have uncanny resemblances to what's happening today in Malaysia, almost 45 years after Ramlee returned to Malaysia.
The documentary, narrated by British actor, Timothy Watson and was 12 years in the making included precious interviews by some of his friends, actors and actresses who had passed on. The underlying tone was one of profound melancholy.
Ramlee, borne out of poverty along Caunter Hall Road at an Achenese community in Penang , had to endure the brutal Japanese occupation whose schools incidentally inculcated a certain discipline in him.
In his formative years then, this discipline proved crucial as a founding platform for his eventual brilliance, creativity and innovation in film and music.
He subsequently gained phenomenal success at Shaw brother's Jalan Ampas studios in Singapore. His success at Jalan Ampas was the apparent result of the studio's incredible milieu of experienced film crew, choreographers and directors which the Shaw brothers had assembled from India, Hong Kong and Indonesia.
With the load of management and finance off his shoulders, Ramlee was able to thrive and focus on his talent of creating music, acting and eventually direction, screenplay and editing.
The Shaw brothers invested and created such a conducive environment at Ampas that Singapore became the Mecca for the Malay film industry for an entire genre of actors and actresses from the whole of the Malay Archipelago from Pontianak to Penang to Medan.
Apart from Ramlee, Ampas provided careers for other actors and actresses like Nordin Ahmad, S Kadarisman, Ahmad Daud, Normadiah, Saloma and Saadiah.
But this talent could not have been developed without the expertise of directors such as BS Rajan, L Krishnan and Phani Majumdar. Directors such as Majumdar already had something like 15 years experience in directing films in various languages in Calcutta and Bombay before they came to Singapore.
It was on this wealth of experience that the Malay film industry flourished.
Majumdar directed Ramlee in 'Anakku Sazali' which won Ramlee Best Actor in 1956. And when Majumdar returned to India, he discovered another great Indian actor, Feroz Khan and directed Khan in his first big hit 'Oonche Log' in 1965. Yes, it was happy times then at No 8 Jalan Ampas and Boon Kheng Road. But it had to end. Or so it seems.
Things appear to have taken a turn for the worse during the confusion of the Malaysia-Singapore separation of 1963 when Lee Kuan Yew had trouble reigning a tight leash on trade unions involving Lim Chin Siong, and his own PAP leaders led by Che' Awang and Devan Nair.
Ramlee appears to have been an inadvertent victim of the unions' unreasonable demands leading Shaw brothers to call it a day at Jalan Ampas when they couldn't keep up with unions' demands for higher pay.
Other views suggest that Ramlee was poached and enticed to return to Malaysia which he did in 1964. Wrong step it seems. All promises in Malaysia were not kept by his new masters. Sounds very, very familiar here.
Merdeka studios was poorly equipped and its rookie staffing meant the legend had to multitask which ended up eventually in him churning out shoddy movies. All 18 movies he directed in Malaysia flopped. Sounds like the same stories we hear from some of our Malaysians "trying" to return home from overseas.
Ramlee lost his glitter, his money and his fame. His partner and colleague, HM Shah, tried to form a company called Perfima to enable Ramlee to relaunch his career and produce his dream of colour films.
But Perfima apparently ended up in the hands of inexperienced and connected cronies leaving the talented Ramlee then, as in now, even as a Malay, blatantly unrecognised, ignored and out in the cold.
The documentary brutally exposes how Ramlee tried in vain to set up P Ramlee productions, but was again shut out by this country's media and entertainment industry including RTM.
He had to sit in the canteen at Ankasapuri while Saloma had her own show in RTM! He could not secure any government aid, grants or 'Private Financial Initiatives' despite his passion for Malay music and culture.
He tried to reinvent himself and sought a bank loan - but was rejected! With his wealth of experience and in his early 40s then, he should have easily qualified.
Poor Ramlee didn't know that in Malaysia it is the "know who" that counts than the "know how". If he had known George Tan from the Carrian Group then, Ramlee may have received a few million from BMF without even having to pay back. Or he should have "nurtured" some connections like how some luminaries have.
Ramlee by now, tragically stressed out, overweight, disheveled, completely down and out with passion and spirit broken, had to now do almost any job he could including running mahjong tables and singing at weddings and other functions to put food on the table for his family. He had to live on rice and eggs.
It was truly 'Air Mata di Kuala Lumpur' for Ramlee. A court summons a day prior to his death for being a guarantor finally tipped the balance and did him in when he suffered a massive heart attack and he died on May 29, 1973 at the age of 44.
On the day he died, there was no rice in his house. And Saloma had no money for his funeral. The man and legend, P Ramlee paid a very heavy price for returning to Malaysia. The country just did not have the infrastructure, manpower and expertise to accommodate his enormous talent.
He would have been better off in Singapore even with the unions there. He would not have gone broke in the club and wedding scene there and perhaps Singapore TV could have given him a break as compared to our own RTM.
All the belated accolades and titles were meaningless as far as the man himself was concerned. He died hopelessly broke and broken.
The documentary is not only an eye opener but a very good case study for anyone contemplating returning home to Malaysia.
Whether you are a scientist, engineer, accountant, doctor, etc, beware of the conditions enticing you to return.
If your kid is an aerospace engineer, a naval architect or a transplant surgeon, it's a no brainer that he/she should not return at all unless you are absolutely sure the country has the infrastructure and skilled manpower to support these fields.
Don't believe in these stories that you should come home to "help" and "develop" your areas of expertise. That's not going to happen. That sort of thing will only go to the chaps who have the connections.
Assess any offer carefully and do not trust anyone including this government. Make certain all agreements are enforceable in Singapore and the UK.
In retrospect P Ramlee, with no formal education but was able to compose more than 360 songs and 66 movies, probably returned to a society that was not developed nor had the brainpower and skills to match up to his vision.
In short he was just surrounded with a whole lot of officials and journalists with serious hangups who were not interested in the industry itself. There was no driving force like the Shaw brothers.
And the prevailing attitude at that time and probably even now was and still is a third class mentality. In an environment such as this, no one with creativity, innovation, skills and brains can ever hope to survive let alone thrive.
It's better they stay back where they can develop and nurture their talent. If a star as bright as Ramlee could be extinguished with such impunity, the rest are nothing.
Ramlee and his entire family were wiped out financially despite his immense talent. But he remains still till this day, the Malay Archipelago's cinematic legend. With apologies...
Hancur badan dikandung tanah
Budi baik dikenang juga
Biar alam hancur dan musnah
Jasa mu tetap dikenang juga
Will Talent Corp Overcome Local Political Overlords
Facing the human capital challenge
Part 2 of 2.
Part 1: Reinventing Malaysia's Economy
Written by Financial Daily
Wednesday, 13 October 2010 13:04
In part 1 yesterday on
TEFD: What are the priority reforms needed to make the public delivery system a selling point for the country?
Rasiah: The best is probably in
They often did things that included providing the requisite service that is necessary to see that firms continued to upgrade or involve firms in the network, promote linkages so that greater progression of synergies.
Some of their methods come from
Later, they went to different species of industries, knocking doors and requesting them to relocate.
While providing this state-of-the-art training, it also made sure that Penangites were being trained. Some of the training went to people who were not working in those firms.
That sort of initiatives also led to linkages. PDC tried to match multinationals with local firms, and facilitated the birth of local firms from employees of multinationals. That is well recorded.
But that did not evolve into the scale of upgrading necessary to match
The rules of the game were established by the federal government. Say, whether
Rasiah uses
Whether the government will provide the requisite educational infrastructure to create the human capital they require, those instruments are governed by the federal government, and whether the federal government would put up these labs.
I have brokered this myself, with the federal government’s backing. I assisted Khazanah on it. The Indian Institute of Technology
We need to get into things the firms may not want, namely some elements of those technologies that will go to the poor. That means they won’t make money, so the government will have to buy the research products and pass the benefits to the poor.
Or you can have situations where firms have not recognised the potential in their sector. There you need incubators.
At one level, you serve the firms, and at another, you provide technology for incubators. At another level, you produce the graduates that firms and others can hire.
We should give green cards to these guys. Target the whole world for employees. At the same time, take in local participants. You need this networking between the best around for them to capture the best practices, and for the improvements to stick.
I also recommended a leading Taiwanese university for that. But the reason why the university is not in the equation now is because of some political considerations then.
Can
We have broad statistics to show that in a number of industries we are relying on foreign labour. There have been attempts many a time to stop taking new foreign workers, but we have not thrown back those who are already here.
From time to time, there have been raids to check that the foreign workers have not been here for more than five years.
I don’t think the government should take any steps that contravene the joint governmental agreements with
What they should do is through policy governance, by introducing levies that make it more expensive to hire foreign workers. Not immediately, because then the immediate retracting factor could be deleterious to the country, but gradually, they should defer recruitment. This would be like in
You have to start somewhere, but you should not do it abruptly. If you do that, you are actually going back on your word. Firms should be given the assurance that you will stick to the word you gave earlier, otherwise they will lose confidence in whatever you do.
What is the positive news about
The minister mentioned that in the first quarter they had more than RM5 billion already. If they can maintain that they will be able to achieve more or less the annual figure to reach the RM115 billion in five years.
The positive news is the promise that the NEM provides. Of course, there are things that are unclear. Among them, you need to achieve 12.8% annual growth in investment over the next 10 years. Does it make sense? People are reluctant to believe that when it has slackened substantially from 1995 to 2010.
I remain convinced that NEM has provided the motivation that policy should focus on inclusive growth. In other words, embrace corporate social responsibility (CSR) practices as an inherent part of growth itself, not as a detached one, that you take care of afterwards.
NEM has taken head on the need to generate the human capital necessary to reinvigorate economic growth in the country.
Thirdly, the focus on the 40% of families with income levels less than RM1,500 per month. When you enable their thinking faculties, it gives them the opportunity to improve their situation, although the NEM does not explain that much. I would prefer that they look at the Scandinavian countries, so that they will create a welfare state without free riders.
There should be no misallocation of subsidies. There needs to be different instruments to address the problems of targeting subsidies. The focus should not be the distortion they think they are creating. Even if there is distortion, the welfare state will correct that better because you don’t have misallocation of resources.
You now identify the poor, which you know from the Statistics Department’s household income and expenditure survey. Of course, real income varies between locations, and you need to adjust for that. Then, if they divert the current system of providing additional income or coupons or whatever form they give aid in, then I don’t enjoy the subsidy, I don’t become a free rider, and neither does a foreigner.
It also reduces smuggling. That figure will be very small.
Although there are some sceptics, I think the NEM’s good points are that it provides the conceptual and epistemological rationale behind why these 12 economic activities should be done. That to me is exciting. What is not clear to me is that it is not very explicit about how they will go about doing it.
That same thinking is found in the 10th Malaysia Plan. Perhaps more foreigners were involved and they did not understand the workings of the macro organisations. Perhaps they weren’t able to outline the responsibilities to different ministries that the previous Malaysia Plans had done.
Those things need to be made clear, but we at least have the motivation.
You can also see universities now getting into this bandwagon of competition. In the past few years, Malaysian universities have been investing and working towards raising their performance, especially in the science faculties.
That means positioning themselves to hire anyone from any part of the world, provided they meet the standards required to perform. So, we can hire anyone from
These things weren’t done before. These are things that are happening, but the results may not be immediate, but the long-term effect will be there. Local staff strength is going up, as well as foreign staff standards, and this will have some kind of effect on the economy, including towards supplying the labour force in all fields, including science and engineering.
Is the Talent Corp idea workable and what are the lessons from previous exercises to attract the Malaysian diaspora?
I am a participant because I came back under the brain gain programme. I also coordinated the brain gain report of 2009 for MOSTI. We recommended that a Talent Advisory Council be set up. We called for an R&D investment of GDP of 1%. We wanted the ratio of R&D personnel and scientists per million persons to be raised from 367 to 1,500, if I recall correctly. I think they are looking at 1,000.
The Talent Corp, from the R&D side, again is not very explicit to me. It is hoped that we adapt from the experiences of successful countries. In a country like
You must look at the whole ecosystem that has been evolved. You must see all the parts, and the way they are organised. This is critical.
In the case of
The advisory committee is very well linked to them. And they don’t discriminate, at least from 1985, because they recognise the role that they play. Before that, the local people thought they were the most loyal.
In the case of
We have a problem because more often than not the person who comes back plays a secondary role. He is not the boss and has no autonomy to do anything.
Let me give you examples of people who left. They came back, they didn’t mind being second in command, but the first in command often left critical meetings when the minister called. These people were trying to establish MoUs with critical suppliers, even buyers, from abroad.
But when they come, the main person is not there because the minister has called. And his position, if he doesn’t take care of the minister’s interests, he won’t be here. And the real talents are the people who came from abroad.
I thought this would be a rare case, but when I speak to them, I find that it is a common case.
This article appeared in The Edge Financial Daily, October 13, 2010
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