Expat Issue Redressal Vital To Malaysia's Aspirations

Talent Corporation Expat Issue Redressal Vital To Malaysia's Aspirations, Says UHY

KUALA LUMPUR, Oct 18 (Bernama) -- It is vital to Malaysia's aspirations that the Talent Corporation understand and effect their plans in view of the neighbours' growing and competing economies that are all sourcing for talents, says UHY Investment Services executive director Tim Tee.

"Some of them like Singapore have low entry barriers for talents, simple procedures and a focus on sourcing the right type of talent.

"Aside from this aspect, Singapore offers a very high standard of living, particularly lower taxes, low crime rate and an excellent world-class education system," he said in a statement on Monday.

He said it was relatively simple for expatriates to secure permanent resident status and later become a citizen of Singapore.

"In these areas we are hugely unattractive, so Talent Corp has a paramount challenge ahead of it," he added.

Tim said virtually all of the Budget 2011 announcements required the assistance of Talent Corp to facilitate the sourcing of talents.

"Talent Corp has a huge responsibility and must address primary concerns of expats and returning Malaysian talents to ensure success of its efforts," he said.

Tim said Talent Corp needs to address issues such as legal status, education system and requirements, tax incentives, crime and safety and entry barriers, for both returning Malaysians and expats.

On legal status, he said it would be a challenge to attract and retain quality talents unless Malaysia offered a concrete future to expatriates through a permanent resident status or citizenship programme.

Without an English medium education, Tim said a large segment of talents are dissuaded in favour of neighbours like Singapore where midlevel expats with families could still provide quality English medium education.

On tax incentives, he said it would be vital to offer a significant tax holiday, not just on vehicles but on the actual income of the talent.

"This will make talent more affordable to business and industry as most compensation pages are negotiated net of tax, so the higher the income tax, the greater the package local businesses have to offer to attract talents," he said.

Tim said to enable Malaysia to resolve the long-term need for human capital and the satisfaction of the government's corporate social responsibility, 1Malaysia Development Bhd and Khazanah Nasional Bhd are allocating funds to begin a quality education process and care for the young.

"The steps the government corporations are taking will enhance and hasten the creation of skilled human capital required in the long-run.

"This coupled with the efforts by Talent Corp should bridge the human capital issue in Malaysia," he added.

UHY in Malaysia is a member of UHY International, an international association of independent accounting and consultancy firms.

-- BERNAMA