Pay Peanuts - Get Monkey

The lack of meritocracy in the workplace is among the top three reasons why Malaysians are choosing to migrate and work abroad, says a deputy minister, Mustapha Sakmud. This is part of the “social injustice” in the workplace, with professionals apparently frustrated by the need to use connections for career progression.

Better career prospects and remuneration were the other two reasons why Malaysians were seeking to work abroad. Developed countries have better laws that protect their workers’ rights from any discrimination, and also provide better salaries.

They are based on meritocracy, unlike in our ecosystem, which is sometimes based on connections or who you know. Low wages in Malaysia were driving people to migrate, pointing out that an engineer’s salary had not increased by much in the past 30 years. ”

He said Singapore had the highest number of Malaysian workers with nearly one million, followed by Australia, the US, the UK and Canada. Most of them were professionals in sectors like oil and gas, power, financial services and sales.

Data showed that many of those who migrated had trouble finding work in Malaysia. While the trend of Malaysians moving abroad was in decline. The number of Malaysians returning home was “almost non-existent".