I've been granted a short weekly column with the Chinese newspaper, Oriental Daily which will be published on every Monday. ;) This has started since they "revamped" the paper into tabloid size last week. Yes, it's a Chinese paper, and I wrote in Chinese, although whatever I wrote goes through "heavy" language editing by colleagues. I'd post here my columns a week after they have been published ;)
So, here's my debut piece, a little introductory piece on doing my part for the country ;)
虽千万人吾往矣！
潘俭伟
人家时常问我：既然您的条件这么好，又何苦要加入政界呢？我所给的答案很简单，就是马来西亚是个资源丰富及人口充满生气的国家，但是我们却无法释出最大的潜能，而且还浪费许多宝贵的机会。当中的最大因素就是执政当局无能！
近年来，我国所拥有的最珍贵资源，即人文资本相继流失到国外去。我国最优秀的人才，不论哪一个种族，从12岁开始就给其他国家吸引去了。譬如，新加坡每年提供数百份东协奖学金，给我国学生到新加坡顶尖学府及大学深造。我有好多朋友如今都在新加坡落地生根。他们当中计有专科医生、大学讲师，有些甚至进入新加坡顶尖公司的管理层。
至于其他人有些则移居香港、伦敦或纽约，而他们的技能、智能与才能一般都受承认及获得赏识。像我这种要返回祖国并为国家贡献者，可说是少之又少。
近几年来，我国的人才相继离国，外国投资者亦对马来西亚趋之避吉。我国曾经是个最吸引外商投资的据点。1996年，我国外来直接投资额高达73亿美元。然而在短短10年内，这个投资额遽跌45.6%至39.7亿美元。若跟新加坡相比，新加坡同一时期的外来直接投资则从97亿美元增加超过一倍至209亿美元。
正当我们的邻国及竞争者相继茁壮，反观我们却一直被抛落人后。早前，我们能够很骄傲地跟新加坡、香港、韩国及台湾相比较；如今，我们则只能苦苦地跟泰国、越南及印尼相互竞争。
两周前，欧盟驻马来西亚大使蒂里·隆梅尔(Thierry Rommel)发表如何加强马来西亚吸引外商投资的建设性意见，尤其是有必要消除保护性及歧视性的政策。我国政府领导人不但没有感激隆梅尔所发表的逆耳忠言，反而还警告他别干涉我国内政。
追根究底，这个问题又再一次扯到人文资本的基本问题。随着越来越多人才对马来西亚失望而离国，我们是否还有具备足够资格的人才领导马来西亚呢？
8 comments:
Cool! Too bad I can't read Chinese. Closest thing I can get to reading your column is by using Google Language Tool.
http://www.google.com.my/language_tools?hl=en
Well, didn't know you can write in Chinese too :P
But anyway good job in getting a column! Looking forward for more interesting post :D
can you post your version and th publised version so taht we'll know how much of the article is "censored" or edited.
Care to translate this piece?
so how the moderation thingy going on? do you still get a lot of thrash mail by trolls?
im sorry that i cannot understand written mandarin, wish i could though! nevertheless, i reckon that after the next GE, you will se KJ more often in parliament? any idea where you will bertanding or are you?
Hi Tony
Not sure whether this translation is 100% correct or not... (I've combine both Babbel Fish translation and Google translation and edited a few broken sentences here and there since I myself can't read Chinese either... Lol.)
People always ask me: Since your conditions are so good, why bother to enter politics? My answer is very simple. Malaysia is rich in resources and population. It is a vibrant country. However, we are not able to release the greatest potential, and are also wasting a lot of valuable opportunities. Among the biggest factors is that the ruling authorities are incompetent!
In recent years, our country has lost among the most precious resources, namely the loss of human capital to abroad. Our most talented people, regardless of race, starting from the age of 12 have been attracted by other countries. For example, Singapore's annual ASEAN scholarship provides hundreds of scholarships to our students to pursue their studies in Singapore's leading universities. I have many friends in Singapore who are now residing there. Among them are specialists, university lecturers, and some even made it to Singapore's top corporate management.
Some migrates to Hong Kong, London or New York, but their skills and intelligence are usually recognized and appreciated. Those who return to the homeland and contribute to the country like me is extremely rare.
In recent years, our country’s talented people left the country one after another. We were once the most attractive location for foreign investment. In 1996, our foreign direct investment reached 7.3 billion U.S. dollars. However, in a short span of 10 years, the amount of investment plunge 45.6% to 3.97 billion U.S. dollars. If compared with Singapore, the Singapore foreign direct investment of the same period increased from 9.7 billion U.S. dollars to more than double to 209 million dollars.
While our neighbors and competitors have strengthened themselves, we have fallen behind. Earlier, we can be proud to compare with the likes of Singapore, Hong Kong, Korea and Taiwan. Now, we can only desperately compare with Thailand, Vietnam and Indonesia.
Two weeks ago, the EU Ambassador to Malaysia, Thierry Rommel gave a constructive comment on how to strengthen Malaysia’s ability attract foreign investment and commented on the need to eliminate unnecessary protection, particularly the discriminatory policies. Our government leaders not only failed to appreciate Rommel’s honest opinion, but also warned him not to interfere in our country’s internal affairs.
This has once again brought us to the basic human capital issues. As more and more disappointed talented people leave Malaysia, do we still have enough qualified people to lead Malaysia?
The translation is accurate apart from the 209 million dollars which should have been 20.9 billion dollars.
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