According to recent news reports, foreign students in Australia will soon be eligible for work visas lasting two to four years after graduation from an Australian university under immigration rules to be introduced next year.

Australian Immigration Minister Chris Bowen was reported to have said that the expansion of the Skilled Graduate visa scheme would “help to enhance the competitiveness” of Australia’s A$18bil (RM57.5bil) inbound student industry. This would potentially allow all 220,000 foreign university students in Australia to work in any job once they graduate.

This new Australian work visa policy for graduates is almost set to be the final nail in the coffin for Malaysia’s 4Ds of Deficits, Debts, Deceits and brain Drain. There are an estimated 20,000 – 30,000 Malaysian students in Australia, and when this new policy is implemented next year, our country can almost be assured of an exodus of talent as they will definitely stay on to work in Australia where they can enjoy greater salaries, greater freedom and greater prospects in both life and career.

Why is it that the Australian government is able to be so proactive and quick to grab opportunities while our own government is so lackadaisical and merely standing by as droves and droves of Malaysian talent continue to leak out of the country?

Last month, Talent Corp Malaysia, the agency tasked with the role of reversing the brain drain in our country, announced that their returning expert programme has managed to entice 680 Malaysian professionals to return last year, and 400 in the first four months of this year. While the improvement is steady, the question arises whether a mere couple of hundred Malaysians returning can compare to the tens of thousands who will now inevitably make Australia their home after completing their studies there?

The fact is that until and unless we shatter the glass ceiling by addressing the fundamental flaws in our country with regards to its failed policies of rewarding mediocrity over meritocracy, we will never be able to attain the fabled high-income status that the Prime Minister is shouting about.

Coupled with the 3Ds of a spiralling national Deficit, which is set to reach RM59.7 billion after the supplementary budget tabled last week, a national Debt that is set to reach the RM500 billion mark by the end of this year excluding contingent liabilities, and the continuous Deceit by a government that is trying to pull a wool over our eyes, this latest policy announcement by the Australian government is almost certain to spark a massive brain Drain that will be the fourth and final D in Malaysia’s 4Ds dilemma.

Lim Guan Eng

—–Mandarin Version—

民主行动党秘书长兼峇眼区国会议员林冠英于2012年6月18日在吉隆坡发表声明：

澳洲新的毕业生工作准证政策，将决定马来西亚政府4D: 赤字(Deficits)、债务(Debts)、瞒骗民众（Deceits）和人才外流（Brain Drain）治国的成败关键因素。



根据报道，在明年的新移民条例下，在澳洲大学求学的毕业生，将有资格获得两年至四年的工作准证。

澳洲移居部长克里斯博文报道说，毕业生技术签证体制的放宽将帮助提高澳洲产值180亿元的留学生产业竞争力。这可能让所有22万名的澳洲留学生毕业后就留在澳洲工作。

上述新的澳洲毕业生工作签证将是决定马来西亚政府4D（赤字、债务、诈骗和人才外流）治理的成败关键因素。估计有2万到3万名马来西亚学生在澳洲留学，这项政策在明年实施后，我们的国家将面对大量的人才出走，他们肯定会留在澳洲工作，因为他们在生活及事业方面可以享有更高的收入、自由、前景。

为什么澳洲政府能够如此主动、捉紧任何机会，而我国的政府却是如此慢条斯理，无动于衷，还继续允许我国的人才继续外流？

上个月，我国人才机构（一个为了吸引人才回流而设立的机构）宣布他们的人才回流政策成功地吸引了680名马来西亚专才回国，今年首四个月就有400人。虽然成绩明显改进，但是我们忍不住要问，比起可能数万名学生毕业后就会留在澳洲，为什么只有数百名马来西亚人回流？

事实上，除非我们对症下药，真正解决我国的基本政策缺陷，重视绩效而不是平庸，否则我们永远不能达到首相所高喊的高收入国地位。

随着我们3D治国的恶性循环，即上星期附加预算案后，我国财政赤字将高达597亿令吉，而国债也将在今年年底达5000亿令吉（还不包括或有债务），再加上我们政府不停地瞒骗民众，澳洲政府的最新移民政策肯定会造成大量人才外流，让马来西亚陷入4D治国的困境。

林冠英