My Case of Brain Drain

Thanks to World Bank’s report on Malaysia’s alarming brain drain – I think I too suffer from a brain drain.

Last year, I saw exodus of my buddies to OECD. They left our Ibu Pertiwi because they know they are destined to live a larger life, than surrendering themselves to our pariah-state socio-politics. They know their life and those of their next generations will remain meaningless even if their races are being represented in our August House for as long as we continue to elect the racist and sexist smart alecks. As much as they want to, I wonder if they see our Ibu Pertiwi and its people are those of beyond repair, that any of their helps to bring positive changes won’t be good enough.

Their exodus to greener, freer and wiser land makes me numb. I lost my appetite in digesting matters shared on our Blogosphere because with their departure, I have not been able to sniff anintellectual discourse, a rational justification and a thoughtful reflection on any given matters.

Blogs have been a den for rumour mongers, whom have lost, their sanity, humanity or ‘kejantanan’, for they hit below the belt most of the time. My buddy once told me that we should not hit one when one is down. During this intense mud-slinging moment, I sorely miss my buddy.

Bloggers are like congregation of EPL club fans on Saturday night, who would cheer up their club, jeer down their opponent and close their eyes to biased referee treatments. Another buddy said that what maketh a man is his manners and never is his popularity. During this maddening prelude to GE, I yearn for my buddy’s wisdom.

As much as our Ibu Pertiwi is losing from their exodus, my case of brain drain clearly show that what maketh a nation is not how many people it has (or how many BeNd supporters do they have) but how many people it has to maketh it a nation.

For the last 6 months, I find myself sitting at one particular Pizza Hut Restaurant, at least once a month. Over steaming hot pasta and extra cheesy pizza he personally delivered, I steal a look or two at the Manager (if you really know me, I am rather infamous for walking around blindly with my eyes wide open – Yes, I don’t fancy making eye contacts unless I’m in a conversation or a meeting) – one whom I complained to too many a time before for black-hued prawn fritters and running roaches over their tables (I wonder if he finds my complaints amusing to him as he just gets friendlier). While I douse my thirst and hunger over the meal, I too douse my missing for my buddy (he’s a mirror image).

Looking at the Manager, I cannot help but realized that by us continuing to drive away valuable human capital and human beings, like my 2 buddies, our nation will end up like a Pizza Hut – cooking steaming, cheesy meals but of no real values, fresh ideas and authentic identity.

p.s. I laughed till I cried reading Talent Corp’s CEO saying this to the Little Red Dot's media, “Ultimately, what gets implemented are the policies of the prime minister and the government”, in his plea to professional Malaysians overseas to ignore race rhetoric and come back to serve the country. Isn’t PM = UMNO = PERKASA? I want to convince myself that our Talent Corp is running some Talent Time Shows, with contestants the likes of Sarah Palin (she surely doesn’t know about so many things before and after running for VP).

p.p.s.Most fast foods serve our guilty pleasure foods. The growing fad of fast-fooding reflects our ‘Fast-Food’ approach to life.

p.p.p.s. I believe in foods cooked in our own kitchen, with tender, loving thoughts and care. It takes a lot of efforts but we’re worth it.