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Showing posts with label religion. Show all posts
Showing posts with label religion. Show all posts

Friday, October 21, 2022

GE15, polling Nov 19: Destroy Umno for the betterment of Malaysia, support Aliran for Justice, Freedom, Solidarity

Umno has never been as vulnerable over the last 70-over years as it is today. It had been the only dominant and domineering political party Malaysia had experienced. Its hold over Malaysia and its power to rule as it wished and pleased used to be absolute and unchallenged.

Fortunately for Malaysia, all that has clearly changed for now. Umno only has 37 MPs out of the total of 222 or 16.7% of the august legislative chamber.

Glaringly, Umno’s grip on power is slipping. And it is desperate to cling on to power and reclaim its former eminence and dominance, come what may. It is so desperate that it has lost its balance, its rationality and its sanity; it is pushing for an early election that is vehemently opposed by all thinking and well-meaning Malaysians because the risks involved during the monsoon period can be horrendous.

Umno has thrived in creating fear among the Malays and planting suspicion in their minds that their future and fortune will be taken away by the non-Malays, especially the Chinese, if they don’t rally behind Umno. Another weapon it has used very effectively is religion. It has been drumming into the Malays that the Christians are about to Christianise Malaysia.

Umno has very successfully destroyed our unity and harmony that was the hallmark of our nation during the time of our beloved Tunku Abdul Rahman – the halcyon days of tolerance and accommodation.

All that goodwill and peace that united us in the past was destroyed and replaced with hatred, suspicion, greed, intolerance and selfishness. Peaceful Malaysia was buried, and a disunited and fractured Malaysia has been created in its place.

Umno is now determined to capture its former glory by assuming that an early election will reverse its misfortune and restore power in the hands of Umno. 

 Support the struggle to build a Malaysia based on Justice, Freedom, Solidarity:


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Wednesday, August 31, 2022

Dear Malaysia, stop the corrupt policies of absolute powers that corrupt absolutely !

 

 

 

Tan Sri Dato’ Seri Dr Jeffrey Cheah AOTan Sri Dato’ Seri Dr Jeffrey Cheah AO

 

Dear Malaysia - Wednesday, 31 Aug 2022

This year, we mark our 65th National Day and 59th Malaysia Day. I would like to take this opportunity to continue the conversation we started last year by penning some thoughts on our beloved nation.

We live in a time of extreme uncertainty. Even as Malaysia and the world transition into the endemic phase, Covid-19 still poses a threat. Tensions between the United States and China have escalated, while the war in Ukraine has disrupted global supply chains.

Inflation is soaring and the widening income inequality is reversing decades of hard-earned progress.

Given these global headwinds, it is even more pertinent that we as Malaysians get our act together, fast, if we are to overcome these challenges

We have to take a hard look at where we are today, where we want to go and how we intend to get there.

Let me highlight some positive developments that have happened over the past 12 months.

For example, the historic memorandum of understanding (MoU) that was signed by the Prime Minister and the Pakatan Harapan opposition coalition is beginning to bear fruit in terms of reforming our political system.

The anti-party hopping law has been gazetted. A political financing bill will soon be tabled. Parliament is growing in independence as it plays its check-and-balance role.

But even more crucial is the out-of-the-box thinking that led to the MoU and introduced the concept of “compete and collaborate” into our political system. It provided a sense of stability that greatly helped the governance of the country. We need more such ideas in order to move forward.

The government did well to cushion the harshest impact of the rising cost of living for Malaysians, especially for those in the B40 category.

But it has come at a huge and, clearly, unsustainable cost: almost RM80bil in subsidies.

While these stop-gap measures have provided temporary aid, what we really need is a set of cohesive, coherent and coordinated long-term policies that can raise productivity levels and the rakyat’s income.

In the words of the late Nobel Peace Prize laureate Desmond Tutu, “There comes a point where we need to stop just pulling people out of the river. We need to go upstream and find out why they are falling in.”

However, like many of my fellow Malaysians, I worry that some in power appear to be more focused on politics, rather than policies.

We are all aware of the obstacles we face in trying to build a brighter, more progressive, more inclusive and more sustainable future for our country.

Let me share some of them. It is crucial that we acknowledge the pressing need to strengthen our national unity. Our diversity is a strength that enriches us as a nation, not something that divides us.

We must all do what we can to clean up the toxicity that influences our conversations on race, religion and culture.

And then, there is education. It is no secret that our education system needs a massive overhaul. Unless we urgently address this challenge, we will doom our children and our country to a future of poverty and misery.

In a globalised world, the competition our children face will come not just from the student at the next desk, but from far beyond our borders.

In this context, I am concerned to learn that the command of English among young Malaysians is on the decline.

Obviously, Bahasa Malaysia is our national language and we should know it, but we are a trading nation and English is the language of trade and commerce. A lack of fluency in English may well pose a major hurdle in our efforts to build a prosperous Malaysia.

In fact, the more languages we are fluent in, the more opportunities we can explore in this globalised world.

The perception is that corruption has now become endemic in this country. I do not need to go into specific details. You are all aware of the issues and the scandals. Unless we seriously root out corruption, we are in trouble.

Like how cancer attacks a body from within, corruption is a disease that can destroy a country and a society from the inside out.

Allowing corruption to go unchecked is like injecting poison into a body. Corruption is a two-way street involving a giver and a taker.

Battling it will require not only strong laws implemented without fear or favour, but also a change in mindset and culture among all of us. How exactly do we achieve this?

The recent decisions by the courts on corruption cases have sparked hope. The judiciary’s upholding of its institutional integrity is a huge step forward in this war against corruption.

Let us bear in mind that even as we address these political and socio-economic issues, we do so at a time when climate change threatens the very survival of humanity.

Implementing the sustainable development agenda is no longer an option, but an urgent imperative.

The path has already been charted for us. The 17 Sustainable Development Goals, or SDGs, adopted by the United Nations in 2015, lay out a holistic and comprehensive roadmap.

But realising the 17 SDGs is not the role of governments alone.

It requires the commitment of every element of society – the private sector, academia, civil society and every single one of us.

We are all in this together.

Tan Sri Dato’ Seri Dr Jeffrey Cheah AO

A concerned citizen of Malaysia 

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Dear Malaysia - Tuesday, 31 Aug 2021

 

 My fellow Malaysians

As a third-generation Malaysian of Chinese heritage who was raised in Pusing, Perak, and an entrepreneur who owes a great debt of gratitude to my country for the opportunities it has given me, I would like to share some thoughts on building a more progressive, inclusive and sustainable future for all under the Malaysian sun.

We wake up today marking our 64th National Day and, soon, will mark our 58th Malaysia Day on Sept 16.

Notice that I said “mark” and not “celebrate.” The reason is obvious: more than 15,000 Malaysian lives lost to Covid-19; more than 1.6 million of our Malaysian family infected; millions more reeling from the impact to their livelihoods; a rising number of Malaysians taking their own lives due largely to factors associated with the pandemic; schools closed; and lockdowns, masks and physical distancing.

And to add to our troubles, a political crisis that has witnessed Malaysia having three prime ministers in three years.

I do not need to dwell on the details. We are all only too aware of the grim reality.

Malaysia is at a tipping point, which some may even liken to what happened on May 13, 1969. However, while May 13 posed a threat to the very existence of what was a much younger Malaysia, the crisis sparked by the pandemic is of a very different nature.

The only similarity, in my view, is that once again it is up to us to decide on how we overcome the challenge – an opportunity to take a hard look at where we are today as a nation, where we want to go, and how we get there. In short, we need to have a national conversation within our Malaysian family based on civility and mutual respect.

My fellow Malaysians

Let’s begin with a discussion on how we can eradicate the virus of racism in our society. Let us acknowledge that Malaysia’s rich diversity of races, ethnicities, cultures, religions and even cuisines is a strength for us to leverage, not a barrier that divides us. Let us break down these walls between us.

In this respect, the one silver lining that gives me hope amidst these dark days is witnessing how Malaysians are rising above race and religious lines to help not just their neighbours but even total strangers in their time of need.

That this outreach is driven largely by civil society groups comprising young people of all races indicates to me that perhaps the current generation is moving beyond the “us-versus-them” mentality that has dominated much of our lives over the past four decades or so.

Let us also use this opportunity to discuss the reforms we need to put in place to build the Malaysia that each and everyone of us wants. The post-May 13 blueprint may have served its purpose back then, although my personal opinion is that while the policies were drawn up with good intentions, the implementation went somewhat off-track soon after.

But that was a different time. We cannot overcome the challenges of the Digital Age using analogue mind-sets. We now have an opportunity to thoroughly re-examine the various factors that define our daily lives.

Tan Sri Dato’ Seri Dr Jeffrey Cheah AO 
Tan Sri Dato’ Seri Dr Jeffrey Cheah AO

They include, for instance, the economy: How do we promote an economy based on innovation, digital tools, competition and meritocracy, one where “know-how” matters more than “know who”?

Then there is education. It is obvious that our current education system is failing our children. We need to urgently re-examine how we teach, what we teach and even where we teach. In a globalised world, our children face competition not just from the student at the next desk, but from those far beyond our borders. If we do not prepare them correctly, we doom them and our country to a bleak and poverty-ridden future.

Let’s move on next to governance. Restoring the integrity of our institutions is of fundamental importance. I do not want to sound like an old uncle always talking about how much better it was in the old days. But the fact remains that there was a time when Malaysia was held in high esteem internationally for a judiciary noted for its independence and integrity, the efficiency of our civil service, the provision of public healthcare and a Parliament that sought to play its role as a check and balance on the Executive.

And then there is the issue of corruption. Need I say more? Unless we seriously root out corruption, we are in trouble. I am not naive enough to believe that we can eradicate corruption completely. No country has done so. But we must, at the very least, reduce it from a cancer in society to just a sore thumb.

Corruption, of course, is a two-way street involving a giver and a taker. Battling it will require not only strong laws implemented without fear or favour, but also a change in mind-set and culture among all of us. How exactly do we achieve this?

The recent accord reached between our Prime Minister and leaders of the Pakatan Harapan opposition on these issues, if followed through, offers hope that we may once again restore pride in our institutions and progress as a nation.

My fellow Malaysians

We began our journey in 1957 with hopes and aspirations. We suffered the tragedy of May 13 even before Malaysia had reached its teens. The nation matured in its adulthood in the years that followed. The country is now past its middle age – a time when hard-earned experience and wisdom can be our guide.

I believe that all of us as individuals must have a higher purpose in life. For me, that higher purpose is a commitment to nation-building and to giving back to society.

An optimist by nature, I have a deep faith this higher purpose is also shared by all of you and that together, we can overcome the challenges we face and build a Malaysia that our children can be proud of.

In this effort, we should all be guided by our Rukun Negara, which represents the soul of our nation.

As it says on our national motto: Bersekutu Bertambah Mutu. Loosely translated as “Unity is Strength.”

We are all in this together.

Tan Sri Dato’ Seri Dr Jeffrey Cheah AO

A concerned citizen of Malaysia 

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Thursday, July 14, 2022

Unification Church linked to Abe’s death, sounds alarm in China over cult group’s infiltration

What is the Unification Church and could it be linked to former Japanese prime minister Shinzo Abe’s assassination?

A bride poses for a photo before a giant image of the late founder of Unification Church Sun Myung Moon and his wife Hak Ja Han before a mass wedding ceremony in Gapyeong on September 7, 2017. Photo: AFP

 

 The curtains have come down on former Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe after the sobering end of his funeral. But the cloud of suspicion surrounding his assassination still looms large in the minds of many around the world. Sentiments of shock continue to be expressed at the fact that Japan's worst political assassination since World War II is related to a cult.

On July 8, Abe was fatally shot while addressing a crowd at a campaign stop in Nara by a 41-year-old man identified as Tetsuya Yamagami, who confessed to the police that he "did not resent Abe's political beliefs," but that his resentment toward the Family Federation for World Peace and Unification, known as the Unification Church, a religious movement founded in South Korea, turned into a desire to kill the former national leader.

Yamagami believed Abe had promoted a religious group to which his mother made a "huge donation," Kyodo news agency has said, citing investigative sources. His mother subsequently went bankrupt.

The police investigation into the assassination prompted the head of the Japanese branch of the Unification Church to confirm on July 11 that Yamagami's mother is a member.

Looking back on the history of the Unification Church, people have seen the specter of an extremist religious group looming over the political arena of Japan, South Korea, and even the US.

In the mid-1960s, Abe's maternal grandfather and former Japanese Prime Minister, Nobusuke Kishi, would never have imagined that his association with Sun Myung Moon, the founder of the Unification Church, would sow the seed that eventually led to the death of his grandson.

Expansion of a cult

Moon founded the Unification Church in South Korea in 1954. Within a year, about 30 church centers had sprung up. Moon began organizing the Unification Church on a large scale in the US in the early 1970s. He also sent his church emissaries to Japan in the early days when the Unification Church developed fast. He settled in the US in 1972.

One of the activities that the Unification Church likes to practice is Tetsuya Yamagami. Moon claimed that he can complete the unfulfilled task of Jesus: To restore humankind to a state of perfection by producing sinless children, and by blessing couples who would produce them. According to media reports, thousands of couples often attended such mass weddings. But those couples would only meet each other weeks prior and they went into marriage based on Moon's arrangement. Many had to remain separated for several years doing church work. 

Thousands of couples attend a mass wedding held by the Unification Church on August 27, 2018 in Gapyeong, South Korea. Photo: VCGThousands of couples attend a mass wedding held by the Unification Church on August 27, 2018 in Gapyeong, South Korea. Photo: VCG

At the same time, Moon was particularly interested in politics. Church leaders plotted a strategy to defend former US President Richard M. Nixon for his role in the Watergate crisis and held rallies in support of him. In the late 1970s, Moon was embroiled in many scandals and was under investigation by US federal authorities mainly over allegations that he has ties to South Korean intelligence and was involved in bribing members of Congress to support President Park Chung-hee, according to a New York Times report.

Moon liked to court world leaders and politicians to advance the Unification Church and sometimes he behaved quite oddly.

Moon, who spoke fluent Japanese, launched an anti-communist group in Japan in the late 1960s, the International Federation for Victory Over Communism, and built relations with Japanese politicians, according to the church's publications, Reuters reported.

Nobusuke Kishi, Abe's maternal grandfather and a former prime minister, was an honorary executive chair at a group banquet hosted by Moon, the International Federation for Victory Over Communism said on its website.

In 2004, Moon had himself crowned "humanity's savior" in front of members of Congress at a Capitol Hill luncheon, read the New York Times report.

Prominent people including the US president were paid to appear at Moon-linked conferences. "The first President George Bush did so after he left office. Others, like former President Gerald R. Ford, Bill Cosby, Mikhail S. Gorbachev, and Jack Kemp, attended banquets and gatherings, sometimes saying later that they had not known of a connection between Moon and the organizations that invited them," said the New York Times report.

The Unification Church has a long history of courting Republican officials as part of a propaganda campaign, according to media outlet The Independent. In September 2021, former US President Donald Trump appeared in a virtual address linked to the Unification Church. He praised the founders of the Unification Church. Abe also participated in the same event.

The Financial Times reported that for decades, close ties between the Unification Church in Japan and prominent figures in the governing Liberal Democratic Party have been an open secret in Japanese politics.

"The Unification Church has a strong capacity for brainwashing with propaganda and external expansion. Through the establishment of personal worship and an emphasis on donations for purposes of enrichment, meddling in private property distribution and marriage autonomy of the congregation, the group has garnered a loyal following," an Beijing-based expert on Japan studies surname Zhou told the Global Times.

On the other hand, Zhou pointed out that, through generous political cash and mutual exploitation, the Unification Church has gradually gained a strong foothold in East Asia and the world.

Along with the expansion of the Unification Church was the growth of Moon's business empire. He was involved in many industries in South Korea and also had various commercial interests in Japan. Right-wing nationalist donors in Japan were said to be an important financial source. In the US, he had business interests in a range of fields including jewelry and construction, and bought properties including the New Yorker Hotel in Midtown Manhattan.

"In addition to spreading extremist ideas, the Unification Church also has a strong sense of modern business management, operating the religious group as a company, investing and expanding extensively in industry, finance, culture, education, media, and other industries, providing the basis for a 'virtuous' cycle of development for the expansion of its extremist ideology and political infiltration," Zhou said.

The church has about 600,000 members in Japan, out of 10 million globally, Reuters reported.

Thousands of couples attend a mass wedding held by the Unification Church on August 27, 2018 in Gapyeong, South Korea. Photo: VCG

Thousands of couples attend a mass wedding held by the Unification Church on August 27, 2018 in Gapyeong, South Korea. Photo: VCG

Conservative tone

During the Cold War, the Unification Church movement was criticized by the mainstream media for its anti-Communist activism.

In 2010, Moon bought the US-based media publication the Washington Times into the New World Communications, an international media conglomerate similar to Rupert Murdoch's News Corporation, which owns Fox News. The conglomerate was directly affiliated with Moon's Unification Church, the US News reported.

The newspaper often plays up claims that the Chinese mainland will "invade" the island of Taiwan, for example, citing US officials who accuse the Chinese military of posing an "acute threat" to the island

The New York Times reported that Moon acknowledged that in the two decades since the founding of The Washington Times in 1982, he pumped in more than $1 billion in subsidies to keep it going.

In 2002, during the 20th anniversary party for the Washington Times, Moon said, "The Washington Times will become the instrument in spreading the truth about God to the world," the Washington Post reported in 2009.

Unification is a political concept, and the Unification Church, which uses this concept as its name, has always been a heretical religious organization with distinct political positions and intentions, Zhou noted.

Unification Church followers hold a memorial service mourning the death of their leader Sun Myung Moon in the church's Seoul headquarters on September 3, 2012.? Photo: AFP

Unification Church followers hold a memorial service mourning the death of their leader Sun Myung Moon in the church's Seoul headquarters on September 3, 2012.? Photo: AFP 

Alarm bells

The cultist elements behind the Abe assassination have set off alarms in China, which has maintained a zero-tolerance attitude toward cults through various efforts.

The Unification Church has been classified as a cult since the 1990s in China. In May 1997, the Ministry of Public Security listed the Unification church as a cultic organization, according to chinafxj.com, a website promoting China's anti-cult policies under the State Council.

The chinafxj.com website states that the Unification Church has been infiltrating China since as early as the country's Reform and Opening-up in 1978 in the name of investment, sponsorship, and tourism, in a bid to take root in China and expand its influence.

In recent years, the cult's infiltration efforts have become more active in China. Its affiliated organization "International Education Foundation," for instance, carried out penetration activities in some cities in the name of cultural exchange and educational cooperation. The church also set up branches secretly in Beijing, Tianjin, Guangzhou, Shenyang, Xi'an, and other major cities to carry out illegal missionary activities. Sunmoon University also tried to absorb Chinese believers via cooperation with China's universities, said the website.

Currently in China, the Unification Church is among the list of 18 defined cultist organizations masquerading as Christian churches, according to chinafxj.com.

The cults share similar traits and modes of operation, such as deifying leaders or founders, promoting inhumane, antisocial, and immoral theories, and inciting the public to confront the larger society, Yan Kejia, director of the Shanghai Academy of Social Sciences' Institute of Religious Studies, told the Global Times. "The cults could easily confuse the public by taking advantage of religious beliefs and feudal superstition."

China has been cracking down on cults, especially since the late 1990s, Yan noted. "The efforts have been greatly beneficial. The campaigns against cults are widely understood and supported by the public and have brought a breath of fresh air to the society."

"The Abe incident proved that governments should pay great attention to issues surrounding cultic activities. It also reminds China that the work to fight cults should be consistently enhanced," he said. 

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Sunday, May 8, 2022

Keep our talent

 

Malaysian pride: Tan, who is from Muar, was appointed to the most senior technology position at Nasa recently. – nasa.gov

 NASA Engineer Florence Tan presented a Maniac Lecture entitled, "From Malaysia to Mars." Florence talked about her journey from Malaysia to NASA Goddard Space Flight Center, where she has been working on planetary mass spectrometers, which is characterized by challenges, frustration, excitement, and rewards.

 Only with the application of inclusiveness will retain our best workforce.

EVERY time we read about Malaysians making a mark globally in their respective fields, pride and joy course through our veins knowing these people have elevated our country’s standing.

Recently, that proverbial uplifting news featured six young Malaysians acquiring seats in the prestigious Harvard University for the class of 2026.

The students received offers of admission amidst stiff competition from a global applicant pool of 61,220 students, it was reported.

Last week, another piece of good news surfaced. A Malaysian from Muar, Johor, Florence Tan, was appointed Deputy Chief Technologist at the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (Nasa) – the most senior technology position.

She had left Malaysia at 18 to study in the United States, and then started to work with Nasa, beginning as an intern at one of its research centres.

When I read those two stories, I couldn’t help pondering if the six Harvard students would return to Malaysia someday, perhaps after gaining experience in the US and other countries.

And what can Tan really do in Malaysia, even if she chose to return home? After all, we can’t cater to her expertise, experience and skill in Your chance to fly Singapore Airlines to London for free with this new card from Maybank

But more and more, when we read of these high achievers, the media is compelled to refer to them as “Malaysia-born,” which is a euphemism for Malaysians who have emigrated overseas and are not nationals of our country any longer.

At least we’re sure that two legendary Malaysians of global repute, Hollywood actress Tan Sri Michelle Yeoh and shoe designer Datuk Jimmy Choo are hanging on to their Malaysian passports.

Unfortunately, Malaysia is one of the countries most affected by brain drain, as it faces a major problem in not only being incapable of delivering the required talent, but also in failing to retain the current local talent or attracting foreign ones, as a report in cs.stanford.edu put it.

The World Bank defines brain drain as the migration of talent across borders, which has an impact on Malaysia’s aspiration to become a high-income nation.

“Human capital is the bedrock of the high-income economy. Sustained and skill-intensive growth will require talent going forward.

“For Malaysia to be successful in its journey to high income, it will need to develop, attract, and retain talent. Brain drain does not appear to square with this objective: Malaysia needs talent, but talent seems to be leaving.

“Brain drain is a subject of intense debate and controversy, but surprisingly few studies have characterised the phenomenon in the Malaysian context – be it in terms of magnitude, impact, or policy response.

“What complicates matters further are the statistical discrepancies that limit the quality, availability, timeliness, and comparability of international migration data,” wrote its senior economic advisor Philip Schellekens.

He quoted the World Bank’s Malaysia Economic Monitor saying that the Malaysian diaspora – the group of skilled and unskilled Malaysia-born women, men and children living overseas – is estimated conservatively at one million worldwide as of 2010.

“A third among these represent brain drain – those with tertiary education among the diasporas. This is not to suggest that others are not ‘brainy’, but educational attainment is the only available proxy that is consistently available across recipient countries.

“To put the numbers in perspective, two factors are important: the size of the skills base and the profile of immigration.

“Because of the narrow skills base, brain drain is intense in Malaysia and is further aggravated by positive selection effects, as the best and brightest leave first.

“Further, brain drain is not alleviated by compensating inflows, since migration into Malaysia is mainly low-skilled with some 60% with primary education or less and the number of high-skilled expats has fallen by a quarter since 2004.”

As of 2019, there are 952,261 Malaysians or Singaporeans of partial or full Malaysian origin residing in Singapore. And including the permanent population in the country, about 350,000 Malaysians cross the Johor-Singapore Causeway daily to commute to work or school.

Australia is another popular choice for Malaysians, with 177,460 people living there in 2020, according to a report, while the 2016 census from the Australian Bureau of Statistics reveals that 138,364 Malaysians became permanent residents or citizens.

There’s nothing wrong with us continuing to look for low-skilled labour for our oil palm estates, restaurants and homes – many West Asian countries are in the same predicament. However, Malaysia needs to embrace the global mobility of talent, too.

For a start, we must admit that the biggest criteria are the differences in earnings, career prospects, opportunities, professional exposure and quality of life.

The elephant in the room for many Malaysians is the discontent with our country’s affirmative policies, particularly among the non-bumiputras who see their chances of climbing up the ladder hampered by their ethnic origin.

The painful truth is, many talented non-bumiputras, especially the Chinese, make up the bulk of the diaspora.

In all fairness, the government, via Talent Corporation Malaysia, has developed many initiatives to encourage Malaysians to return, but a better carrot needs to be dangled.

Singapore, one of the best-run countries, has the same problem as it faces a challenge to retain quality citizens because the country’s brain drain rate is higher than the global average with six in 10 Singa-poreans willing to leave the country in pursuit of a better job, according to a Randstad Workmonitor research report.

The study revealed that the brain drain rate in the Lion City is higher than the global average of 50%. It’s also higher than Hong Kong’s 56%, but slightly lower than Malaysia’s 66%.

It said 68% of Singaporean workers, aged between 18 and 34 years old, are willing to pack up and leave their country.

In many ways, ethnic Chinese, like their forefathers, are a migratory race, regardless of their nationalities, with many selecting Canada and Australia as their choices during the last 20 years, according to statista.com

In 2013, the United States and Canada became the countries with the highest immigration rate of millionaires from China, according to Hurun Research Institute.

China is reportedly one of the world’s largest emigration countries as well as the country with the biggest outflow of high net worth individuals between 2003 and 2013. Likewise for many Hong Kongers and Taiwanese.

Our politicians love to use the term “world class” when they talk about Malaysia, but we need to really walk the talk or else it remains hollow and unconvincing. If we’re indeed top of the heap, we should be getting top notch workers queueing up to work here. 

Wong Chun Wai

Wong Chun Wai began his career as a journalist in Penang, and has served The Star for over 35 years in various capacities and roles. He is now group editorial and corporate affairs adviser to the group, after having served as group managing director/chief executive officer.On The Beat made its debut on Feb 23 1997 and Chun Wai has penned the column weekly without a break, except for the occasional press holiday when the paper was not published. In May 2011, a compilation of selected articles of On The Beat was published as a book and launched in conjunction with his 50th birthday. Chun Wai also comments on current issues in The Star.

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