UK malaysian students doesn't go home to serve the country

"Money is not everything – Malaysian medical students in Britain have been told.
Higher Education Minister Datuk Mustapa Mohamed said the students must have a strong sense of nationalism and patriotism, and should return home to serve the people and the Government after completing their studies. " - the star (click here for full coverage)

THis is a response to the UK Executive Council for Malaysian Students (UKEC), which found that low pay and long working hours in government service were among the reasons Malaysian medical students were reluctant to return home after completing their studies in Britain. (the survey includes also science and engineering student)

REgarding this issue i have a very strong opinion, as i am an also an engineering student in UK.

The response given by Dato Mustapha is an ill-given one, he had failed to consider these few arguments:
1. The realiaty waiting for graduate students:
2. the mentally of the students.
3. application of what is being studied.

regarding 1.
the reality is that majority of students finance their studies thru loans (either government or private sector or family). this loans are huge as an average science degree will set u back aat arond RM200,000 over the course of 3 years. How long would u need to pay that back (not calculating the interests) if u comeback to malaysia? a quick count will tell u that it'll take more than 10 years to pay it all, age-wise u're either at your mid-30's now, or you are now over 40. add into the payment of your future homea nd cars and expenses, u'll be living most of your life IN DEBT.

The best way out of such a situation is working overseas, where the pay is higher, E.G. in UK u earn £24,000 per annum as a fresh graduate, that is at least 5 times as much as u can earn back home, which means u can settle your debts and loans faster (meaning u can reduce the interest being paid).

THat's the reality, my dear Datuk Mustapha.

2. the mentality
why do we not have much patriotism within us? first consider this

i.
what is the percentage of non-government sponsored students in UK? it is a significant portion, in my uni it is 80% of the M'sian students.

ii. of these portion of non-sponsored students, there are more than half that have got VERY GOOD RESULTS in pre-uni qualifications, they are either nto given scholarships they need(and deserve), or they are denied the place they want in local uni (such as medical students), when a lot more are given to bumiputeras with much lower qualifications. This is the reason why many top students are studying overseas, in order to fulfill their potential and dreams which they have proven in past examinations that they can.

these reasons prompt a very negative reaction, students feel they are either abandoned, treated unfairly or just not being important enough to the country. so it is only fair that the fire of patriotism is being dampened by the process.

to put it simply, "overseas student will not have a strong enough patriotism to take huge personal sacrifices because they don't feel they are appreciated enough in the first place"

3. the application
i can only speak this from my own experience. in my uni the emphasis is on design and computer modelling, while in msia it is not so, it is more geared towards manufacturing. personally i would like to try applying what i've learned rather than having to do something else.