AS a student who has studied in East Malaysia, I can testify that information about career opportunities is lamentably scarce. When it comes to career fairs and recruitment drives, most East Malaysian universities, including the one I attended, are overlooked by firms. On the rare occasion that they make an appearance at these events, they typically do not send their top management to engage with students and career development programmes are often cancelled or scaled down.

The disparity in access to information became clear when I started to participate in student organisations. This opened doors to a wealth of information on companies that were hiring, jobs available and the associated market rate information that would not have been readily available to me otherwise. Moreover, it is not just local students who are affected by this information gap.

From what I have observed in my role as the Secretary-General at the Malaysian Students’ Global Alliance (MSGA) – the umbrella body representing 16 major Malaysian student organisations across 16 countries – outreach policies to Malaysian students studying in the non-English speaking countries, versus the more ‘popular’ Anglo-Saxon countries, are comparatively weak.

Given Asia’s increasingly rapid ascension in the world economy, employers and policymakers should engage with Malaysian students who have studied and gained valuable experience in Eastern countries: the People’s Republic of China, Indonesia, Japan and Turkey, just to name a few. At the same time, students based in East Malaysia do have something unique to bring to the table. For example, the majority of universities will have their students work with the rural villages, providing them with amenities as well as a support structure to boost their various community and entrepreneurship projects as an integrated component to graduate.

In this context, student organisations play an important role in levelling the playing field for the entire community. These organisations not only give students access to platforms to voice out concerns, but also create opportunities for them to engage in professional development and networking. At the same time, there is a third prong that is to participate in community-based volunteering initiatives.

Unfortunately, some of these organisations have become too insular and focused on what might be described as a ‘job search myopia’. Rather than remaining true to their original purpose to help spread opportunities and reduce information asymmetry, many have become mere ‘CV building exercises’ functioning as a conduit for linking employers to employees, stopping short of striving for constructive action and often functioning only in select areas, usually to the detriment of those based elsewhere.

Student organisations must go beyond the myopia of the job search and focus nation building by encouraging students to get involved in community-building efforts and lobbying for practical policies that effect people on the ground.

I can think of two Malaysian student-led initiatives (there are probably more) that actively embody these principles – the Malaysian Public Policy Competition (MPPC) and The Kalsom Movement. The former is a platform for students to pitch original policy proposals and interact with corporate leaders and policy makers from both sides of the political divide. The latter is one of the longest running student-led motivational camps founded to bridge the opportunity gap in rural areas.

To add to their credit, both MPPC and the Kalsom movement involve students regardless of their background and where they study, in their planning and operations.

This set-up has numerous positive effects. For starters, students from myriad backgrounds will have better opportunities to interact meaningfully and establish common bonds, while learning from each other’s experiences. Tapping into a wider pool of students also allows for better sharing of information and resources, thus optimizing project development and execution processes.

Moving forward, it would be more effective to harness a broad spectrum of students when it comes to pushing for policy proposals. One such initiative, would be Undi18 which seeks to lower the voting age in Malaysia to 18 years old and in the process of their campaign, generate intellectual discussions about the nature of our democracy, among the Malaysian youth.

Uniting Malaysian students across boundaries is an uphill task. Student organisations should play a greater role in reaching out beyond class, geographical, political and social lines in order to truly become a beneficial force for growth in our society. – March 25, 2018.

* Jonathan is a person that believes that diversity in Malaysia is truly exceptional and that our ‘great Asian experiment’ is something to be valued and nurtured. A graduate of International Studies (Honours), he enjoys bringing different groups groups of people together over cups of Teh Tarik and spends his free time volunteering, hiking and jungle trekking.

* This is the opinion of the writer or publication and does not necessarily represent the views of The Malaysian Insight. Article may be edited for brevity and clarity.