LATELY, there have been many disputes and comparison of Malaysia with other countries especially in terms of research and development, especially in the medical field, we have heard of Malaysia’s intention to be part of the Covid-19 vaccine development process but we are short of resources and infrastructure to do so from scratch.

This got me thinking and the deeper I thought, the more it became apparent that Malaysia is not capable of doing so. Here are three major issues today that might be hindering the progress of research and development in the country.

1. Poor integration between higher learning institutes and ministries

Though we see so many achievements by the academic personnel here in Malaysia, there is very little integration between the academics and the ministry. For example, the Human Resources Ministry and universities. Though both are excellent in their own ways, there seems to be very little communication between these two entities.

Unfortunately, poor communication will only hinder us here. Why? Universities are known to be more knowledgeable about the latest careers and human resources that will be required by countries in the near future, but the ministry (with a high workload) might not be aware of this.

This will eventually lead to brain-drain to other countries (due to the availability of jobs overseas) and when the time comes for us to develop this particular field, we find that we are short of talent. This will cause us to then over-produce these required skills, resulting in a future glut as seen with IT specialists and doctors recently.

This can be avoided. Perhaps each ministry should consider having working closely with the Higher Education Ministry, perhaps by appointing a deputy director-general of academics in their respective fields so that there will be communication between universities and ministries. This will improve talent acquisition, retention and development of new career paths so that our best brains remain in the country to develop Malaysia further.

2. We give little importance to research among our youth today

Yes, we groom talents in the university with research, but as they enter the working world, staff are required to do their daily jobs with a standard set of guidelines, giving them little room to explore something new.

Yes, it is important that we complete the jobs we are assigned to but there is little room for growth and development. Unfortunately, thinking about productivity and money has hindered this.

I remember reading how Google had a reward system for staff for coming up with new ideas (they were rewarded even for failed ideas) although it wasn’t successful. This caused many to lift the fear of failure and encourage employees to continuously come up with new ideas and not be afraid to think differently.

The results show today as we all know how Google has fared in recent years with innovation.

Youth have the capability to think outside the box and of new things that are relevant to today’s world. Many youths have minds that can improve the existing technology that we have today, which many older people might even have trouble grasping the concept of. For example, a cordless handheld medical ultrasound was developed based on the idea of phones projecting images with bluetooth without requiring bulky machinery.

3. We think about jobs with a market rather than grooming existing talent

Often, youths of today are pressured into undertaking careers which they have little interest in. A person might be interested in machine-learning/technology, but due to the poor availability of jobs, they are forced into medicine, dentistry, accountancy, law or something of a different nature, leaving behind the thought of developing their skills or interest. This is going to be a problem in the future (if not now) where we see a number of youths who are not passionate about their jobs because it perhaps wasn’t one of their own choice.

With that in mind, it will be of no surprise if we see little or no innovation in the future in fields such as human resources as existing talent was not developed. Making more job opportunities, especially ones required in the future can solve this, but again, with the unawareness of ministries with regards to emerging fields and areas in which talent should be groomed, it leaves us back at square one. This reiterates the first point number I made above.

As we celebrate our 63rd National Day, it is high time that we be brave enough to break away from clichés and invest in the future, especially those with R&D with a predicted demand. Let’s integrate our ministries with our academic colleagues before we are disassociated permanently. A disassociation will only see our beloved nation at a great loss, something which I am sure all of us do not want to see.

Salam Hari Merdeka semua, empowering youth to lead the way!

* Arvinder Singh HS is a research medical officer.

* 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.