From Brain Drain To Brain Gain : Case Study For Indonesia

I got the idea of writing about this topic mainly after reading so many comments and discussions in Singapore after Senior Minister Goh of Singapore made statement about it as follow

During his visit to Iran, he said:

"The issue which we are most concerned with is the loss of our own people at the very top. These are bright young people, children of very well educated Singaporeans."
Singapore is losing the top 0.5 percent of its talents.

I am not going to discuss more about Singapore problem with leaking of talent but more on Indonesia problem with leaking of talents. Indonesia with a big population around 240 million people and the world 4^th most populous country in the world right after China,India and USA. So in general Indonesia supposed to have enormous amount of talented people from such big population.

Let give a defining idea about talented people. I tend to limit it as people who have talents in academic,sport,art,business and etc Talent should not be limited because the people have good education or good performance academically only. Many other people have talents which can give valuable contributions like in the economics,art,social work,sport and etc.

During my working period before which took me to several countries I observed at the same time many young Indonesian studying and working overseas. The reasons behind this decision are so many and not a single reason can explain it out.

Before discussing further about Indonesia brain drain or leaking talents I would give an overview first about what happened in China and India. China and India as world number 1 and 2 populous countries in the world have enormous amount of talented people which then absorbed readily by developed countries in Western World ( mainly the ultimate destination is USA followed by UK,Canada,Australia and several other western countries ). China and India even not allowed to take Green Card anymore as they already constituted large amount of immigrants in USA. Then the question should it then poses problem to China and India especially when they are also developing rapidly and need many talents for it.

When I was assigned to India for quite sometime I managed to differentiate that mostly the best and brightest Indian already went to work somewhere out of India and only small number of the best and brightest stay and work in India itself. I asked my Indian colleagues several times about this issue. And the answer from them is very surprising.Despites deep nationalism and deep rootedness of the Indian culture most of them happy to see their fellow countrymen went overseas to work and stay. Only little amount of opposition or negative feeling toward it.

.Why is that ?

There are several reasons for it. I am going to elaborate it as follow :

1. The experiences and the money which they can get overseas are very valuable for their future life in India. Most of the Non Resident Indian ( NRI ) plan to go back to India after several years working overseas.
2. Despite rapid development and industrialization of India this several years,the number of high tech and skilled jobs are still less than the number of talents ready to take it. Yes,there are still many low tech and unskilled jobs but those brightest one surely will not take it.
3. Effect of globalization : People just simply choose where they want to work and stay as the effect of globalization.If they miss home they simply can make a call,chat,watch TV cable and in some places like Dubai,Abu Dhabi where many Indians going there then the life is not so much different as in India. Indian also have relatively fluent English ( with certain local accents ) which actually a plus point in globalization.

This several years itself there is reverse trend that many affluent Indian ( NRI ) came back to India either temporary or for good. They brought together with them experiences,companies,wealth and etc.The effect is enormous for Indian economics as it help the growth of Indian further and open more jobs. The reverse trend somewhat called as brain gain. The brain drain that Indian felt 10-15 years ago has reversed slowly to brain gain. Now then I understand why most people in India proud of their countrymen who work overseas.

How about the case in Indonesia ? I myself currently working overseas. I believe there are some kind of brain drain trend from Indonesia though the exact percentage and number of it can not be known precisely.The response toward Indonesian working overseas quite varied. Many actually support as currently Indonesian economics not so good and number of high tech and skilled jobs not available in abundance. But surely there are certain small opposition for this also as with working overseas can not help Indonesia directly,sense of nationalism and etc.

Several good things for Indonesian who can work overseas for sometimes :

1. Get the valuable experiences which can be got only outside of Indonesia

Some high tech researches not exist in Indonesian universities,high tech and specialized jobs are also still limited.

2. Creating ‘devisa’ or revenue for the countries

Not a secret that the salary for people working overseas much bigger than working in Indonesia. And I believe many people who work overseas still send money to their family in Indonesia regularly. The family then use it inside Indonesia which then help Indonesian economics although indirect.

3. Fluency in international language such as English,Mandarin,Japan and etc.

Most of the people in Indonesia do not speak English in their daily life compared with Singapore,Malaysia,Philipine,India and etc. When people work overseas they are being forced to use and practice their English,Mandarin and etc in daily bases.

It is very essential as English is now the most widely used language in the world for business,study even diplomatics.Followed later on by Mandarin as the large number of Mandarin speakers in the world and the big potential for China becoming the superpower in next century.

4. Get the best ideas and cultures which can complement the current ideas and cultures in Indonesia

As currently Indonesia is still healing from the post 1997 crisis and transforming itself into a democratic country,less corruption,better appreciation of human rights and etc then getting direct experience with other countries which already faced and implemented it can be a very precious thing to do.

It is not importing 100% from overseas but more on choosing and taking the best from it,ignoring and deleting the bad parts of it.

There are at least 2 negative sides from Indonesian working overseas :

1. Brain drain as Indonesia is currently developing though the rate is little bit slow. Indonesia needs brightest and best talents also for its development

2. Some of the people working overseas imported rubbish and dangerous culture and habits to Indonesia when they coming back. It is a negative one surely as it can destruct the culture and social harmony in Indonesia.

For me I tended to believe Indonesia should learn and take India as role model for this case.India as another democratic and developing country and had previous brain drain problem can manage it well and make it as a reverse trend currently when India healing and developing very fast. The brain drain become brain gain and further propelling India economic growth. If Indonesia can use this as a role model ( with certain adaptation surely ) I believe that in 10 years the current brain drain also happen in Indonesia can become brain gain which can help Indonesia further in the development. Hopefully useful.