DATUK SERI (DR.) ENG WEI CHUN – MALAYSIA’S SHORTAGE OF TECHNOLOGY TALENT
To become a developed country, professionals are definitely indispensable, and the proportion of various professionals needs to be more balanced. Recently, I have observed a significant issue within the Chinese community in Malaysia, which is the lack of students pursuing high-tech and engineering degrees. This has led to a severe shortage of high-quality talent in fields such as mechanical, civil, electronic engineering, and artificial intelligence. As a developing country, this shortage is an unhealthy phenomenon for Malaysia.
Most students from the Chinese community overwhelmingly pursue the studies in the humanities, such as business administration, marketing, accounting, law, and medicine. In contrast, the number of students pursuing degrees in engineering, electronics, chemistry, mechanical engineering, civil engineering, and artificial intelligence has decreased significantly. This trend will be detrimental to Malaysia in various aspects, especially in industrial development, infrastructure construction, and economic growth, which is highly concerning.
With the ongoing U.S.-China rivalry, Malaysia has showcased certain advantages that have attracted investment from both Western and Eastern countries. However, these countries have realized a critical weakness is that Malaysia is lacking of technology talent and engineers.
This situation can be traced back to the fact that most of the Chinese community’s students are focused on the humanities. It reminds me of the late Qing Dynasty, when the Qing government realized the importance of science and technology. Li Hongzhang initiated the Self-Strengthening Movement, but this plan faced immense challenges and was difficult to implement. It was not until the 1980s, with Deng Xiaoping’s promotion of the Open-Door policy, that many technologicaly talents were trained, and a large number of engineers were promoted every year. Today, China has become the global manufacturing hub and the world’s factory, with continuous breakthroughs in high-tech and industrial technologies, producing many famous and great enterprises.
Looking back at Malaysia, in the 1980s, we also trained many technological talents and engineers. However, it is lamentable that the Chinese community faces a shortage of engineers nowadays. Instead of advancing in high-tech and engineering fields, we have taken a step backward. If this problem continues to worsen, how can Malaysia ever become a developed nation?
All technology and engineering-related industries demand enduring hard work before rewards can be realized. In my opinion, high-tech and engineering fields are extremely promising, and I strongly encourage students from the Chinese community to pursue studies in these fields.
If we look at other advanced nations, such as the United States, China, Japan, Germany, and France, we can see that they have all vigorously promoted technology training and the cultivation of high-tech engineers. These world powers have foreseen that to become a resilient world power, a nation’s economic backbone must supported by large number of high-tech talents and engineers, because these professionals represent the fundamental principle of economic strength.
It is evident that developing countries and underdeveloped nations often lack of talents in high-quality technology and engineering. We need to make sure that young people understand the “fundamental law” of economics.
Let me give a few examples: In the 1980s, why could Japan, a defeated country after World War II, create an economic miracle and become the world’s fourth-largest economy today, with its people enjoying wealth?
Economic Fundamental Law
This is because, back then, Japan deeply believed and understood that to become stronger, they needed to strengthen their economy. They understood the “fundamental law” and focused on cultivating high-quality technology and engineering talents.
Similarly, we can look at the European Union, where two major powers, Germany and France, have a mature and strong technological foundation that drives the economic growth of the Eurozone.
Furthermore, looking back to 18th century Britain, known as the “Empire on which the sun never set,” it was the most powerful colonial empire at the time, ruling over one- third of the world’s territories. Britain’s drive for technological reforms, such as the invention of the steam engine, laid the foundation for its position as an industrial powerhouse.
All these examples prove that cultivating talent in technology innovation and engineering fields is the fundamental law of a nation’s economy. Without it, it is very difficult to support the economic backbone of a country, and it becomes nearly impossible to rise on the international stage.
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