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Saturday 30 April 2011

600000 Malaysians in Singapore?

Some 600000 Malaysians may be living and working in Singapore, which has a population of just over 5 million.


According to the World Bank, more than one million Malaysians live abroad, the result of race-based economic policies that created a brain drain. The Bank noted that Singapore has absorbed 57 per cent of Malaysia’s overseas citizens, with almost 90 per cent of those crossing the border ethnic Chinese. See Insider report.

If the Bank is correct, then some 600000 Malaysians could be in Singapore: 386000 are residents born in Malaysia (according to the Singapore 2010 census published by the Singapore Department of Statistics), close to 200000 non-residents living and working in Singapore, and say 100000 commuters.

Obviously, we have lost a huge amount of talent. Does the federal government even care why so many Malaysians have left the country, for obvious reasons? Maybe it might start taking an interest if these Malaysians are granted postal balloting rights. 

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