人力资本是发展关键

● 潘俭伟 /Tony Pua

　　我热衷于研究经济，人们常问我：“什么是决定经济体大小的因素？”是扬升的橡胶和油棕价格？我们的石油和天然气储藏量？还是国家的面积和人口？马来西亚拥有肥沃的土地、大片的锡矿和高素质的石油储存。

　　我们南端的邻居新加坡就没有我们幸运了。它只是一个小岛，比我们小480倍，既不适合进行农业活动，也缺乏天然资源。新加坡目前的约400万人口，扣除了外来劳动力，也只是马来西亚的1/6。

　　如果经济总量是取决于上述的可耕地和天然资源等因素，那马来西亚的经济总量应该大于新加坡数倍。然而，事实却并非如此。马来西亚的经济总量是美元1300亿，只是比新加坡的1170亿多出约11％。如果两国目前的增长率在接下来的10年保持不变，新加坡这个小邻居的经济总量将超越马来西亚。

顶尖人才最集中的地方

　　一个土地面积小又没有资源的国家，怎会有这样出色的表现？一个在80年代经济总量还不及马来西亚一半的国家，是怎么在短时间内迎头赶上的呢？这里头只有一个简单的原因：人力资本。新加坡不遗余力的发展人力资本，不但大力栽培本地人，也从海外吸引最佳的人才，使新加坡成为本区域，如果不是全球的话，以每平方英尺来计算，顶尖人才最集中的地方。

　　新加坡每年都以亚细安奖学金的名义，为数以百计的不同年级马来西亚学生提供经济奖励，吸引他们到新加坡一些最好的学校就读。我本身在峇株巴辖读完小学后，便幸运的获得一份亚细安奖学金。和我不同的是，许多同样获得奖学金到新加坡求学的同侪，后来选择在新加坡工作甚至在那里定居。这对马来西亚来说是种损失。

　　我在小学最要好的朋友，在中三后获得同样的奖学金。后来他还获得世界最大的船务公司之一，海皇轮船集团的奖学金，考取牛津大学的学位。他现在为海皇服务，是公司派驻越南的外籍经理。


　　另一个后来则获得新加坡航空公司的奖学金，毕业于伦敦经济学院。才36岁的他，在今年3月被委任为新航集团属下的胜安航空的总裁，真让人钦佩。

　　今年，在家乡同窗农历新年年度聚会上，我很伤心的听到一名在新加坡高等学府任教的旧同学，刚选择放弃马来西亚公民权，成为新加坡人。

　　我还有很多其他的例子，有才华出众的朋友的人也不只我一个。一名本地法律系高级讲师最近说，马来亚大学法律系缺乏高素质的师资，这是因为新加坡国立大学的法律系讲师，有约40％是马来西亚人。

　　马航在过去10年一直面对困境，累积了超过马币10亿的亏损。在1972脱离马航的新航，却取得耀眼的成就，是全球盈利最高的航空公司之一。讽刺的是，领导新航连续31年取得利润并度过艰难时期，在2003年才退休的张松光博士，却是一名曾在马来亚大学任教的杰出马来西亚人。

　　所以，当首相阿都拉宣布了强调人力资本的第九个五年发展计划时，我感到相当雀跃。计划有一整章同发展人力资本有关。政府的政策是设立“世界级的大学和确保高等学府可以满足雇主的需求”，还有“培养讲求创新、具备丰富科学和技术能力、并有能力学习和使用知识的社会”等。然而，对将由科学、工艺与革新部推动的吸引人才的计划，却着墨不多。

留住和吸引人才的关键

　　在保留本地和吸引外来人才这个关键课题上，也没有任何讨论。政府必须了解，发展人力资本在本质上，同吸引外来人才和防止本地人才外流是息息相关的。一个有效的人力资本发展政策，不只是建立更多学校和大学，或者聘请更多教师和讲师。

　　新加坡的大学和人口的比例只是我们的一半。然而，它三所大学中的两所，却名列世界顶尖50所大学内。

　　在招聘最佳的教育工作者，和制定一个奖赏严谨的学术研究，和具批判及分析性的思维这些至关重要的素质时，政府必须深思熟虑。没有这样的政策和根深蒂固的文化，年青有为的马来西亚人选择到“无国界”的全球化学术环境中，寻找可以发挥所长的机会，也就不足为奇了。

　　我们目前的教育政策，需要一个具竞争力的经济环境来配合，让人才可以获得公平和平等的机会在各自的领域成长，对经济做出贡献并获得应有的报酬——这样才能留住人才。

　　我们的竞争者能够提供世界级的教育，和有利的经济环境来吸引年青马来西亚人。我们已经失去许多人才。我那些在海外有优异成就的朋友，在马来西亚是不太可能有同样的机会的。

　　政府理解也凸出了人力资本对经济和国家发展的重要性，这是值得表扬的。然而，如果政府是认真的想要提升人力资本的素质，就必须作出更多努力，建立一个全面的机制，对马来西亚的教育学府做出诚实和严格的评估。

　　对机会不平等、晋升受不公平限制、和单凭能力只能获得有限擢升这些不论是否确实存在于我们的“商业”机构的问题，我们也必须探讨根本的原因。我们拥有丰富的天然资源，如果我们的大量人才能够被留住并充分发挥所长，我们毫无疑问的可以领先我们的竞争者、更早消除贫穷、和在2020年成为真正的发达国家。

·作者是马来西亚民主行动党秘书长林冠英的经济顾问。原载4月30日马来西亚《新海峡时报》。叶琦保译。
·作者的部落格：
http://educationmalaysia.blogspot.com/
http://tonypua.blogspot.com/

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英文原文：

Human capital the key to growth

AS an economics enthusiast, I’ve often been asked, "What determines the size of an economy?"

Is it dependent on rubber and high oil palm prices? Or the size of our oil and gas resources? Or instead, is it dependent on land area and population?

Malaysia is extremely well endowed with fertile land, large tracts of tin mines as well as some of the highest quality petroleum reserves in the world. Singapore, our neighbour down south, however, is not as fortunate.

To put it bluntly, it is a tiny island, 480 times smaller than us, completely unsuitable for commercial plantation and lacking any natural resources. Even its population today of some four million, excluding migrant workers, is one-sixth of Malaysia’s population.

If the size of an economy is dependent on the factors highlighted above, such as arable land and natural resources, Malaysia’s economy should be many times the size of Singapore’s. However, reality paints a very different picture.

While Malaysia’s economy of US$130 billion (RM444 billion) is still larger than Singapore’s US$117 billion, the latter is only smaller by some 11 per cent. And if the rate of growth currently experienced in both countries persists for the next decade, then our tiny neighbour could soon boast a larger economy than Malaysia.

How is it even possible for a country with a sheer lack of resources and land mass to do so well? How did a country that was barely half our economic size in the early 1980s catch up within such a short period of time?

Through a simple exercise of elimination, it all boils down to a simple single factor — human capital.

Singapore’s near compulsive obsession with human capital, both in terms of enhancing its local citizenry as well as attracting the best foreign talent, has probably resulted in the highest concentration of top brains per square foot in the region, if not the world.

Every year, for example, Singapore provides financial incentives in the guise of the Asean Scholarship to hundreds of Malaysian students at all levels — post-UPSR, post-PMR, post-SPM and post-STPM — to study in some of the best schools on the island.

I was a fortunate beneficiary of such a scholarship after completing my primary school education in Batu Pahat. Unlike me, however, and unfortunately for Malaysia, most of my peers have chosen to work or even settle permanently in the island nation.

My best friend in primary school, who received the same scholarship after Form Three, went on to pursue his degree at Oxford University on a Neptune Orient Lines (NOL) scholarship. He now works for them, one of the largest shipping companies in the world, as an expatriate country manager in Vietnam.

Another fellow scholar graduated from London School of Economics (LSE) on a scholarship from Singapore Airlines (SIA). Most impressively, at the young age of 36, he has been appointed the chief executive officer of SIA’s subsidiary airline, SilkAir, as of March this year.

And when I had my annual Chinese New Year reunion with my home town classmates this year, I was heartbroken to hear that one of them, who is an academic with one of Singapore’s institutions of higher learning, had just renounced his Malaysian citizenship to become a Singaporean.

These are not my only examples, and you can be assured that I do not have a monopoly on talented friends. A local senior law lecturer recently commented that the Universiti Malaya (UM) law faculty was depleted of quality academics because Malaysians make up some 40 per cent of law lecturers at the National University of Singapore.

While Malaysia Airlines (MAS) struggled over the past decade with cumulative losses in excess of RM1 billion, SIA, which split from MAS in 1972, shone brightly as one of the most profitable airlines in the world. Ironically, it was an outstanding Malaysian and a former academic with UM, Dr Cheong Choong Kong, who led SIA to an unbroken 31-year record of profitability through turbulent economic times before his retirement in 2003.

Hence, when Prime Minister Datuk Seri Abdullah Ahmad Badawi rolled out the Ninth Malaysia Plan (9MP) with an emphasis on human capital, I was pleased to a certain extent. The 9MP had an entire chapter dealing with human capital.

The human capital policy thrusts called for the creation of "universities of international standing and ensuring that tertiary institutions meet the needs of employers" and "nurturing an innovative society with strong science and technology capabilities and the ability to acquire and apply knowledge", among other things.

However, as part of the thrust, there was only a cursory mention of a "National Brain Gain Programme" to be spearheaded by a focal point at the Science, Technology and Innovation Ministry.

There was no discussion on the issue of attracting and retaining local and foreign talents, a critical element in developing Malaysia’s human capital. It is extremely important for the government to recognise the fact that the development of human capital in Malaysia is intrinsically and inexplicably linked to the issue of brain gain and reversing brain drain.

An effective human capital development policy is not just limited to building more schools and universities, or hiring more teachers and lecturers.

Singapore, for example, has only half our ratio of universities to the population. Yet, two out of their three universities are recognised as among the Top 50 in the world.

The government must give thorough consideration to the all-important qualitative element of uncompromising search for the best-qualified educators and an education policy which rewards academic rigour, critical thinking and analytical intelligence.

Without such a policy structure and ingrained culture in place, it is unsurprising that many young and particularly talented Malaysians will seek out the "borderless" global academic environment in which their potential can be fully harnessed.

Concurrently, the country’s education policy must be complemented with an equally competitive economic environment which provides these talents with fair and equal opportunities to grow in their careers, contribute economically and be compensated accordingly — in order to retain these talents.

Our competitors’ ability to attract young Malaysians, provide undisputed world-class quality education and offer a conducive economic environment has clearly resulted in our loss.

It is hard to imagine that my friends, who have done extremely well for themselves overseas, would have had the same opportunities in equivalent entities in Malaysia.

The government must be commended for highlighting the importance of human capital in the economic growth and development of the country. However, if the government is serious about raising the quality of human capital, much more needs to be done to create a holistic and integrated plan that will honestly appraise and critically examine the quality of Malaysia’s educational institutions.

We must also identify the underlying factors, perceived or otherwise, of the lack of equal opportunities and glass ceilings as well as limited career advancement based on merit in many of our "commercial" organisations.

Should our ample pool of potential talent be fully harnessed, attracted and retained, coupled with our rich and God-given natural resources, then surely we can stay well ahead of our competitors, eliminate poverty sooner and become a truly developed nation by 2020.