Re-engineering Malaysia
This article was originally written by Joel Neoh (@joelneoh) as part of the commemorative book presented to YB Gobind Singh Deo, Minister of Communications and Multimedia Malaysia at the Malaysian CMO Awards 2018.
1996, Tun M at MSC launch “Malaysia to produce thousands of high quality IT engineers by 2020”. Multimedia University launched then has since produced over 50,000 graduates in IT.
I remembered almost 20 years ago when I was still schooling, IT and software engineering were the top career paths that the government was encouraging students to pick up. MSC was the new golden boy in town. And today…
Malaysia’s failed silicon valley:
https://www.wired.co.uk/article/malaysia-cyberjaya-silicon-valley-smart-cities
Malaysia’s second wave for MSC:
https://themalaysianreserve.com/2018/08/28/pm-a-2nd-wave-for-msc/
In the last two decades, government and industry efforts had proven fruitful in nurturing the technology and startup culture; introducing various agencies and capital investment firms that would help seed many a bright-eyed entrepreneur’s ideas.
However, there is a sore lacking of engineering expertise available to take these startups to the next level. Here we had bright shiny vehicles to the future, and fuel for the journey. The critical thing missing were the engines.
The key reason why we have not done well is simple: we have failed to grow a strong pool of innovative engineers.
In the Opening Speech for MSC in 1996, Tun M our Prime Minister (then and now) said “We plan to dramatically increase the number of engineers graduating every year. The measure of our success in 2020 will be the number and quality of our people who can add value to information. To that end, we will be creating a Multimedia University and technology schools within the MSC.” http://www.mahathir.com/malaysia/speeches/1996/1996-08-01.php
Today, more than 20+ years since that speech; if you had a good idea and wanted to startup an innovative company in Malaysia — the first problem and question one will encounter is “How do I find good engineers?”
Where have all the best Malaysian engineers gone? 9 out of 10 Malaysian IT engineers are not engineering innovation in Malaysia.
Most engineering graduates are NOT in engineering anymore. They have moved to different fields.
Most that are still in engineering are managers NOT innovators of technology. They spend most time managing people and existing technology (which have become irrelevant), instead of learning and driving new technology innovation.
Engineers in Malaysia today are even selling Nasi Lemak or driving cars for public transportation. https://www.malaysiakini.com/news/409819
The best ones have moved abroad to various technology capitals in the world including Silicon Valley and doing their engineering elsewhere: https://www.digitalnewsasia.com/startups/malaysian-born-nus-educated-silicon-valley-focused-designer
It is common for us in Malaysia to get this question from our counterparts in other countries — “How’s the engineering talent in Malaysia?”.
The typical answer is, “Tiny pool of innovative engineers here”. Our engineers also lack experience when it comes to innovating production systems at a large scale.
The best engineerings are just like entrepreneurs. And we need to invest in them.
They have a growth mindset.
They are constantly curious.
They challenge the status quo.
They continue to invest in themselves in learning and education.
They build innovative solutions and use bleeding edge technology.
We need to re-engineer Malaysia to build and retain the next technology unicorns.
No secret that our biggest loss is when startups who need to scale up, have to move out from Malaysia to our neighbouring countries for talent, especially technology talent. This is not an anomaly. This happens frequently.
As Fave completes our latest fundraiser last month of ~ RM100 million, from some of the leading global investors including Sequoia Capital; https://www.reuters.com/brandfeatures/venture-capital/article?id=50336
The same question persists for our team and us at Fave (our HQ today is in KL with over 200+ people): Where do we find the best engineering talent to triple our engineering team size and capability?
And before our teams head off to common recruitment destinations: India, Vietnam, Indonesia, Middle-east, Silicon Valley, Singapore (yes! even Singapore). We ask ourselves…
Why not continue to grow and invest in our home-grown talent? Why not Malaysia?
Why not Malaysia? It is time to Re-Engineer Malaysia.
Today, there are 7 technology unicorns in the region (4 in Indonesia, 3 in Singapore) in the SEA region.
0 in Malaysia.
The Malaysian technology unicorn has yet to come. A coalition of fast-growing tech startups with strong backing from the government, industry experts and education providers would be the momentum we need to get there to Re-engineer Malaysia to support this goal.
In addition to raising our homegrown technology unicorns; Re-engineering Malaysia means democratising access to technical knowledge, increasing career opportunities in the field of engineering, and uncovering hidden talents and then grooming them to be great engineers.
We need to be able to increase our reach to more talent across Malaysia. Especially in other cities and remote areas across the country. We believe that given the right training and easy access to knowledge, we can uncover more great engineering talent that would have otherwise remained hidden.
By working together, we can show everyone that there’s a Silicon Valley in our very own backyard. We want to demonstrate that today’s Malaysia has a big vision and growth culture to be the foundation of success for technology companies.
Now is the time to make innovative engineering & entrepreneurship a leading career option for Malaysians or those residing in Malaysia.
Invest in those that are passionate in building, innovating, and to drive the new digitalisation of Malaysia, Southeast Asia and the world.
Let us Re-engineer Malaysia together today. Integrate the ecosystem. Democratise knowledge and opportunities for everyone. Accelerate our home-grown tech unicorns. And build a nation of innovative engineers.
Are you an engineer in Malaysia? Drop by our office anytime for a chat with our engineers https://goo.gl/maps/CpmsGNMiDpD2
