KUALA LUMPUR, Aug 14 – There were differing opinions on whether there is actually talent in Malaysia and what the country is doing to capitalise on it.

Puan Chan Cheong, group CEO and managing director of Green Packet Berhad was on the optimistic end on the subject today at the Chinese Economic Congress.

“I think the greatest asset for us Malaysians is that we embrace diversity,” he said with pride, relating to his own experiences abroad.

Puan (left picture) emphasised on “retraining” and “retaining” talent in order to become a targeted high-income society.

“We do have a very good pool of talent provided we know how to capitalise on it,” he said.

Tan Sri Datuk Dr Lin See Yan, a Harvard alumni regional director, however, was not as optimistic.

“The core of innovation has to be a talent pool,” Lin said, adding that there isn’t one in Malaysia.

“We don’t have enough human talent to implement the New Economic Model (NEM),” he said bluntly.

Lin (right picture) urged a “real political will” to change in order to cultivate creativity among Malaysians.

“Unfortunately, I think the government is in denial,” he said.

Lin said in order to retain talents and stop the brain drain, it is important to create an “ecosystem” of high living standards, where security, anti-corruption and the rule of law is not taken for granted.

Puan pointed out that Malaysia is known for various progressive ideas and policies but it is also known for its “bad execution”.

“Talk is cheap,” he said.

Lin echoed his sentiments and urged the government to implement reforms.

“The government is increasingly overcrowding out the private sectors... which is unfortunate and not good for the long term,” he said, especially of the government-related agencies, to which he said would lead to the brain drain issue.

“We’re increasingly at risk of the economy slowing down,” Lin warned.

“If tomorrow is better than yesterday, then we’re making progress,” Lin added encouragingly.

Suresh Thiru, chief operating officer of Jobstreet.com, the largest online job portal in the region presented facts and numbers on the hires in the country.

He found that a lot of companies hesitate on hiring fresh graduates.

According to a survey done by the online portal, the fresh graduates are “too picky”, they are “not realistic about salaries and benefits” and a lot of them do not have a good command in English.

Thiru urged companies to plan early and offer higher wages to attract the cream of the crop of talents.

An assumption now proven, the survey found that local graduates earn 15 to 20 per cent less than overseas graduates, five to 10 years after graduation.

“It’s actually a good investment to send your children abroad. But you didn’t hear that from me,” he joked.