0 15% flat tax and car benefits for returning Malaysians ..say what?

Other than bring the rot, extra candy does not help.

Returning experts who are in the same tax bracket as some of us 'non-talented' locals, will get to enjoy the full benefits of being a Malaysian at a lower price, how audacious!

It's a social divide we can do without. After all, we're already stuck with these labels - the upper class, the middle class and the lower class. Adding 'lower-taxed upper class' into the order does not help improve ties between people.

I was under the impression that we had a large number of talents residing in Malaysia from the string of straight As students we seem to produce yearly. It's almost laughable that we're short of geniuses who can be nurtured into persons capable of transforming the economy.

Perhaps it's time we take a good look at our backyard and wonder where our local grads have gone after graduating from our prestigious local universities. This issue on the lack of experts would not be plaguing the country now, if we had trained our young-uns well. We have just admitted to the world that our schools, smart or not, do not manufacture the smarts.

Our efforts to woo talents in are insincere to the present generation who wish to grasp the complexities of science, maths, business concepts and so forth. They are stuck with an education system which only rewards those who are able to regurgitate memorised scripts.

We've many here still, who are comtemplating to migrate or send their children away. Should we not plug the hole first? Otherwise, it's akin to constantly filling water into a leaking bucket and you wonder why the bucket's not full even after you've put in so much.

There's talk of some leaving due to living conditions, like how lifestyle has become more 'restrictive' and neighbourhoods 'unsafe'.

If the anyone's serious about economic transformation, then it only makes sense that we do something 'real' about improving the education system and living conditions of society.

It's illogical to 'go all out' to import talents, while ignoring the needs of Malaysians who live and breathe here. It would be pertinent to look at how long we intend to carry on this exercise of short term yield. Years? Do we not wish to ensure that the future generation, who choose to study locally, are educated into sharp thinking individuals?

At the end of the day, if we're not going to resolve this in earnest, then we'll continue losing talents and continue wooing in the same ones who left. It would give rise to Malaysian grads leaving and working elsewhere, then applying to come back on the pretext of being a "Returning Malaysian Expert'.

With a population of over 27 million, it's a dead shame if most of us are only good on paper.