NOVEMBER 6 — Malaysian Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim’s government looking into dual citizenship policy is a long overdue step in the right direction and needs to be commended. Indeed if such a policy is implemented with appropriate conditions Malaysia stand to benefit in many ways.

Successive governments have long recognised the reality and extent of brain drain and the losses to the economy and population.

The choice of Malaysian diaspora, who may have attained their higher education locally or abroad, to settle down abroad lower the available critical mass of intellectual and human capital for national utility in Malaysia.

The world has in recent decades become highly connected and the skilled workforces globally have become highly mobile and this makes it hard for skilled labour to not move across borders.

Malaysian diaspora’s choice of shifting across borders for better opportunities, wage rates, working conditions simply mean such highly resilient and mobile workers may chose to return for another set of reasons.

Hence the policy of terminating the Malaysian citizenship and cutting off the chances of returning restricts labour force mobility.

To date the successive Malaysian governments over the past few decades have tried many policies, except dual citizenship policy, to lure back the Malaysian diaspora and none has delivered the desired results nor reversed the brain drain.

It is natural that some politicians and people may have concerns about impact of an unregulated dual citizenship policy on social well-being and national security. This is why the dual citizenship policy need to be first implemented with conditions. These conditions need to be informed by the very objectives of Malaysian diaspora in seeking dual citizenship and the kind of risks that an unregulated policy will have.

There are several key reasons for which Malaysian diaspora wish to attain dual citizenship. There is the convenience of not having to apply for visa or having to rely on time limited tourist visas during their stays in Malaysia.

They also do not need to rely on work permits when finding jobs. Banking matters and buying a house also are more flexible with dual citizenship.

There are may ways Malaysian government can regulate this dual citizenship policy. Ideally only dual citizens who pay taxes or a healthcare levy should be given equal privileges in hospitals.

This can be administered using a healthcare card for dual citizens. Similarly only dual citizens who pay taxes or a special tax/levy should have access to government welfare schemes.

Just as how Malaysia currently maintains Malay reserve category for Bumiputra and conditions for MM2H visa holders on buying property, it can devise conditions for dual citizens so that they do not crowd out non-dual citizenship citizens nor exacerbate the demand for housing.

Many countries do not allow dual citizens to run for elections and that is a fair condition to impose. Similarly they can be restricted in election donations.

In terms of security risks, dual citizens could be asked to go for more security clearance assessments when they go for sensitive jobs. Similarly the top jobs in police and armed forces could be kept off limits to dual citizens.

Most of the time the Malaysian diaspora would not be eyeing those jobs to/upon return as they are likely to move into other jobs they have gained experience and training abroad.

India is one Asian country that boldly implemented partial policies (Person of Indian Origin (PIO) and Overseas Citizen of India (OCI) policies) instead of dual citizenship and has achieved significant benefits and has managed to reverse part of the brain drain. These policies are quite close to the conditional dual citizenship policy proposed in this article.

Indeed the estimated 1.86 Million Malaysian diaspora have much to offer to Malaysia. They are an essential part of the Malaysian fabric. Their nationality and citizenship may have changed but undeniably they are Malaysians by background and birthplace.

* Ansari Zainul Abideen is an economist based in Australia. He heads Basmala Australia which is a South-east Asian Islamic NGO focused on services and applied research.

* This is the personal opinion of the writer or publication and does not necessarily represent the views of Malay Mail.