Research in M'sia

plug: an article written by a good friend.. after reading it, it makes me wonder... she highlighted a good number of things in the article... lots of problems in this world is caused simply by human greed...


last nite, as i was walking home from girton (yes, walking home) with a bunch of friends, i got asked about research in m'sia... a friend told me that he has heard that research in m'sia basically sucks... it's up to him to make his mind up.. however, if he thinks that the west is the best.. that's not quite true either.. there are opportunities everywhere.. if a person is capable of capitalising on the opportunities in life, that person would be able to find success.. now, i shall explain what i mean by that by taking examples from my own life (real world examples, okay!!).


in m'sia, the government throws a lot of money into research.. they know that research is important.. hence, hundreds of millions are thrown into various research projects/activities.. now, the problem is, that most of the money ends up being used on setting up infrastructure and buying equipment.. some of it is spent on developing human capital.. however, little is spent in retaining human capital..


how unfortunate..i shall take the example of the university that i studied at for my undergrad degree.. although it is a relatively unknown university (even in m'sia), it had top notch facilities and equipment.. it had the best equipment you could find in the world.. the buying habits of my alma mater would put almost every other university in the world to shame.. (in case you hadn't figured it out, it's funded by an O&G company).. however, few students actually realised that and took advantage of the fact... so, most of the equipment ends up idling away as white elephants.. by contrast, i've been unimpressed with the quality/quantity of the equipment here.. seriously unimpressed... from that point of view, i've actually traded down by coming here.. is it better to have the equipment that everyone wants but no one uses, or better to not have the equipment that people need??


now, let's look at the point of training human capital.. few m'sians know that the government actually spends a lot of money on sending people overseas for their phds.. i'm one of the fortunate ones, who is fully funded by the m'sian government for my phd.. however, a lot of other countries also do that.. so, there isn't much of a comparison there...


next, let's look at research support (in terms of funding).. the m'sian government is essentially throwing money at specific areas of research (such as biotech and semicon).. so, there's a lot of money around.. i shall put it this way.. a friend of mine is doing research in the same area as i am.. however, he is doing it in m'sia... he has no problems getting his chip fabbed.. on the other hand, i will have essentially no chance of getting my chip fabbed here.. so, i will have to find other means to prove my research.. the reason is simply because of focus areas... over here, there is no focus in my area of research... there's plenty of funding in alternative energy, for example.. so, i would've probably been able to do more research (with more real world results), if i had stayed home... so, look where the money is...


then, let's look at research support (in terms of people)... now, that's an interesting question... the research lab that is sponsoring my studies, has about 200 research staff.. however, only about 11 of them have PhDs.. and most of them are expats... so, in terms of research support, a researcher there would essentially be on his/her own... however, that's quite similar here as well... although many of the research labs here are saturated with phds, there is essentially no support either.. simply because, everyone is doing their own thing.. you can discuss and bounce ideas, but that's pretty much it.. so, it all depends on how much work you'd actually like to do... it's like an SME vs MNC... there isn't really a clear better.. a person can succeed in both places..


finally, let's look at politics... the politics in the academic/research world is quite bad... in different places, there are different problems... in m'sia, the political problems are usually to do with race.. over here, the political problems are to do with intellectual property... so, if you ask me which is easier to handle?? i wouldn't know... they're both problems... would you rather someone steal your research and not credit you, or steal your research and credit you as the second author?? so, your research is ultimately going to be stolen anyway.. which situation is more tolerable is up to each individual...


so, is m'sia a good environment to do research?? it all depends on what you want.. i believe, that if you're a totally independent researcher, in the right field, looking for a chance to shine, m'sia might be a good option.. simply because you'll get all the best toys to play with, loads of research funding and little competition.. however, there is a tradeoff for everything..


and, i've yet to mention how badly m'sia performs in "retaining" human capital... that's just bad... first off, there's obviously politics (all kinds.. and i've got caught in my fair share of it)... and then, there's little in terms of "pay" (however, if some really wanted money, they wouldn't be thinking of doing research now would they!!).. however, the government has to realise that, money is important.. although living standards in m'sia is quite low, the researchers would still like to afford some nice things in life... most m'sian researchers end up running next door to our neighbour.. however, that's another different set of problems altogether..


a solution might be to do research collaborations with foreign institutions.. that's what the government is trying to encourage.. we have the bargaining chip of having "best equipment".. while, they have the bargaining chip of "human capital"... so, maybe that's the best way to go.. so, maybe, i should do research collaboration between my sponsor and my university?? hehe... something to think about..

note to self: in the future.. for my company, i should try my very best to shield the researchers from politics... both internal and external.. else, it'll really suck..