Achievement vs brain drain

Last Wed night, I attended a talk by Shaykh Afifi Al Akiti on the topic "Pursuing the path of knowledge".

Shaykh Afifi Al Akiti is Fellow in Islamic Studies at the Oxford Centre for Islamic Studies and Islamic Centre Lecturer in Islamic Studies at the Faculty of Theology, University of Oxford and is a Fellow of Worcester College, Oxford where he teaches both Islam and Christianity. Born in Malaysia, pursued and received a First Class degree in Scholastic Philosophy and History of Science from the Queen's University Belfast and subsequently completed his DPhil in Medieval Arabic Philosophy from Oxford University as a Clarendon Scholar in 2008. More about him here

I'm really glad that I made time for the talk despite of workload in the office and having no idea how to get to the venue. Thanks to brother Mahdar for giving me the perfect road instructions and credits to google map too :D

I've never heard about Shaykh Afifi Al Akiti before. Knowing about him indeed proves that Malaysia does have intelligent talents. As we all heard from the news however, many of our talents went abroad.

This comes down to ONE question which he asked during the talk:
"The success of Shaykh Afifi Al Akiti is an achievement or brain drain?"

I would say that this question is very interesting and indeed tricky. It's like between the devil and the deep blue sea. I'll try to explore this question using what I have learned from the talk that night.

Achievement


As the first ever Malay to be appointed to such position in this world famous University, this is definitely a great achievement. His excellence in his field of study has made him as the expert in Islamic theology, philosophy and science. The Malays should be honored and take him as an example to inspire us to stride to a greater height in our own field and professions. We have to shift our paradigm of thinking and believe that we can become successful Malays but not malaise.

His great achievements are recognized with various awards such as in 2009, shortlisted for the Annual UK Muslim Awards, in one of its 15 coveted Awards for Excellence, the Allama Iqbal Award for Creativity in Islamic Thought and in 2010, appointed Privy Councillor to the State of Perak, Malaysia by the Crown Prince of Perak, Raja Dr Nazrin Shah.

In addition to his critically acclaimed written works, he has worked on several BBC documentaries including the recent Science and Islam.

His achievement is the result of 6 secrets of becoming a successful student of knowledge (wisdom of Imam Syafie):

a) Intelligence (akal)
- He is gifted by Allah SWT with intelligence and capability to learn, understand, teach and share knowledge with others.

b) Zeal (determination)
- There is no short cut to success. Zeal, determination, passion and hardwork are important elements to his excellence. There is a saying goes "seek knowledge from the cradle to the grave" which mean never stop in seeking knowledge until the day we die.

c) Humble
- In Malay, there is a saying goes “Ikut resmi padi, makin berisi semakin tunduk” or “Follow the way of the rice sheaf, the heavier it is, the more it bends”. With the sense of humble, he continues his research and work although he already achieved a great achievement. The more he shares his knowledge, the more beneficial they are for others and there is no benefit of being snobbish or riak.

d) Go out of comfort zone (Qurban/Hijrah)
- Another saying goes "seek knowledge as far as China". He took the challenge to go abroad and compete in international arena to hold such position in reputable University. He sacrificed comfortable life in own country (Qurban) to stride for international achievement.

e) Company of teacher
- Knowledgable friends, intellectual leaders and teachers are important reference of knowledge. Seeking knowledge is a serious business, therefore, having the right teacher leads to the right path.

f) Care for his body
- Taking good care of health, body and mind through healthy diet and lifestyle influence personality and achievement.

In short, Shaykh Afifi Al Akiti’s achievement is his excellence in pursuing the path of knowledge and shares them with others through lectures, discussion, talks and writings.

Brain drain


Brain drain is actually a world crisis. Malaysia’s brain drain appears to be picking up speed. According to a recent parliamentary report, 140,000 left the country, probably for good in 2007. Between March 2008 and August 2009, the figure went double to 305,000 as talented people abandoned the country.

Shaykh Afifi Al Akiti who left the country for the past 20 years is certainly contributing to the diminishing great talents in our country. In fact, I was one of the contributors to the statistics too. I left for Singapore in 2005 and worked there in information and technology field for 3 and half years. I just returned to Malaysia in 2009 during the global financial crisis.

Relating to my experience in Singapore, I never feel regret of leaving Malaysia. Going abroad, away from my own country has actually opened my mind and broadens my perspective. I experienced new things and explored different lifestyle. I witnessed a commendable social awareness and discipline – the pedestrian is the king of the road in Singapore. Unlike Malaysia, the car in Singapore will stop at the zebra cross when pedestrians are crossing. If you do that here in Malaysia, you will be ended up in Hospital Kuala Lumpur! There is also a small group of Syiah muslims in Singapore, whose practice a little bit different than us, the Sunni’s. I have to accustom to a faster pace of life – in the morning, you can see lines of people marching like robots in and out of MRT stations.

There is always a price to pay when we want to stride greater heights. In my opinion, people who went abroad, when they come back to Malaysia, they have greater potentials with more experience who can bring in new or different ideas and perspective to make our country even better.

Conclusion

I don’t think Malaysia is at total lost by losing these talented professionals. It’s just a matter of time and of course the government also has to play an active role to attract these talented professionals to contribute to the country. World is now borderless and it’s a tense competition. Whichever country that has attractive space, be it in politics, economy and social space, that is where talents and business opportunities will flock in.

There are many ways of contributions and it is not limited to just living and working in our own country. In the case of Shaykh Afifi Al Akiti, his contributions actually span across the western and eastern countries through his intellectual lectures, talks, discussions and writings. For example, the talk we had that night discussing “Pursuing the path of knowledge” is one example of his contribution to the people in our country. He’s bringing in his knowledge and share with all of us where we eventually can spread the knowledge to the rest. It’s all about balancing and contributions back to the country can be in one way or another.

Western people are now at the top of the world and Muslims are lagging behind although Muslims were once known as the leader of civilization with well-known intellectuals and outstanding achievements in mathematics, science and technology during the dark ages of the westerns. Unfortunately, the ball of knowledge is now in the hands of the westerns. In order to regain the ball of knowledge, the Muslims have to engage to the other side of the world to seek knowledge, to go beyond the comfort zone and bring it back. We can’t just wait for the ball to come to us.

For those who attended the talk, they might notice that I actually use some of the contents I learned during the talk when exploring the question above. In a way, other people can also pick some points for the purpose of learning and reflections.
Enjoy!