Thursday, April 25, 2024

How come people in Southeast Asia don’t leave their countries for work at the same rate as the Philippines?

Profile photo for Yasmin Ayuni

Because they don’t have to!

If you think a country whose many of its citizens rushing to work abroad is something you should feel proud of, you probably do not understand about economy.

Many countries in ASEAN do not feel the need to send their people to work to other countries (in large quantities) because they can provide jobs, developments, and basic neccessity for their citizens. Instead of sending their people to work aboard, they prefer to work with sweat and blood to build manufactures, Industries or tourisms so their own citizens can work in the country and BUILD the country together. They also actively invite and support foreign investors to invest there.

The citizens as a return, also don’t find the need to go as they can find job and live comfortably in their country. Yes, the life might not as prosperous as in developed countries, but for many people, there is nothing can beat the feeling of being home. So they prefer to stay!

Philippines government, in other hand, prefer her citizens to work in other countries and BUILD other countries economy so her citizens can send remittance money to Philippines. As a result, the government does not need to worry about providing jobs to her citizens as they already become someone else’s responsibility lol.

A country that send her citizens to work abroad like Philippine is Indonesia. There are many Indonesians who work in Malaysia, Singapore, Hong Kong and Middle East as blue collar workers. However, contrary to the Philippines, Indonesian Government has already started to stop sending their blue collar workers to other countries. Since 2015, for instance, Indonesia has stoped sending maids to Middle Eastern countries. Meanwhile, I do not see Philippines Government to do the same in the near future.

Indonesia also has a habit in which their professionals and skilled diasporas are asked and encouraged by government to come back and stay in Indonesia to build the nation. Thus in Indonesia, they have:

Sri Mulyani, A former Managing Director of World Bank, coming back to Indonesia and now serving as Minister of Finance;

B. J. Habibie, a recognized and well-respected Aircraft Engineer in German, coming back to Indonesia to build Indonesian Aircraft Manufacture and became Minister of Research and Technology and the Third President of Indonesia.

Nadiem Makarim, a Harvard Graduate who came back to Indonesia, founded Gojek (Indonesia's first startup valued over US$10 billion) and now serves as the current minister of education, culture, research, and technology of the Republic of Indonesia.

Ferry Unardi, a Harvard Graduate, coming back to Indonesia who later founded Traveloka (Indonesian unicorn company that provides airline ticketing and hotel booking services with the latest value reaches $2.75 Billion).

Although Indonesia is a country with the fourth largest population in the world, Indonesia is not even in the top list of Immigrant in many countries (except maybe Malaysia). Whilst, we cannot say the same thing about Philippines.

Philippines, thus, fails if it is compared with other ASEAN countries. The brain drain in the Philippines as real as blue sky as many low and high-skilled workers prefer to work abroad instead of working in Philippines. Filipinos whom I met in Indonesia or other countries seemed very eager and desperate to leave Philippines as they don’t think there are any opportunities in the country.

So, why people in Southeast Asia dont leave their country as the same rate as Philippines? Because Philippines fails to provide jobs for her citizens, whilst others do not. 

No comments: