JAKARTA — The government always welcomes Malaysians living abroad who wish to return home and bring their experience and expertise to the country, with various initiatives in place to facilitate their return.

Human Resources Minister Datuk Seri R. Ramanan said the initiatives include the Returning Expert Programme (REP), managed by Talent Corporation Malaysia Berhad (TalentCorp), as well as the MYFutureJobs portal under the Social Security Organisation (Perks), which offers more than 400,000 job opportunities.

“For me, the principle is simple, and this is something I always remind every KESUMA (Human Resources Ministry) officer. If we want Malaysian talent to return, we must make it easier, not make it more difficult. We are here to facilitate, not to complicate matters.

“Because we cannot tell them, ‘Come back to Malaysia’, but when they want to return, the process is so complicated that eventually they say, ‘Never mind. I’ll just stay in Jakarta.’ That is what we do not want,” he said in his speech at the Salam Dari Malaysia @ Jakarta programme here on Monday tonight.

Also present were Chargé d’Affaires ad interim of the Embassy of Malaysia in Jakarta Datuk Muzaffar Shah Mustafa, TalentCorp Group Chief Executive Officer Biruntha Mooruthi and Social Security Organisation (Perks) Group Chief Executive Officer Datuk Seri Dr Mohammed Azman Aziz Mohammed.