Meghna Ria Muralidharan

MEGHNA RIA MURALIDHARAN
GLOBAL MALAY DIASPORA: THE POTENTIAL ROLE IN REALIZING VISION 2030

Migration is considered to be an important aspect of the history of mankind across the globe. Apart from persecution and survival as seen in the past, migration in recent times is mainly to acquire better opportunities and to understand the technological know how. Technological advancement has been able to blur the geographical distance as well as been able to connect them to their land of origin.

In the last half a century, diaspora seems to have contributed greatly towards the development of the countries of their origin. Moving beyond the traditional way, connecting with the diaspora has become a key factor in a country’s foreign policy. In the specific case of Malaysia, the government is trying to connect to its large diaspora that will help in accomplishing its vision 2030.

Over the last few decades the Malay diaspora is spread across different parts of the world. A large part of the Malay diaspora can be traced in Singapore, Australia, Brunei, United Kingdom and United States of America. Several internal as well as external factors have contributed to the large scale emigration of Malaysian people to different countries.

The government introduced programmers such as state-led talent return migration programmers to attract the large Malay Diaspora. This research paper would try to identify the Malay diaspora living in different parts of the world. To explore the nexus between the Malay Diaspora and its potentiality in achieving Malaysia’s Vision 2030.