“I am not downplaying the issue of brain drain, which the headline of the story seems to imply,” he said in response to criticisms of his remarks in a Bernama report.

He was referring to a Feb 8 report titled “Brain drain phenomenon can still benefit the country – Fadillah”

“If you read the full report, I said one of the factors for brain drain in the research and development field is the advanced facilities and ecosystems in other parts of the world like Silicon Valley in the US,” he told FMT.

“This doesn’t mean that Malaysians who work overseas cannot contribute to Malaysia through their work. There is a silver lining. That’s my point.”

At the same time, he said, the government was constantly looking at ways to retain talent and attract overseas Malaysians to return to the country and work.

This included various incentives and the development of local ecosystems in various fields.

Last year, think tank Emir Research estimated that some two million Malaysians live and work overseas, comprising some 500,000 highly skilled people above the age of 25.