Diaspora Network of ASEAN-5: Centrality Analysis and Implication for Diaspora Engagement

The highly skilled diasporas (HSDs) are increasingly recognised as important development resources stored abroad for the home countries. This motivated many countries to implement diaspora engagement initiatives to transfer the skills, knowledge and financial remittances of their HSDs. However, there is lack of systematic approach to understand how to tap the economic resources associated with these HSDs. Using a novel approach based on the centrality metrics of Social Network Analysis (SNA), this study assessed the capabilities of Indonesia, Malaysia, Philippines, Singapore and Thailand (ASEAN-5) to engage their HSDs from the perspective of Global Diaspora Network (GDN). The findings reveal that Thailand and the Philippines could optimise their strong connectivity in GDN to channel overseas economic opportunities from heterogeneous destinations. However, Indonesia, Malaysia and Singapore should implement a more targeted diaspora engagement strategy which focuses on a smaller number of well-connected destination countries, in order to overcome their weak connectivity in GDN. The difference in the network advantages suggests that ASEAN-5 should complement each other by establishing a collaborative platform to pool the expertise and transnational networks of their HSDs for national and regional development.