KUALA LUMPUR, Nov 26 — TalentCorp has recorded a 20 per cent year-on-year increase in applications to its Returning Experts Programme (REP), said Human Resources Minister M. Kulasegaran.

Speaking to a press conference in the Parliament compound today, Kulasegaran attributed the spike in interest to the change in government during the 14th General Election.

"Top countries of residence of REP approvals are Singapore, China, United Kingdom, Australia and also Middle East countries.

"The top sectors benefited from REP are oil and gas, financial services, electrical and electronic, as well as information and communications technology and global business services,” said Kulasegaran.

However, he was unable to disclose the breakdown for the individual sectors.

In total, TalentCorp approved 4,942 or 60.5 per cent of the total REP applications.

"A lot of Malaysians have left over the past few years. In 2011 The World Bank reported that there are around one million Malaysians working abroad.

"We are working hard to bring them back,” said Kulasegaran.