Maybe some of those ROs are employed on a contract basis...It is quite difficult to get a permanent position..

That's the problem...They seldom take in non-bumi ROs...Research institutes in universities such as MARDI (UPM) and MGI (UKM) do have permanent ROs...but they are employed by SPA and not the university. When you are on contract, you'll have lower salary, lesser employee benefits and won't know when your boss wanna terminate your service as your salary comes from research grant. And If you decide to convert to permanent position, you'll have to go thru SPA interview. 2 of my seniors who worked as ROs attended such interview but got rejected on the spot...not even put in the backup list..Now one of them is working with sime darby and will be sponsoring her PhD studies soon..