I READ with surprise the reports on the demand to introduce English-medium schools in Malaysia. Having spent 11 years being educated in national schools before heading to the United States to pursue my education in English, I strongly disagree with the reintroduction of English-medium schools in Malaysia. Our national schools provide sufficient language skills to graduate from the best institutions in America, so why the sudden jolt?
It is already impossible to speak to Malaysians in the Malay language in the United States of America or even in Malaysia. Even in our consulate, you have to converse in English! And, even when I call government personnel in our embassy here or in Kuala Lumpur, I receive replies in English despite speaking in Malay and writing emails in Malay. I have to speak in English to corporate leaders and human resources staff in Kuala Lumpur as if English is the de facto official language of Malaysia. I shudder to think why the grand and noble experiment initiated by our founding fathers to uphold the lingua franca of the Malay archipelago as our national language has attained limited success.
