FIRST of all, I must put on record that I am not in any way unpatriotic or anti-Bahasa Malaysia. The fact that I am writing this letter is sufficient testimony that I love my country.
Over the past 50 years, the Malaysian education system has undergone numerous changes both in content and the medium of instruction. I have gone through these changes first as a student and then as a teacher. While some of the changes were good and in line with the times, many others were not progressive, including the injection of too much religious content and total usage of Bahasa Malaysia in teaching and the administration of education. These have resulted in lowering the standard of Malaysian public education, leading to the proliferation of alternative learning facilities like tuition centres, home schooling and private and international schools.