A well-meaning attempt to bring English back into the Malaysian mainstream is now mired in opposition, anger, doubt, fear, threats. The prime minister, Dr Mahathir Mohamad, said it would not be forced down one's throats.

But as opposition hardens and strengthens amongst Malay, Indian and Chinese Malaysians, his government panicked to now threaten to use Malaysia's catch-all law to curb dissent over the teaching of English: the Internal Security Act.

It reiterates yet again the Barisan Nasional government is uncomfortable with reasoned debate and genuine concerns which conflict with its worldview. It decided, without debate and argument in Parliament and outside, to bring English back into the curriculum, modified it when the Umno supreme council wanted it restricted to Science and Mathematics, decided, for no rhyme or reason, to begin from January 2003.

Undecided is where the teachers would come from, how learning English in Science and Maths would make one proficient in it. If I were to learn both subjects in Swedish or Swahili, would I, at the end of the day, be proficient in either? I could have a formal nodding acquaintance with either, possibly to make myself understood, as a tourist, in Sweden or South Africa, but of value nowhere else. So English to a majority of Malaysians.

But it can be learnt with proficiency if the government and citizen put their minds to it. The former DAP secretary-general and now a town planner of note, Goh Hock Guan, once told me how he mastered Malay in a little over a year. He read only Malay newspapers, with a good Malay dictionary. At the end of the year, he could participate in debates in Parliament and eventually read and write it well.

If this is reversed, and those wanting to improve their English, read English novels, newspapers and magazines, with a good dictionary, the result would be as dramatic. For this to work, there must be an incentive. That cannot be forced down one's throats. There must be an equal desire to learn. That desire cannot be legislated or made compulsory, as the former cabinet minister, Shahrir Abdul Samad, noted.