I am just back from Beijing and being my second visit there, I am overwhelmed at the sight of tower cranes and construction work everywhere. A prelude, no doubt, to the Beijing Olympic games in 2008.

Imagine a GDP growth at 8 to 10 percent for a country with a population of 1.3 billion. Just amazing and we cannot ignore these statistics as we are witnessing history in the making, history that will affect every part of the globe.

It was like Malaysia during the late 80s when coincidentally, corruption was fashionably nurtured much to the satisfaction of the corrupt officials then. China's growth phenomenon will probably never be repeated anywhere else except maybe India.

While their legacy, history and culture are almost second to none, there's something we can all learn from the Chinese and that is their lack of communication skills in English. English teachers are much sought after in China.

In the light of globalisation, the lesson to for young Malaysian parents is to teach your children Mandarin (or another important foreign language as another option) while mastering English to perfection, especially communicative 'American-business English'.

Let our children, irrespective of their race, get a piece of the impending larger Asian economic cake be it either from the Indian (English-speaking) or Chinese (Mandarin-speaking) markets.

Forget about pride and accept reality - Asian children are at a disadvantage when it comes to globalisation as they speak less languages that are in demand, compared to their Western counterparts. Our only advantage is knowing the cultures better.

Let not Malaysian graduates perish in the future when only the best graduates are wanted in the name of globalisation. There are no two ways about it - the educational and political bureaucrats must act fast.