The recent Umno general assembly was very steeped in religion. One could have almost mistaken it for a PAS general assembly. Never mind that I always welcome people who are steeped in religion because they are known to be fair in their dealings.

Anyway, the minister of education, who is the Youth wing head, got away with his statement that 1,500 schools are without running water and another 900 schools are without electric power. In this day and age, I would have thought that the minister would be announcing that 2,400 schools are without air-conditioning and that the government will have them air-conditioned by the end of 2007.

This is an important issue because performance is related to a comfortable environment. If you look at the world today, you will notice, Mr Minister, that those from cooler climates do perform better than those in warm countries. So how about if all our schools air-conditioned by the year 2010?

The Umno assembly was generally using 1969 arguments to address 2006 issues. Today, the economic order governs the social order. So we must change our priorities. Believe me, the Malay Agenda may not necessarily produce a strong economy but a strong economy will more than help the Malay Agenda.

And finally, English is the language of commerce and the language of the Internet. Do not sell Malaysians short. We need Bahasa Malaysia to keep our identity. But we need English to become a global player.

In any case, throughout the world, people do not learn a new language at the expense of what they already learnt. They learn it in addition to what they already have.