I refer to the letter Bring back English-medium schools for success . I just wish to sort out whether English medium schools will guarantee the success of Malaysia.

According to the writer, the 'killing off' of English medium schools laid the foundation for the current deteriorating racial relations. I find this point of view very naive, superficial and unconvincing. Do people hate and discriminate against other races simply because they don't speak the same language?

The African American and the white American speak common American English, and racial discrimination is still widespread in the US. Ethnic French, German and Italians speak their own languages in Switzerland with three official languages but has anyone heard of racial riots in Switzerland? I suppose the current deteriorating racial relations here is due to the institutionalised racism and racial inequality rather than the language people speak.

Does a good English proficiency guarantee employment upon graduation? Is the English proficiency of our graduates being over-emphasised with regards to the unemployment problem?

Mlaysia's and Philippines' general populations have a better English proficiency than South Korea and Taiwan, but the former two can in no way compete (whether in GDP, technology or competitiveness) with the two newly-industrialised countries although we actually started better off than them after our independence.

Korea and Taiwan never had English medium schools and yet their high school students always top the list for the world's mathematics and physics Olympiad. The success of Hong Kong and Singapore as regional trade and financial hubs rests entirely on their good governance, highly efficient administration and competitive business environment. English is just an added advantage, not the sole sufficient condition for their success.

The so-called globalised world is always misunderstood in that everything has to be in English in order to succeed. Again, I find that naive, superficial and simple-minded. Globalisation demands for a broader world view, critical thought and understanding of more languages and cultures rather than an a monotonic all-English mantra.

Short-sighted policies such as not having vernacular schools will eventually kill off Malaysia's rich diversity of culture that is supposed to be a strong advantage amid the rise of China and India as the world economic and cultural superpowers.

The writer thought that the most broad-minded Malaysians are those from our colonial education system. I find that laughable. If one ever notices, upon gaining power after independence, elites of Third World countries (including Malaysia) trained by the colonial education system usually tend to look to their former colonial masters, rather than global models, as their reference in running a country.

Summing up my point of view, thinking that English-medium school will solve all our problems and help us succeed is simply too naive and simple-minded.