In an industrial area not far from a squatter settlement on mainland Penang, a cloth banner strung in front of a road junction advertises a private language centre: "Cambridge English: speak, read, and write effectively".

Such open exhortations to master the language of Malaysia's former colonial master used to be frowned on, especially by the ruling coalition. But growing concerns that Malaysia may be losing its competitive edge in the global economy has suddenly made learning English politically correct.

Last week, the supreme council of the United Malays National Organisation (Umno) party, the key group in the coalition, even said it would back the wider usage of in national schools and agreed to a proposal for science and mathematics to be taught in English from primary school level.

The approach toward teaching English at every level would also be changed, with the focus on improving the command of the language.

"This means that we will have to introduce English literature as part of the syllabus," said Prime Minister Dr Mahathir Mohamad. "Not classical literature, but the contemporary ones so that our students can speak good English."

Mahathir in fact had previously announced that the government would reintroduce English-medium schools if Malaysians wanted them. But Umno, to which he belongs, had objected to the move, saying it would be contrary to the national education policy.

Mixed reception

Yet while Mahathir seems satisfied with the compromise of sorts suggested by the Umno supreme council, it is having a mixed reception among Malaysians themselves. Some worry, for instance, that "widening" the use of English in schools may come just a bit too fast.

"We shouldn't have any quick fix — it's surreal, it's farcical," says Wong Soak Koon, an English literature lecturer at a local university. "Three decades ago, they were pushing Malay in the schools. These things have to be thought out very carefully."

Indeed, English was progressively sidelined as the medium of instruction in the 1970s, as policy makers, fired up by nationalistic zeal, sought to promote Malaysian as the main medium for learning. The result was the reduction of English to just another subject to be taught in schools.

But times have changed. As China, with its lower cost of labour, opens up its markets, countries like Malaysia are being forced to look within to tackle perceived shortcomings in human resources.

As it is, foreign direct investment in Malaysia has fallen while jobless university graduates have soared to more than 40,000 — most of them ethnic Malays, who make up about half of the country's population.

Other indigenous groups in this country of 22 million make up about 10 percent, ethnic Chinese 25 percent and Indians seven percent. The remaining is made up of other ethnic groups and foreigners.

Conventional wisdom says that to draw higher-end investors to Malaysia, a skilled labour force conversant in English is necessary.

Lacks the logistics

The problem, say many observers, is that Malaysia lacks the logistics to pull that off. Among the more immediate concerns has been the shortage of resources such as libraries stocked with books in English and trained English teachers.

Many among the present crop of teachers are products of a watered-down English language syllabus in schools that focuses largely on basic communication skills while glossing over grammar and writing skills.

"There are not enough trained teachers to ensure that the policy can be implemented effectively," stresses a retired English language teacher. "And many of the people who are training English language teachers are themselves lacking the necessary skills."

In the meantime, others feel that the sudden switch to English will worsen the rural-urban divide in education in Malaysia — in terms of staffing resources, facilities like libraries, and ultimately academic achievements.

And although the government-linked Malay press has welcomed the proposal, Dewan Bahasa dan Pustaka (DBP), the premier Malay language publisher, hints that the current education policy is working well, andtherefore needs no change.

In a statement, DBP director general Aziz Deraman said, "Our present national education policy where Bahasa Malaysia (Malay language) is the main medium of instruction has proven successful in producing hundreds of thousands of builders and movers and leaders in various sectors."

Undermine mother-tongue education

There are also fears that the wider use of English will undermine mother-tongue education.

Says Tan Seng Giaw, vice-chair of the opposition Democratic Action Party: "On the one hand, we have to strain every nerve to adapt to the modern world. On the other hand, we must preserve mother-tongue education: Malay, Mandarin, and Tamil for the Malays, Chinese and Indians respectively."

Still, there are those who argue that the increased usage of English will open new doors for Malaysians and expose them to other ideas and cultures — and even material that is ideologically much different from the narrow range available in local libraries and the government-controlled media.

Wong says, "We must not be so lacking in confidence to think that English usage will inevitably dilute the richness of the Malay language or curtail its continued growth and development."

But she is already ruing one suggestion to have English used only in teaching science and mathematics, saying that would be short-sighted.

Wong points out, "No one can use a language with passion, feeling, confidence, conviction, poise, not least joy, if they are only mouthing theorems and explaining triangulations."

To really be fluent and comfortable in the language, she asserts, "one must be exposed to a variety of tones, a wide vocabulary and words that are much more connotative than those used in science and maths".