I applaud Deputy Prime Minister Muhyiddin Yassin's prudent remarks and relevant questioning on why English is not included as a compulsory ‘must pass' subject for the Sijil Pelajaran Malaysia.

I have wondered this myself the past many years and I am totally flabbergasted at how English could be taught in our schools without teaching Englsih grammar.

This is like learning Mathematics and Sciences by memorising formulae and without the basic fundamentals of the subjects being explained.

Also years back, the then prime minister Dr Mahathir Mohamad was very concerned with the rapid deterioration of the command of the English Language amongst students and the younger generation.

He decided to take a desperate step by making it compulsory to use English to teach Science and Mathematics in schools. Unfortunately, the acceptance of the this move and the ensuring performances by the parents and the students have at best been only lukewarm.

In fact, I dare say that the majority of parents are clamouring that the education ministry reverts back to the teaching of these subjects in Bahasa Malaysia.

This brings us back again to the issue of creating the necessary level of awareness amongst the public so much so that the public recognises the importance of English not only as a tool of communication but also as a very important means of sourcing for information, knowledge and reading material.

If English is not accorded its necessary level of relevance and importance, no amount of coaxing, encouragement or ‘arm-twisting' tactics will change the perception of the people on the importance of using this language.

It is sad to say that the previous government under Abdullah Ahmad Badawi and the then education minister had done little in this respect and their lackadaisical attitude contributed towards to the current situation.

The Abdullah government was more interested in doing things that would please the people and get their votes.

Therefore, to this end, I am pleased to read that the DPM has cleverly raised this matter and hopefully it ignites the common sense in us all in that we need to be good in the English language.

Abandoning it otherwise will erase that the little edge in communication skills that we still have now over our immediate neighbours like Thailand, Indonesia, Philippines or Vietnam.