I was born 48 years ago and I was the last batch to sit for the LCE, MCE and HSC examinations. Those that are now above 55 years old sat for the Malaysian Cambridge examination and those born after 1962 were just unlucky - they got the SRP, SPM and STPM.

Speaking English doesn't make you less Malay, less Chinese, less Indian or even less Malaysian for that matter. I am a better person today thanks to the Lord and because of my parents who sent me to an English-medium school although they received lots of negative remarks from many who just don't want to see progress.

It was so depressing when I met many local graduates having a hard time expressing themselves in English and which hinders them in many jobs and also promotion opportunities. In the international arena, English is still the required form of communication/language especially if you want to work and excel in an American or European company.

It would be better still if you could master a few more languages like Mandarin, Japanese or even Spanish. I was given an international assignment in Shenzhen, China working for an American company just because I am able to communicate in English with foreign customers and visitors.

I regret now that I don't speak Mandarin or Cantonese as that would make it more easier to survive and compete in the unknown situations here locally.

Therefore, I hope all the leaders that the Malaysians entrusted during the last general elections make changes to the education policy with a clear conscience and an open heart for the sake of the future of all Malaysians.

Malaysians would have been on par if not better than others if we had stuck to the LCE, MCE and HSC or at least having all the local universities utilise English as the communication medium.

Our education system needs to be totally revamped so that our future generations can be accepted worldwide and move forward. I am not going to continue to tell everyone sad stories and keep nagging and bitching about it.

I am here to share my vision on how to make all Malaysians have the competitive advantage.

Start at the grassroots level - have kindergartens where all Malaysian kids above three and below six enrol and where the focus will be mainly on English, Bahasa Malaysia, Mandarin and Tamil or Hindi. Children at this age pick up languages extremely fast.

All TV channels should carry all their advertisements in all the main languages.

There should only be one-school system for those aged six years and upwards - a ‘Malaysia Boleh' education system where English is the medium of instrunction for all subjects but with compulsory credit hours for Bahasa Malaysia , Mandarin and Tamil.

Remove History and Geography and consolidate them as a Cultural Studies subject to make the students more street-smart. These compulsory subjects will occupy the kids for six hours (from 8am to 2pm).

Then comes the optional language which each student takes comprising either Arabic, Japanese, Hindi or Spanish that will extend their schooling hours until 3pm. Then they must play games or exercise from between 5pm to 7pm to make them fit and healthy

Religious classes will start at from 7pm to 9pm (Islamic studies, Buddhism, Hinduism, Christianity). They will then head back home and from 9 pm to 10 pm they will build rapport with their parents and families for a truly ‘masyarakat penyayang'.

They will go to bed at 10pm and wake up the next morning at 6am (they would have had a solid eight hours of rest for the next day).

And only then can the future Malaysians have that competitive advantage to survive anywhere and anytime and we will be one Bangsa Malaysia as everyone understands everyone else's language.

We will live in harmony with mutual respect and above all, be respected around the globe. If not, Malaysians will continue to lag and be left behind as merely ‘jaguh kampung' instead of being on the world stage.