I was flabbergasted upon reading the New Straits Times article yesterday May 12 entitled ‘English should be taught exclusively: DPM’.

It would be deeply embarrassing if our Education Minister did actually ask his counterparts in several countries “whether proficiency in English could be achieved through science and mathematics, and they expressed surprise.”

While we understand the need to learn and improve the standard of English among our people, many of us have also been regularly highlighting for the past two years that science and mathematics are best learnt in its lingua franca i.e. English, along with numerous other reasons in support of PPSMI.

Muhyiddin just does not listen to the rakyat at all, and simply forces his views and opinions across on this issue.   

In fact, the acronym PPSMI means just that: teaching and learning of science and mathematics in English! It would have been PPISM (Pengajaran dan pembelajaran bahasa ingerris melalui sains dan matematik), if the deputy prime minister’s assertion were valid.   

Time and again, Malaysians are exposed to ‘thoughtless’ statements by our ministers. This time however, it has gone international and unfortunately, the citizens of France, Denmark and a few other European countries get to hear them first hand.

To the embassy staff of these countries in KL, we express our sincere regret for sending a country bumpkin to represent us.