I wish to comment on the recent furore over the suggestion that thousands of university graduates are out of work because of their English skill. I am a Malay and come from a Malay background. I have always placed priority on English for many reasons.

Now that I have a family of my own, I make it a point to speak English with my children. I do this because I have no control over the language they use with their friends. My children read a lot of English books and watch hours of English programmes on television. They hardly watch any Malay programmes.

I also insist they read some Malay books just to make sure that they are also efficient in the language. I do not think that our secondary and primary schools have the right pedagogy and contact hours to teach effective English.

Yes, English is very important for career and academic advancement. However, sometime in our recent history we set the motion to ensure that Malay become the medium of instruction perhaps from the fear of the Malay proverb, Hilang bahasa, lenyap bangsa (lose the language, the race disappears).

The Japanese have proven that English is not needed to create an advanced society. In my experiences of meeting Japanese academics with impressive qualifications, I have yet to meet one who could articulate well in English. I think my Form One daughter can beat these academics hollow!

I would like to suggest the following on how to improve on the teaching of English in our schools:

Firstly, the English classes should be lengthened.

Secondly, the government should employ more English teachers and ensure that the classes are no larger than 20 students to one English language teacher.

Thirdly, there should be more emphasis on reading, reading and more reading rather than testing on grammatical skills. In England, my daughters were not tested on grammar even in Year five! Their homework was reading and more reading.

Fourthly, there should be well-run and well-stocked community libraries in every town and village, if warranted. The mark of a civilised nation is not how high the building can go but by the number of libraries the country has.

Fifthly, the schools must abolish the all-Malay classes under the lame pretext of teaching Arabic. My daughter is in one of these classes and since she has no Chinese and Indian friends, is unable to practise her English.

Finally, we must identify the proper books that can be the right reading sequence for learning. There are many more suggestions but this is enough for now. I do not support the idea of going back to the English stream because that would make the work of Dewan Bahasa absolutely obsolete. Remember Japan.

What I fear is that the government may be up to its old tricks of fooling the public in relation to the real problem of the unemployed graduates. I am not an economist but I do hear of factories closing, businesses going bankrupt and investments pulled out because of loss of faith in the judiciary and legal system of the country!

I think there is a genuine concern over how we teach English but let us not be fooled by our shrewd governments modus operandi of perpetually shifting blame on others for their follies.