I appreciate the ensuing debate about the letter which I wrote calling on the Chinese groups in Malaysia to support the teaching of science and mathematics in English. Points raised by SK Wong and Raymond Ong are noted.

My primary motivation for writing the letter is that the costs of knowledge acquisition in the areas of science and mathematics are certainly lower if we stick with English. Books and journals in the sciences are mostly in English. Access to cutting-edge knowledge would be much easier for our nation's youngsters if we start them young. They will be able to understand the materials faster.

We all know that the United States is the leader in technological advances, though other countries like Russia, Japan, South Korea, etc, are catching up and are very good in selected fields. Of course, they have pumped in lots of money for this to happen. Our nation has limited resources and we have to rely on technology developed by others in most areas. Given our history and environment, English is still the language to rely on for most people.

Obviously, resources must be there to successfully implement the use of English for teaching science and mathematics in primary and secondary schools. Teachers may have to be retrained, etc. Funding must be there. Investments in this area will be very good for Malaysia in the long run.

Allow me to visualise on what would happen to our graduates from say Chinese-type schools in Malaysia if we stick with English for teaching science and mathematics. They would be very proficient in English, Chinese and Bahasa at a very young age. They will not find any language difficulties if they wish to pursue undergraduate, Master or doctoral level courses in the US, UK or locally given their English proficiency.

After they have finished their studies, they will be competitive globally. They possess valuable options to work in several countries, eg Malaysia, US, China and Hong Kong, etc. They can go anywhere in the world for their careers and would likely make lots of money at a young age given their proficiency in both English and Mandarin, and their area of expertise. They will certainly be in high demand.