The whole speech by the 'internationally reknowned' economist Prof Yoshihara Kunio ('Japanese model better in facing globalisation: Economist ', Aug 1) smacks of a certain time in the history of the Japanese when they sought to dominate Asia with their 'co-prosperity sphere' poppycock.

Neither did I read anything to show that he was "not a Japanese nationalist", despite his claim. Rather, he demonstrates his distrust of America by denigrating their achievements through comparisons of crime rates and so on between the two countries.

How naive to assume that social ills (or to be more precise, the lack of it) are a barometer of success. Much of Japanese ills or crime figures are not revealed officially as it is a society that functions with big shame and little transparency. Dr Giovanni Capannelli of Universiti Malaya was absolutely right in that Japan actually has its own social problems such as a high suicide rate.

Kunio equates the English language with America and even claims that we are a victim of undue one-direction-influence by the US.

English is used all over the world including the little Himalayan kingdom of Nepal. Little does he know that our average Malaysian speaks a basket of languages, and that there are probably more Malaysians speaking Japanese than Japanese speaking English (well).

Many European countries such as Holland, Denmark, Sweden, Germany, etc. have become bi-lingual nations who have mastered the English language in addition to their own and suffer no loss of identity.

On the other hand, his own fellow countrymen and women ape the west in all external and physical aspects. Who are the victims of one-direction influence?

His naivete of Malaysian society is exacerbated when he claims that the 'English minority' will benefit more that the 'oppressed' Malay majority.

What nonsense! In which way are the Malays oppressed when they have access to capital like everyone else? We Malaysians of all races realise the need to command a global language lest we are left behind, and at the very least, we have a longer history of English education for the Malays than anyone else.

This Japanese's idea of globalisation is to strengthen the national language and culture. Fine. They can have it. They are a mono-tongue, mono-culture, homogeneous society and they believe that by everyone thinking the same way they would have global resilience! To think that this notion can be applied to other Asian countries whose populations are composed of many diverse tribes, races and creed is plain simplistic. (There are over 300 ethnic groups in Indonesia alone). The professor wants us to follow a Japanese economic model to better face globalisation! What is that model for a government and a society that is totally racist, protectionist, one that punishes individuality, and one that still cannot come to terms with its aggressive past, may I ask?

There is no Japanese model of globalisation to emulate, my fellow Asians. We have seen how their once much-studied 'management' style was revealed as bluff in the early years of the 1990's bubble burst. A protectionist economy cannot, by definition, be a global economy, let alone preach globalisation. It is my prediction that Japan will decline if it does not take up proficiency in English for it has already failed to galvanise the third industrial revolution. It is today but a follower of American technology in the world of computing and the Internet.

If one were to pick up on this obsession with America, then there is no doubt in my mind that the American economic model is a superior model for at its basis lies the fact that America is a microcosm of the world, almost every nationality including the Japanese can be found in America.

Needless to say, it is a place where many languages are spoken and religions practiced. Should any model be more suited to Malaysia, it would be that of a 'global' culture, not that of a singular myopic culture.