Deputy Prime Minister Abdullah Ahmad Badawi did not meet Malay groups to seek consensus on the government's plan to introduce English-medium teaching of Maths and Science but to collect different views on the issue, the Malaysian Islamic Youth Movement (Abim) said today.

Its secretary-general Shahran Kasim said Abdullah spent three and a half hours yesterday with representatives of several groups to listen to their views and concerns over the language switch.

"Abdullah was in a listening mode. He did not rebut nor defend the plan. He just assured us that our views will be presented to Prime Minister Dr Mahathir Mohamad," said Shahran when contacted today.

Among the 36 non-governmental organisations that attended yesterday's meeting with Abdullah were the National Linguistic Association, Federation of Peninsula Malay Students (GPMS), Federation of National Writers (Gapena) and student councils of several public universities.

Last week, Abdullah had met with leaders of five Barisan Nasional component parties including MCA and Gerakan, after the latter formally rejected the plan to implement the language switch by next year. MCA leaders were charged with the task of explaining the government's plan to the Chinese community.

Meanwhile, Shahran said although the Malay groups "appreciated" the move by the government to raise the standards of English proficiency, they also urged the government not to "sacrifice the use of Bahasa Malaysia in the country.

"We have expressed our concerns over the preparations whether there will be enough skilled teachers, and [materials]," he added.

Asked if Abdullah mentioned what the government's plans were to be after the consultation, Shahran said the deputy prime minister had announced his intention to talk to other groups.

Erroneous reports

According to a Bernama report today, Abdullah contradicted press coverage of the event yesterday by saying that there was no total agreement on the use of English to teach Maths and Science in schools.

"Some agreed while others did not," he was quoted as saying.

Abdullah revealed that some representatives felt that the use of Bahasa Malaysia in teaching should not be blamed for Malay Malaysian students' weakness in the two subjects.

He also reportedly said that the groups had urged the government to focus on improving the method of teaching of Maths and Science to make it more effective.

Abdullah had made the clarification because newspapers today had reported that the 36 NGOs had agreed to the switch.