Education Minister Musa Mohamad today warned an academic critical of the policy to teach Science and Mathematics in English not to politicise the issue.

He said Islamic Academy Sciences (Asasi) president Prof Dr Shaharir Mohd Zain should substantiate his claims and not merely make general statements.

The minister was responding to Asasi's criticisms of a ministry study in September that 'confirmed' a marked improvement in secondary school students' performance following the switch from Bahasa Malaysia to English.

"Just because Prof Shahrir is among those who insist on the use of Bahasa Malaysia doesn't mean he can make a political issue out of it.

"Prof Shaharir is known for going around publicising his criticisms about the usage of English," he told reporters in Kuala Lumpur.

Musa also questioned Shaharir's and Dr Wan Ramli Wan Daud's - who also signed Asasi's media statement - qualifications to comment on an education matter.

Shaharir teaches physical mathematics at Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia (UKM) while Wan Ramli - who is his colleague - teaches chemical engineering.

The minister said the duo lacked the expertise in the field of education to criticise the policy, which was implemented this year.

"If you want to discuss it academically, then (first) do your work academically. Everyone, including Prof Shaharir, has to be responsible for the criticisms that they make.

"I want the details of their criticisms, the sources of their findings, as well as their (specific) arguments," he said.

Malaysiakini rapped

Musa also took a swipe at malaysiakini , which he accused of being an accomplice to the politicisation of issues.

" Malaysiakini has always been involved with (the politicisation of) such things," he said.

Initially, the minister hesitated to respond to the comments, claiming that he himself was not an educator.

"This is an academic matter which should be discussed in detail by (education) specialists. I am not a researcher in the field of education and I am not the one who should answer him," he said.

In their media statement, Shaharir and Wan Ramli claimed that the ministry's study was flawed on account that the consultants were more or less tasked merely to confirm the government's stand - that the switch to English was "the best for the country."

They alleged that the findings were based on 'false statistics' and methods that went against the demands of scientific research.

There was no "control" group of students studying Science and Mathematics in Malay to compare with those who were studying the subjects in English, they said.

The duo also claimed that the sampling of student performances was limited to only one or two 'assessments' of a limited number of students.