A few months' ago I had to seriously think about my sons' future educational needs. The eldest is in Standard Five in a Chinese national-type school.

The limited choice of education available for my sons includes:

  • National-type secondary school (current language of instruction in Bahasa Malaysia);

  • International schools (language of instruction in English); and

  • Migration to Singapore, Australia and/or other countries for reason of my children's education alone.

    As a second-generation Chinese Malaysian, born and educated in Malaysia, I have gone far in my career as a management consultant. I am grateful to my educators and mentors who taught me well in English more than two decades ago.

    As a father, I want the best education for my sons: Education, not merely as a refinement of their character, attitude and skills, but more so to support themselves either in employment or self-employment.

    Being a manager with many subordinates in different parts of the world, I have come to realise the importance of a strong command of written and spoken English in many countries. The lack of it is a detriment to doing business, negotiations and brings on the tendency to be rejected. I want my children to avoid these pitfalls.

    While it is important for Malaysians to be able to read, write and understand Malay, it is English that allows us to communicate with the rest of the world. The politicising of education at the expense of English has destroyed the wonderful education system as we know it about 30 years ago.

    I have three children and thus, cannot afford the international schools, most of which charge more than RM5,000 per year. At age 44, it is almost impossible to uproot myself to migrate to an uncertain career future in another country if only for the sake of the children's education.

    If one is wealthy and could afford to send the children to study wherever, there would not be a problem.

    Now that the politicians are talking about a change to a more English-centric education for Malaysians to meet the challenge in the globalised world and to stem the unemployment of graduate students, my hopes are up again.

    I look forward to this and just hope my children will not miss the boat for a quality, well-rounded education. Let common sense prevail over emotions and politics. Let's give hope to a new generation of Malaysians.