The lively debate in the mainstream press cleverly ignores the shameful history of the evolution of our national school system into its present mess.

Our ethnic politicians have managed to deprive millions of citizens of the education of their choice.

Every Chinese Malaysian I know prefers to be educated in Mandarin and English. Every Indian Malaysian I know prefers to be educated in Tamil (or one of the Indian dialects) and English. Every Malay Malaysian I know prefers to be educated in Malay and English.

Presently we have Mandarin-speaking Chinese Malaysian students who converse in Mandarin (or one of the Chinese dialects like Cantonese and Hokkien) almost exclusively to other Chinese Malaysians. We have Tamil speaking Indian Malaysians speaking Tamil to each other. And we have Malay Malaysians speaking Malay almost exclusively to each other. This segregation is immediately evident to any visitor to Malaysia for it takes place everywhere from our schools and universities and workplaces, and in our public and private lives.

After five decades of blaming the British colonial masters and orang asing (foreigners) for every social, linguistic, moral and cultural ailment that had ever afflicted Malaysia, our ethnic politicians further equated speaking English in Malaysia to being unpatriotic, being anti-national, being recalcitrant, being reluctant to integrate or assimilate.

Our political leaders rode to power on a tidal wave of ethnic rhetoric. They predictably followed through with the most short-sighted policies designed to enhance their individual political ethno-nationalist credentials to the painful detriment of education in this country.

The role of the English language was systematically undermined. It was supposedly the language of oppression, its continued usage would somehow trap us in a colonial mindset, its continued usage was considered an affront to ethnic pride. That is the message the masses received either consciously or sub-consciously.

An entire generation of English-speaking teachers were sidelined by our language, cultural and educational policies. The presence of English speakers in Malaysia were a virtual embarrassment, and English-speaking teachers were quickly made redundant.

Everything was done to undermine the use of English in this country. Only the very rich and politically connected could get their children into expensive international schools where English was the medium of instruction. The same ethnic politicians who spewed the most vitriolic rhetoric would send their children to these English schools. The rest of us were restricted to an education that quite frankly, all of us considered to be second best.

Now that the general public are not so easily fooled, and realise the importance of English, our politicians are now having to make an embarrassing U-turn. Having talked themselves into a corner, they are now trying to remedy the situation without losing face.

Half-baked measures like vision schools are mere face-saving measures, and fail to address the root causes of our education malaise.

I believe our politicians lack the guts to offer parents and students comprehensive English-language education in our secondary schools.

Having been taught in Chinese, Tamil or Malay in our primary schools, the vast majority of Malaysian parents of all ethnic groups would rush to send their children to national-type secondary schools if these schools offered comprehensive English-language education. It would go a long way towards solving our integration problems in Malaysian society. It would offer all Malaysians the education they really want, and not the education designed to enhance the ethnic-racial credentials of our political leaders.

Half-baked measures, like trying to teach Science and Mathematics in English, are designed to keep the general populace stupid and ignorant. I do not think you can teach someone to think critically and independently unless subjects like literature, philosophy, politics and history are taught in the way students are taught in the West.

Going slightly at a tangent, I am amazed that the same ethnic politicians from the same ethnic party that had stepped all over, and further ousted the Tunku, our Bapa Malaysia and his vision of Merdeka and muhibbah when he was alive, are now frantically trying to resurrect (perhaps rehabilitate) him via BN-sponsored postage stamps, art works, and monuments.

I have nothing but the respect and admiration for our late Tunku. He refused to stoop to playing hardline ethnic politics.

A prince amongst men, he set the highest standards when dealing with friends and colleagues of all ethnic groups. In my mind, this was predictably and shamefully held against him by those less honourable than himself.

I honestly feel we will not be able to have the English-language school system of our choice until and unless someone thinks of a face-saving excuse whereby our politicians do not look foolish and stupid, and do not jeopardise their individual ethno-nationalist credentials by offering all Malaysians the type of education we really want and deserve.