I refer to the letter BM to be the language of great literary works. I am amused at the small debate going on here in this letter forum regarding the production of 'great' Malaysian literature and how English, being a global language that belongs to everyone, was drawn into the discussion.

I assume that what Sim Kwang Yang meant by great Malaysian literature is the type of writing that touches the lives of all Malaysians, and more importantly, the type of writing that wins awards. If that is the yardstick, then we are a long way from producing Nobel Prize-level literature.

What Sim really means when he says that great literature can only be produced in English is literature that is written in a neutral language. But as Malaysia recedes further from the global platform and shrinks from international life, so, too, our proficiency in English.

The crux of the matter is not whether language can produce great literature but whether Malaysian life is rich enough to produce great writers. The fact is that great writers transcend linguistic and cultural barriers. Their writing - the way they capture life around them - is so compelling that it earns universal acceptance.

If that is the measurement of great literature, we do have a few writers who write in Malay, English, Mandarin and Tamil, who fit the bill. But they are little known and in a country where people hardly read newspapers and writers do not get much appreciation.

Hence, those who do write in English, do so in the West where their audience is larger and more appreciative. Those who write in the national language may occasionally get a national award but at the end of the day, recognition of their work is limited to our tiny population, most of whom don't read.

So, it is not language that is at issue here but whether our whole way of life produces great literature. The Nobel Prize for literature winner Sir VS Naipaul once passed through Malaysia and found life here too shallow. 'Not deep enough to produce art'.

But then again art is subjective. Depending on who we are talking to, this may be a non- issue. To some, there is already a great Malaysian literature whilst to others, it is yet to be written.