The tug-of-war between using English or Bahasa Malaysia to teach Science and Math worries me. As parents, I am praying and hoping that when my baby Clarisse enters our education system, she’ll enjoy learning Science and Math subjects in English rather than Bahasa Malaysia.

There is no debate for right thinking Malaysians the advantages of learning Science in English over Bahasa Malaysia. We can readily find endless resources of learning materials published in English through the internet. Try that with Bahasa Malaysia. English is the language that unites the world of technology and science. On the other hand, Bahasa Malaysia is a hindrance to the ability of young minds to excel in this field.

It was a joyous occasion when our government decided to switch these two subjects to English a few years ago. It is one of those rare moments where I deem our Barisan Nasional government deserves a round of applause.

But it proved to be a rocky situation where politicians, academics and organisations continue to threaten the status quo. Insisting that Science and Maths revert back to Bahasa Malaysia. This worries me a lot.

As you know, the government stance is very biased towards Bahasa Malaysia as a sign of patriotism. They too lack the ability to look beyond our borders to a world where Bahasa Malaysia literally do not exists. Barisan Nasional politicians that governs our country often exploit the non-Malays disinterest in Bahasa Malaysia as saying it is a sign of disrespect and threat to racial harmony.

Seriously, I have no qualms about my children not learning a word of Bahasa Malaysia to concentrate of Mandarin and English instead. Ok maybe I’m exaggerating a wee bit, if my children is able to speak and understand enough Bahasa Malaysia to communicate, that’s fine by me.

If a change of government is needed to maintain English for Science and Maths, oh yes please so be it!