Tun Daim Zainuddin and his take on English

Tun Daim is to be lauded for his stand on making English a compulsory subject in schools. 

“Without English, we are dead, especially the Malays. The Malays must realise, without English they cannot compete. We must insist on English as a second language.” 

One only has to tune into China’s CCTV [Astro Channel 509], its global English language television, to realise how important English is to China and its progress. How did this country, which could only speak the language of Communism not too long ago, overtake a country like ours which was at one time schooled in Queen’s English? Perhaps we should learn from China how to teach English instead of trying to speak Beijing Mandarin.