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I would like to share something that happened about 12 years ago that gave me the spark of an idea for the future of Malaysia. Since that incident I began to imagine how we might circumvent the problem of social integration by fostering a new culture of language accessibility. It is a simplistic view of things but nevertheless a good fantasy. Hear me out.
About 12 years ago, my wife taught a young and sweet Malay lady on the use of some general computer applications during one of the school holidays. I remembered when I inquired of her whether she could communicate in English, she replied in a beautiful Northern accent that sounded something like ‘tak berapo’. She did not indicate to us that she would prefer to be taught the subject in the language she was comfortable with. Besides having a sweet and calm demeanor, this lady was also a keen learner. We were glad to have such a student with us for that school holiday season. We were determined to impart to her as much computer knowledge as possible during that short period of time. One evening we received a phone call from the student’s auntie who spoke to us in impeccable English. One of the first thing she said was “ We are Malays. Why did you speak to my niece in English?”. Needless to say we were shocked for it was something very unexpected. In spite of our assurances that we will conduct the one-to-one lesson in the national language henceforth, it was the last we heard from both of them. Recently, in the course of doing business I had an opportunity to exchange a sizeable amount of sms in English with a young Malay gentleman before we met. During our first meeting, it took me a while before I realized that this guy had not spoken a word in English and he had this uncomfortable look in him. Realizing this I immediately shifted to the ‘national tool’ and that put him at ease till the end of the meeting. On my way home, I began to once again indulge myself in my 12 year old fantasy. Here’s my dream. I fantasized the Malays in this country being very fluent in the Chinese language and Tamil. I recalled one Malay lady who spoke in perfect mandarin who worked in a computer assembling company. She exhibited a high sense of confidence when she moves about with her Chinese colleagues (in comparison to many Malays today). All sense of racial tension towards her was totally absent. She was respected and even loved. None of her dignity, religion and cultural brought up were taken away or denied her. They knew her religion forbids her from many things deemed harmful to faith and practice and they, from the bosses to the lowest ranked employees, accorded to her the highest respect and sensitivities due her as a Muslim. I had always felt that true racial integration in this country (or in any country for that matter) can never be obtained by coercion and that maximum integration comes about only when there are mutually acceptable and varied tools of communication. This is especially true in a multiracial setting of Malaysia. The non-Malays in this country have proven an ability to abide by the nation’s political aspirations in the mastery of a national language. In spite of their natural inclination towards their mother tongue, the non-Malays had seen it wise to widen their skills and tools of communications. They knew they had nothing to lose but everything to gain. Their forefathers came from China and India and to master the local language was an absolute necessity for their future. But the world has ‘expanded’ since then and refusing to adapt to this reality of change can be liken to taking two steps backward after a step forward. In contrast to these brave non-Malays, some Malay leaders are like scarecrows - they just scare away their fellow Malays from taking the quantum leap in the mastery of foreign languages. The very serious absence of confidence among young Malays in languages other than their mother tongue as seen today, does not belie this fact. The Malays are gentle people but they are also very overtly reliant on racial and cultural sentiments. It is hard to comprehend how the mastery of a foreign language such as the international English Language is a threat to their pride and existence. Perhaps the greatest bewilderment lies in how the ‘replacement policy’ of the government (replacing the English language as a medium of instruction in schools) is logical when a majority of its most senior and experienced politicians - past and present – are and were so fluent in the use of the English language. This past twelve years would have been enough to produce a generation of all races fluent in multi-languages. If Mandarin and Tamil are indeed made a compulsory language diet of children today (together with the National language and English), then perhaps there will no longer be the need for the so-called vernacular school in this country. Let’s face it - the vernacular schools are not what it is. The students in Chinese schools are hardly fluent in English and their use of the national language is not fluent at all. Their pronunciations often lack the quality of a true Bahasa Malaysia. Before any calls to close down the vernacular schools is heard again, the Malays must take the lead to foster trust and acceptance in this country. The Malay must be bold and courageous and have a new mindset. If Bahasa Malaysia, Mandarin, Tamil and English becomes the new language diet of the ordinary Malaysians, then it will most assuredly be the first steps towards attaining the much talked about true racial integration. And it will herald the rise of a truly modern Malay race. Malays must do everything possible to avoid being ‘trapped in this land’ (like the Thais in theirs) for another 1000 years to come. Sometime it is good to dream positive things. By CariJalan
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The Blogs 
It's not for lack of trying though - my head is just wired in a certain way and for those of you that think I am pseudo-Chinese cos I can't speak or read Mandarin... Don't go there... 
If they can't, how can we ?
It takes two hands to make a clap sound !