Permatang Pasir assemblyman Faiz Fadzil said such a move would gradually affect the use of Malay and efforts to strengthen the language.

“As we are facing a serious issue of unity, the Malay language should be strengthened to resolve this,” he told FMT. “Malay is recognised as the national language enshrined under the Federal Constitution, every sector must respect it.”

Ong had said earlier today that Penang residents were highly proficient in English and state civil servants should not be penalised for using the language.

However, Faiz urged the government to proactively strengthen Malay as the national language, especially as a formal medium, without sidelining other languages.

However, Seri Delima assemblyman Syerleena Abdul Rashid of DAP said there were more pressing issues worth debating rather than the use of English.

She said schools should offer students the option to learn other languages like Mandarin and Tamil, not simply English. It was not necessary to recognise English as a second language as many Malaysians already spoke English – although they should make more effort to improve their proficiency in the language.