Rafidah said if Malaysia were to employ teachers from Singapore, they would need to be “paid in Singapore dollars, three-and-a-half times more” due to the currency exchange rate.

“Why not get retired teachers in Malaysia with English teaching experience and proficiency? There are many around, and pay them the Singapore rates,” she said in a statement.

Rafidah, a former international trade and industry minister, was commenting on Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim’s remark yesterday that he had discussed with his Singapore counterpart Lawrence Wong the possibility of sending Singaporean teachers to Malaysia.

“We did discuss the possibility of Singapore considering my humble submission of sending teachers to teach English or some other subjects to many regions in this country,” Anwar said.

Wong arrived in Malaysia on Tuesday for a two-day working visit at Anwar’s invitation. This is his inaugural visit to Malaysia as prime minister, after being sworn in on May 15.

Rafidah also suggested that the government revise the teacher training syllabus to include English competency, and the school syllabus to include English proficiency.

“To make it ‘painless’, there is no need to make English a subject for examinations. Just one subject by itself, as a language,” she added.