Sharifah Munirah Alatas, the deputy director of Universiti Malaya’s Allianz Centre for Governance, called on the government to release data on students’ current language proficiency, particularly in the national and global lingua franca.

“The relevant ministries should do the research, publish it, and make it publicly accessible,” she said in a Facebook post today.

“The government has all the data after all, and they can engage competent individuals from universities, think tanks, and from among the public to assist.

“Also, what about our priority to focus on mastering Bahasa Malaysia and English… I mean really mastering English systematically, and not just for mathematics and science subjects.”

Education minister Fadhlina Sidek announced yesterday that Malaysia would introduce Thai, Khmer, and Vietnamese as elective languages in schools to enhance regional cooperation.

However, Munirah questioned the ministry’s strategy for training teachers, saying new language policies must begin with plans to train competent educators.

“Such a plan has to be in sync from the start, with teacher education agendas,” she said.

Instead of new languages, she said students should be exposed to subjects like world history, comparative religion, political philosophy, and Southeast Asian civilisations – areas that could strengthen national identity and critical thinking.