All Malaysians have accepted Bahasa Malaysia not only as an official language as enshrined in the Federal Constitution, but also as a lingua franca in everyday life.

That is why we now see Chinese or Indian youths speaking fluent Bahasa Malaysia on radio and TV, and in everyday life, sometimes more fluent than Malays themselves. Many Malaysians command English well too.

However, as the country is facing globalisation, we must be flexible and pragmatic enough not to treat language as symbol of ethnic pride anymore. We should be multilingual.

It is only natural that Malaysians learn English as a second language. But why not consider learning Mandarin too? It would contribute more towards inter-ethnic harmony and national integration.

Mandarin is one of the five official languages of the United Nations. It is widely used in China, Taiwan, Hong Kong, Singapore and Malaysia, countries of great economic potential and robust trade activities. We can even learn more about Islam through Mandarin as there are more Muslims in China than in Malaysia and Indonesia.

Islam reached China long before it spread to Southeast Asia through Aceh. Mandarin is not a "communist" language, just as English is not the language of "British imperialism".