A Journey of Malaysian English (Part 3)

Question to ponder:
Why is English considered important to climb the socioeconomic ladder?
(Post your answers under comments section of this post)

English in the colonial and post colonial era was a necessity for Malaysians to climb up the socioeconomic ladder. Thus, during that period, many middle to upper class Malays, Chinese, Indians and other minority races sent their children to English medium schools for their education. So in just one generation, English has become the first language of certain Chinese, Indians & Eurasians. (Though only a small percentage)

This division in the language capability has divided the people into English speaking vs non-English speaking, elites vs no-elites, haves vs have-nots. This divisive nature was in tandem with the policy of the British colonial government, divide & rule which resulted in irreconcilable pluralism.

Reference: Cultural Diversity Lecture Notes

Click here to read A Journey of Malaysian English (Part 2).
In Part 4, we'll discuss more on the types of Malaysian English dialects.

Further Reading:
TOM McARTHUR. "MALAYSIAN ENGLISH." Concise Oxford Companion to the English Language. 1998. Encyclopedia.com.