COMMENT | Books, schools and diversity

COMMENT | A friend recently asked me to recommend a few Malay storybooks for his 8-year-old daughter.

Apparently, the young girl whose mother tongue is not Malay, was struggling to keep up with lessons and classmates at a national primary school.

Hoping his daughter would improve her language skills and at the same time try, to fit in with her majority Malay-speaking classmates, my friend ended up ordering every single book on my list.

A few days later, I received a text message from him. He expressed disappointment over the content of the books I suggested. I was completely surprised by what he had to say...