Malaysia's national ICT association PIKOM has urged its government to push for the continued use of English if the nation is to achieve developed status by 2010.

Malaysia's Deputy Minister of Education Mohd. Puad Zarkashi, has said that Malaysians in the private sector should use Bahasa Malaysia and not English in all communications in the private sector and government-linked corporations. "While PIKOM acknowledges Bahasa Malaysia as the national language, and supports competence in and fluency of Bahasa Malaysia among citizens at all levels in all sectors, industry-wise, there are strong reasons for English to continue to be the language of choice for communication among private sectors, GLCs and government agencies," PIKOM chairman C.J. Ang said.

Ang said that with the outsourcing industry expecting to recruit 300,000 workers by 2012, encouraging English-speaking citizens is essential, especially in servicing global clients in the US and Europe. "Some of the much-sought-after jobs in the outsourcing industry are call center, payroll processing, finance and accounting, all needing English competency."