As well as being the language of business, English is the common language of the 10 countries of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations and the one used in all the deliberations of the organization.
But in Malaysia there is concern the standard of English is dropping off badly. Last year almost a quarter of the 470,000 students, aged about 16, failed their English exams and only about 16% of them had high scores. The students need to pass English in order to get their school-leaving certificate and be able to get a job.
