
Why was a comprehensive system of Chinese schools needed to be established in Malaya by the Chinese when the British colonial master was in control?
An essay in the book The Chinese in Malaysia (2000 ed] provides the answer.
Why did the British colonial masters like Frank Swettenham think that English should not be taught to the natives of Malaya?
Frank Swettenham etc. believed English should not be taught to the natives of Malaya. In India, it caused the half- starved men there to consider manual labour as beneath them just because they know a little English. Unspoken, is the belief it will cause the native like the half -naked fakir Gandhi to learn law and agitate against the British colonial master.

Such interesting facts are explored in 200 years of Chinese Education in Malaysia by Kua Kia Soong.