KUALA LUMPUR - A NATIONAL debate on whether to scrap the use of English to teach math and science has reached a deadlock, an official said on Monday, deepening a political headache for the government as it strives to make Malaysian students internationally competitive.

Protracted discussions among the government, teachers, parents and political activists ended last week with no clear solution, said Deputy Education Minister Wee Ka Siong.

A decision that satisfies everyone would be 'impossible,' Mr Wee told The Associated Press.

'There is no middle path. There can be only one resolution, but I cannot speculate about what it will be,' Mr Wee said. 'All the views have been heard, so we will leave it to the wisdom of the Cabinet.'

English was once the medium of instruction in most schools in Malaysia, a former British colony. Nationalist leaders reversed the policy and made Malay - the national language - the main medium of instruction less than two decades after independence in 1957.

In 2003, realising that poor English-language skills meant Malaysian graduates could not compete for work against jobseekers from other countries in the region, particularly neighboring Singapore, then-Prime Minister Mahathir Mohamad started a program to resume teaching math and science in English. Other subjects continued to be taught in Malay.

A review to evaluate the success of Mahathir's policy began this year.

Some school teachers and linguists from the ethnic Malay majority complained that using English undermines a decades-old struggle to modernise Malay and to develop a scientific lexicon in their mother tongue.

Some among Malaysia's ethnic Chinese and Indian minorities opposed the use of English, saying math and science should be taught in their mother tongues, Mandarin and Tamil. Schools for ethnic minorities already teach other subjects in the two languages.

The debate comes at a sensitive time for the government, which is trying to regain support from the minorities after huge losses in March general elections.

Education Minister Hishammuddin Hussein has said the Cabinet will likely only announce a decision next year.

'Most stakeholders are ready for a backlash if the policy was to continue, namely from Chinese and Malay linguists and nationalists,' the New Sunday Times newspaper said in a commentary. -- AP