In recent years, the Malaysian Ministry of Education has been reviving gifted and talented programmes. Gifted students are well-known for their academic achievements, but their socio-emotional development are often given less attention in schools. This article discusses the socio-emotional issues of gifted adolescents, and the needs for providing affective curriculum in gifted education to cater the socio-emotional needs of gifted adolescents. Various models for developing an affective curriculum are also discussed within the context of the Malaysian education system. Finally, this article considers the possible implications on teacher education and provides suggestions for future research to be conducted in Malaysia.

In this article, we discuss Malaysia's major language policies surrounding Bahasa Malaysia and English as medium of instruction (MOI) since its independence. We show how issues involving a national language vis a vis English are shaped by different ethnic and social groups' competing views regarding these languages. We argue that the language debate in Malaysia is largely an emotive one that carries a historical baggage which no one is yet ready to discard and until such time, it will continue to represent a nation divided by nationalism, race-based politics and globalisation. However, we also interpret the Malaysian government's termination of English as the MOI in certain key school subjects starting in 2012 as not necessarily an arbitrary rejection of English but as a positive move, given the many problems associated with the over-reliance on English in education and language policies throughout Asia. We, thus, see the most recent act known as 'To Uphold Bahasa Malaysia & To Strengthen the English Language' (MBMMBI) as a necessary, firm, strategic and timely response by the Malaysian government to globalisation, nation building, the increasing international role of English, and the pressure to produce knowledge and maintain national cultural identity in today's world