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Wednesday, August 24, 2016

Singapore opens presidency to minorities, but is Malaysia ready for non-Malay PM?

Last Sunday, Singapore Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong announced that the republic will soon amend its constitution to ensure its future presidents can be elected from among the ethnic minorities ‘from time to time’. — TODAY file pic© Provided by Malay Mail Online Last Sunday, Singapore Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong announced that the republic will soon amend its constitution to ensure its future presidents can be elected from among the ethnic minorities ‘from time to…KUALA LUMPUR, Aug 24 ― It will be quite a while before Malaysians may see a non-Malay ascend to the office of prime minister, political pundits said after neighbouring Singapore moved to enhance the position of its minorities with regards to its head of state.
Malays in general are currently unwilling to accept a prime minister outside their ethnicity due to race-based politics and a widening divide among racial and religious groups, the analysts added.
Dr Faisal Hazis from Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia, however, said middle-class Malays in particular are becoming more open to non-Malay parties other than Umno and PAS, citing voting patterns in the last two general elections in 2008 and 2013.
“But at the moment, I think, especially the rural Malays, this is [a] big challenge to break through that mentality. But it takes time,” the associate professor at the Institute of Malaysian and International Studies in Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia told Malay Mail Online.
“We are opening up now to multi-ethnic politics and people might be open in the future to accept people from different races to become the prime minister and I think [the] Constitution should accommodate that kind of possibility,” he added.
Last Sunday, Singapore Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong announced that the republic will soon amend its constitution to ensure its future presidents can be elected from among the ethnic minorities “from time to time”. The Singapore president is the head of state but does not have executive powers, which is held by its prime minister as head of government.
Fellow political analysts Dr Lim Teck Ghee and Prof James Chin presented more cynical views, with the former arguing that Umno leaders and supporters, as well as PAS and other Malay-dominant parties, feel that the PM’s position and other high-ranking posts in the civil service and military are the “birthright” of Malays.
“I am afraid the racial and religious divide is widening and shows no sign of diminishing. There's nothing out here right now which can convince the Malays to change their ‘racial dominance or preference’ mindset,” Lim, who is the Centre for Policy Initiatives (CPI) director, told Malay Mail Online.
Chin, who is the University of Tasmania’s Asia Institute director, said race-based politics like that of Barisan Nasional (BN), in which Umno, MCA and MIC restrict membership based on ethnicity, will prevent the Malays from embracing the idea of a non-Malay prime minister.
“Malays will not accept non-Malay as PM as long as BN stays in power. We need a non race-based political system for non-Malays to be accepted as full citizens,” he said.
All three political analysts agreed that it was a good thing that the Federal Constitution does not impose a racial requirement for the position of prime minister, saying this would give non-Malays a chance at the country’s top leadership position.
The Malaysian Federal Constitution states only, in Article 43, that the prime minister is an MP who, in the Yang di-Pertuan Agong’s opinion, is “likely” to command the confidence of the majority of the members of the Dewan Rakyat.
Malaysia’s total population of 31.7 million people consists of 67.4 per cent Bumiputera ethnic groups, the largest consisting of Malays with other indigenous tribes forming the majority in Sabah and Sarawak. The ethnic Chinese and Indians make up 24.6 per cent and 7.3 per cent respectively with 0.7 per cent other races rounding up the demography.
In contrast, Singapore which also touts itself as multi-ethnic has a population, has a total population of 5.54 million people and is nearly three-quarters Chinese at 74.1 per cent, with Malays making up roughly 13.4 per cent, Indians 9.2 per cent and other races 3.3 per cent, according to its latest official figures.
“Now they [Singapore] are opening, there’s no reason for us, which doesn’t limit any ethnic groups to assume [a] leadership role, we should be more open and more inclusive. If Singapore has opened up, I think we should do the same as well,” said Faisal.

1 comment:

  1. 'Head of State' versus 'Head of Government'

    If any nation that has any existing monarchy, then the 'Head of state' is called a King or Queen.
    If any nation that has ZERO monarchy, then the 'Head of State' is called a President.

    The 'Head of Government' of every single nation is called Prime Minister, regardless of the nature or status of the monarchy.

    Interesting for younger generations to come to this kind of mindset.

    There is an almost ZERO percentage probability of a 'NON' to be the 'Head of Government'.
    Not zero but ALMOST ZERO.
    (HINT = above 99%)

    As for 'Head of State',there is absolutely ZERO PERCENT PROBABILITY for a 'NON' to hold this post, at the present moment. (since 1957)
    (HINT = exactly 0%)

    Unless something completely UNEXPECTED happens....

    ReplyDelete

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