Wherefore art thou Malay President?



Yup, whilst quite a few local chinese are banging on about how much they respect multiculturalism in the face of popular knowledge of the racist ‘curry case’ mediation - whom some, afflicted by a lack of imagination, are inappropriately terming ‘currygate’ (along the lines of ‘Watergate’...its inappropriate because this has nothing to do with governmental deceit of Nixon-like proportions....silly people) and giving themselves a pat on the back for being pro-multiculturalism - whilst ignoring the fact that they never bothered about, or even noticed, far more significant events that’s been affecting the non-Chinese for quite a few decades - how many are fussing over the fact that the ‘presidential elections’ is a wholly Chinese event?  4 Chinese blokes are standing for elections.  And none of them seem to have a problem with the non-participation of other races.

Well, presidents in singapore are just figure-heads anyway right.  They did install a Malay president eons ago - Yusof Ishak - to buy in the Malay votes and support at that early phase of independent singapore history.  So where’s the Malay president now mate?  Or since Yusof Ishak?  Why no Malay president this time around? - which is what 'V'(chinese girl from singapore working in the UK) asked whilst i was having coffee in town yesterday morning.

I can’t be bothered about the race of the president actually. What matters is that society as a whole ceases its racist practices and perspectives so that the race of the president will not need to be an issue. Well, given the state-manufactured chinese-dominated social, perspectival, racial, cultural, status quo in singapore, it wouldn’t really matter if a Malay or Indian became president because, as stated above, they are mere figureheads anyway, and the real control, unfortunately, lies with the chinese-controlled government - as opposed to a truly multicultural one.

But it seems that, now, even the pathetic effort to whitewash this fact with figurehead non-Chinese presidents is ebbing away.  So when they have 4 chinese candidates for the presidency, can we say the same thing as in, ‘it doesn’t matter because even a Chinese president would be just a figurehead’?  No.  Given the chinese-preferred status quo in singapore politics and society, to install a Chinese president, even if he is just a figure-head, further reinforces said status quo, and especially since it is way past high-time that we had a truly native president, as opposed to just 'native-borns'.

In a nutshell, the idea of non-Chinese contrast is further being done away with 4 chinese blokes standing for presidency - and why aren’t there women standing for the presidency any way?  It’s already the status quo in the government with PM Lee Hsien Loong (son of the chinese racial supremacist, and erstwhile first PM and ‘founding father’ of multicultural-turned-chinese singapore, Lee Kuan Yew, and who stated a while back that 'singapore must always have a chinese majority') stating not too long ago that ‘singapore isn’t ready for a non-Chinese PM’, whilst appearing to do nothing to ensure that it will ever be, and doing his best to ensure that it will never be.

i.e. singapore is not ready for a non-Chinese PMs statue, so we’re sticking up a statue of a mass murderer-cum-premier, Deng Xiao Ping; singapore is not ready to celebrate non-Chinese cultures at central locations, so we’re celebrating Chinese New Year with far greater pomp in central locations because we are the majority; singapore is not ready to have a majority of other races, so we’re going to maintain singapore as a state with a Chinese majority; and, oh yes, in the past when much of these ‘multicultural’ policies and practices were taking place, ‘singapore is not ready to talk about racial issues because the non-Chinese have yet to get used to being 2nd class citizens’.

Sounds reasonable and evidence of the masses being pro-multicultural to you?

Singapore presidential elections?  Given the complementary racist status quo, it’s nothing but a Chinese presidential elections.  Well, alright.  You can have your chinese president.  Just give me a Malay PM please.

It seems that the absence of an 'uproar amongst netizens‘ with regards to this matter, unlike in the xenophobia-driven ‘curry case’, sends a clear signal to the non-Chinese that they deserve nothing more than the right to cook their curries as and when it pleases them.  But what if there was to be a Malay or Indian president? Would ed be thrilled then? No, it would just be another excuse to brush off the allegation that singapore is a racist and chinese supremacist state and the chinese in general are self-absorbed - a notion that appears to be dispelled with mass support for the Indian family to have cook their curry as and when it pleases them in return for the chinese to do as they please and prefer in all other arenas.   It seems that the absence of an 'uproar amongst netizens‘ with regards to this matter, unlike in the xenophobia-driven ‘curry case’, sends a clear implied signal to the non-Chinese that they deserve nothing more than the right to cook their curries as and when it pleases them.

I can’t be bothered about the race of the president actually, or whether singapore has a majority of Chinese descent. What matters is that society as a whole ceases its racist practices and perspectives so that the race of the president will not need to be an issue.  But where egalitarianism is not true, not making an issue of the latter only serves as evidence of people being accustomed to the way things are.

Why should this be an issue?  So that in addressing this situation and turning singapore toward the egalitarian path, we can ensure that people will have no reason to think that if the chinese aren’t ready for multiculturalism, than perhaps they ought to consider returning to where they can prefer their own and not be accused of being racists.


ed





Comments

  1. Hey,

    Since the elected president has no power to challenge the racist status quo (but has power to maintain the status quo in exchange for a high pay, which is originated from the mass), I'd have no choice but to cast a spoilt vote on the ballot paper as voting for any of the 4 candidates would validate the Chinese racial supremacist system perpetuated by the incumbent government. It's unlike the parliamentary election in which one could vote for the greater evil as opposed to casting a spoilt vote in the hope of improving the lesser evil. What do you think?

    Anyway I like your statement that "if the chinese aren’t ready for multiculturalism, than perhaps they ought to consider returning to where they can prefer their own and not be accused of being racists". Haha.

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  2. Hey bro,

    Wah! Spoil vote? Not bad man. What i did in the first presidential elections was to draw an extra box, put in the name 'mickey mouse', and vote for the rodent. Perhaps all egalitarian minded singaporeans should draw a box on the ballot paper, put in the name, 'Hang Tuah', and vote for him as a call for more contrast and difference in singapore. You know, i don't get it. People appreciate the element of 'contrast' when it comes to choosing their LCD TVs, if you can see things more clearly and well-defined because of that, they should consider that when it comes to society as well.

    Glad you got the joke Mark. Now you know why LKY is afraid of Indians? Like what i said to my mom a couple of years ago, "He won't know what to say when a 'mama' starts 'twisting words'. So better just call them troublesome and say that 'singapore must always have chinese majority' so that he can be confused for being smart for want of 'twisting' challenge." Haha. Tragic, but funny all the same. Good on you for your empathy mate.

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  3. Hey Mark,

    I think i ought to make a correction to my earlier statement - about the president just being a figurehead. Well, it seems from what i've been reading on some SG blogs - I told you earlier that they were informative didn't i;) - that they have already ceased to be figureheads. The fact that they can debate issues that are quite controversial shows that the presidency, from hereon, or at least for now, is going to be pretty empowered. Even if they aren't able to make much changes, the fact that they can debate as they do at least indicates that they can potentially be at loggerheads with the government, and, most importantly, influence public opinion. So that's a good thing, democratically speaking.

    The same thing happened with the premiership. Since singapore's first PM was chinese, and then the 2nd, and third - the son of the first - they managed to bring about enough racial polarisation and self-absorption amongst the state-defined, supported, and promoted 'majority' via a host of racist policies. For Lee Hsien Loong to state that singapore is not ready for a non-chinese PM he effectively reinforced the ‘notion’ mentioned above.

    It is not the chinese I have a problem with, but an act that is only going to reinforce the already rampant racial self-absorption amongst quite a few of ‘the majority’.

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