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