Soon after Sept 11, America was paranoid with arrivals at airports having Muslim names. Who would have thought that Senator Obama now stands a chance of becoming President of USA!
The wonderful thing about American democracy is that no one is denied a chance to become President - it is colour blind.
What we have in Malaysia, even after 50 years of independence is that the political system is still racially based, with the 3 major races having a political party each to look after their racial rights and privileges. We even have it in the Constitution that only a Malay can be Prime Minister! The fact that the Malays constitute the majority race means even if there were no such eligibility requirement, it is most unlikely that a non-Malay can become a PM in the foreseeable future. It would be a sign of maturity if we could aim towards a true equality of the races to start with - how about having the eligibility of other races becoming the PM of Malaysia be ‘being born in Malaya/Malaysia on or after August 31, 1957’?
I can understand why Umno will never consider such a proposal. Besides having the vested interests in ruling the country for the past 50 years, it has assumed to have the divine right to continue its rule forever.
Lim Kit Siang said former Prime Minister Tun Dr. Mahathir Mohamad is right when he said yesterday that the Barisan Nasional (BN) and Umno are incapable of reforming themselves without pressures from the electorate.
Now, we have Anwar (deemed a traitor to Umno) who promised a more equitable needs-based system, which if properly carried out, would ensure less corruption.
Hamdan Ibrahim, in his letter to Malaysiakini: "I refer to the Malaysiakini report Anwar: Bumi policies affect investments.Our former deputy premier has opened a Pandora’s box by saying that bumiputera policies affect investment. The NEP - a ‘sacred cow’ for the Malay community for more than three decades - has had its share of successes and failures. But there are still some people, especially in Umno, who think the policy should be maintained so that Malays can catch up economically with other races in this country."
To Umno, the threat to their continued leadership comes from the other Malay parties like PAS and PKR, not from any of its obedient coalition partners nor DAP. It would need a paradigm shift in the people’s mindset before we can get out of this present racial divide.
Percy Chan in his letter, 'A plea to all Malaysian politicians' in Malaysia Today: "You are in politics to serve the country and its people. In that light it is imperative to put national interest ahead of your personal interest."
"As a passionate and concerned citizen the message to all of you is we are fed-up of all this. We, the nation need change and I quote Sen. Obama from his recent victory speech in South Carolina. Americans, especially young, voting Americans want change and they are turning away the old geriatrics in power and electing people like Obama. We are seeing a tsunami of change in American politics. They can contemplate a Black President – that’s an epic mind-shift. I quote:
“We need to have politics of commonsense & innovation – a shared sacrifice & shared prosperity… In my meetings with so many people, I did not see a black South Carolina, I did not see a White South Carolina, and I saw a South Carolina”
"These inspirational words not only apply to Americans but to all mankind. Take a page from that and we may yet save ourselves."
It would be nice to have a political system where there is no clamour among politicians for positions, because of the chance to enrich themselves, but where the politicians diligently serve the country and the public, as if it is a national service. No harm in dreaming about it, is there?
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