Subscribe in a reader | Subscribe by Email PM Badawi mentioned that “anyone” can become a leader of a country while congratulating Barack Obama on his presidential win:
It is possible for anyone from a minority group to be a nation’s leader, even in Malaysia, says Prime Minister Datuk Seri Abdullah Badawi.
“It is up to the people to decide, just as the Americans had done through the democratic process,” he said while extending his congratulations to Senator Barack Obama.
Reporters had asked him in the Parliament lobby yesterday if it were possible for a person from a minority group to become Prime Minister in Malaysia.
While we Malaysians rooted for Barack Obama to win (due to his manifesto and his minority background), we should not be misled that this kind of miracle only happens in USA. In fact, we in Malaysia are far better than USA! How you ask? Well, in its 232 years of independence, this is the first time an American of mixed parentage became the president. While in Malaysia, we have in our 50 years of independence, not one, not two, but all Prime Ministers who came from a mixed background!
- Tunku Abdul Rahman is born of a Malay father and Siamese mother.
- Tun Abdul Razak is from Bugis ancestry.
- Tun Hussein Onn is from Turkish ancestry.
- Tun Mahathir is born of a half-Malayalee (Indian) father and Malay mother. Mahathir’s father was born of a Malayalee father and Malay mother.
- Abdullah Badawi’s maternal grandfather (on his mother’s side) was from mainland China.
OK, I’m kind of stretching it a bit, but still we have one half-Siamese, a quarter-Indian, and a quarter-Chinese as prime ministers. Not bad for a 51 year old country.
However, it wrong to say that just about anyone can be a Prime Minister in our country. the Prime Ministers is decided among the MPs (one who commands the support of the majority of the MPs). So, we elect MPs, who then in turn, choose the PM based on their coalition, principles, and so on. Its totally different from USA, where you know who are the candidates for presidency and can vote for or against him/her. In Malaysia, the candidate for PM has always been the president of UMNO, but only a selected few have the power to choose him – the UMNO delegates and division members. And, by virtue of being a party limited by race, only a person of that race can be the president, and subsequently the Prime Minister. Of course, “halfbreeds” and “quarterbreeds” are also accepted as in the case of our Prime Ministers. The only way I see a minority becoming a Prime Minister is by being a Muslim. That means a non-malay muslim who is a member of MCA/MIC/Gerakan/PPP or in DAP/PKR (if opposition becoming ruling coalition in the future). But I think a non-muslim will be a better Prime Minister since will not be pressured by the religious zealots in the country.
