Rilek1Corner

Tag: elected presidency

  • Family Of Presidential Hopeful Salleh Marican Support Their Father, Gears Up For Election Campaign

    Family Of Presidential Hopeful Salleh Marican Support Their Father, Gears Up For Election Campaign

    When her father and CEO of Second Chance Properties Mohd Salleh Marican told her late last year that he intended to run for president, Nadia Marican laughed at the idea of becoming a member of Singapore’s First Family.

    But Salleh’s eldest daughter and her other family members realised that the 67-year-old patriarch was serious about his presidential bid. They rallied around him and began to plan for his election campaign. Even the current fasting month is not slowing their momentum.

    Her brother-in-law Ferus Bakar is overseeing Salleh’s media communication plans while she and her younger sister Radiah Marican, 40, are acting as their father’s personal assistants in the campaign.

    Nadia, who is currently pursuing a PhD in International Psychology at the Chicago School of Professional Psychology, said that her father has a good chance of winning the election. Wearing a navy blue midi dress, Nadia was joined by Radiah and Salleh during the interview at her house in the eastern part of Singapore.

    Salleh’s campaign kicked off on 5 June 2017, when he collected his presidential election forms at the Elections Department (ELD). But Salleh was sidetracked afterwards by the online criticisms of his lack of proficiency in the Malay language.

    Nadia said that the Marican family was prepared for negative reactions from some netizens. “It was so vicious that we were surprised at first. But personally, I think they are trolls,” she added.

    Qualities of being a “good president”

    When asked about her father’s attributes that would put him in good stead to be the President of Singapore, Nadia was effusive in her praise for him.

    “The majority of Singaporeans prefer their president to be apolitical and my father represents that. I am confident that he stands a good chance, given that he is a man of honour and integrity and has the leadership qualities to be president,” said Nadia.

    “He has a pragmatic approach to life and has a soft heart. He is a man who is generous in sharing knowledge with others. These are the qualities needed for a president,” she added.

    Also, Salleh’s ability to turn around his company when the odds were stacked against him could inspire Singaporeans and convince them that he is the right man to become a “People’s President”, Nadia said.

    “If he wins, I will be the proudest daughter in the world. Who knows, maybe the tea party in the (Istana) garden might come true!” she quipped.

    Source: https://sg.news.yahoo.com

  • Getting To Know A Potential First Gentleman – Mr Mohammed Abdullah Alhabshee, Husband Of Hlimah Yacob

    Getting To Know A Potential First Gentleman – Mr Mohammed Abdullah Alhabshee, Husband Of Hlimah Yacob

    In this series of looking at our future president spouse, we take a closer look at Madam Halimah Yacob’s husband – Mr Mohammed Abdullah Alhabshee.

    After all, Madam Halimah Yacob is widely speculated to become the next president of Singapore.

    Americans joked that the male spouse of an American head of state should be called “First Dude”, “First Lad” or even “First Mate”

    A theoretical Mdm Halimah as Singapore’s president would make her the first female president of the country and her husband the ‘First Gentleman’

    “First Gentleman” or a “First Lady”, they accompany our Presidents to key state or diplomatic events, and are arguably, an important face of Singapore as well.

    So who is this Mr Mohammed Abdullah Alhabshee?

    University sweethearts.

    Mr Mohammed Abdullah Alhabshee graduated from the University of Singapore. He was Mdm Halimah’s university sweetheart and they got married two years after she graduated.

    He was a physics major.

    Determined and humble

    They were hopelessly in love but poor. He never believed in borrowing money just to make their lives better. As a result, the first flat that they moved into was spartan and un-renovated. They started with a rented room and then lived with relatives.  Together with the love of his life by his side, they eventually managed to save up enough to buy a five-room flat in Tampines for $75,000.

    He never forgot his roots and still lives in a HDB house with Mdm Halimah today. Together they have five children in steady succession.

    Strong family values

    Mr Mohammed Abdullah Alhabshee enforced the importance of communal living and taking care of elders to their children.

    30 years ago, he and Mdm Halimah bought two adjacent five- and four-room flats in Yishun, and knocked down the dividing wall so that the family can be even closer together.

    In his household, everything is family-sized and common property. The idea of sharing is very important. In a 2013 interview, Mdm Halimah shared that in their household, “You do not buy things just for yourself. You buy things to share with everybody.”

    He took care of his mother and lived under the same roof until she passed away in 1999. His mother-in-law too lived with them until recently, she passed away in 2015.

     

    Tri-lingual and a singer!

    Mr Mohammed Abdullah Alhabshee is talented. Well versed in Malay and English, he could also sing well in Tamil!

    The pillar behind Mdm Halimah success

    Madam Halimah is a ground person. She never relies on official feedback channels alone but keeps her ears planted to the ground so that she can understand her residents better and help them in whichever way she can. Even back in MSF, she would visit voluntary welfare groups at least twice a week to find out their problems in implementing policies.

    Mr Mohamed Abdullah Alhabshee acts as the support pillar in her life. He is extremely proud of his wife achievements and never fails to give her  moral support and make time to accompany her to grassroots events and functions.

     

    The Singaporean Identity

    Mr Mohamed Abdullah Alhabshee promotes the Singaporean identity and yet takes pride in his own ethnic background.

    (Mr Mohamed and Mdm Halimah at an Arab association achievement awards ceremony)

    Alhabshee is an Arab family name and Singaporean Arabs have a history that stretches all the way to the island’s modern founding by Stamford Raffles.

    Even though they are a relatively small community, they have made prominent contributions to the country. The majority of the Arabs in Singapore are Hadhramis tracing their ancestry from the southern part of the Arabian Peninsula called Hadhramaut, which is now part of the Republic of Yemen. Some of the more famous Arab families includes the Aljunied (al-Junayds), the Alsagoff (al-Saqqāf), and the Alkaff (al-Kāf) families.

    Assuming Mdm Halimah runs for the Presidency, will we be seeing Mr Mohamed Abdullah Alhabshee portrait up in the halls too, alongside Madam Halimah Yacob?

    Your pick.

  • Damanhuri Abas: The Reserved Malay EP Irony – Malay Votes Do Not Matter

    Damanhuri Abas: The Reserved Malay EP Irony – Malay Votes Do Not Matter

    With Mr Salleh Marican coming forward and putting his hat in the ring, we may have a contest for the upcoming EP in September. There are sceptics commenting since he made the announcement but he had previously indicated well in advance his willingness to respond to the PM’s call for capable Malays to come forward to meet the call to serve the people.

    In fact, I was present at the Reach session when Mr Salleh Marican was the first to speak to the government panel comprising of Dr Yaacob Ibrahim and Mdm Rahayu Mahzam. He expressed his disappointment to them about the change to the financial requirement from 100 million paid up capital to 500 million equity shares company. He indicated then that this change would affect his chance of serving which he was seriously considering when the EP was made exclusive for Malays.

    However, he clearly is determined by still coming forward and willing to make the pitch to convince the EP committee to qualify him possibly on the third equivalent route.

    He mentioned his strength of being a businessmen thus comfortable with big numbers as his company is worth at least 200 million in equity shares. Thus he has a valid reason to be heard fairly by the committee on his other credentials that would compensate for not exactly meeting the minimum financial requirement for the job. On that note alone, we should give him a chance to make his case before the committee.

    The Malay community is still hoping likewise for more potential candidates with credentials to offer themselves as a possible EP. The value of a contest should not be underestimated.

    The word on the ground is a great sense of disappointment among the Chinese majority who felt this reserve EP is undermining their believe in the ‘system’. Their reaction however is mix from out right condemnation and a desire to cast a protest vote possibly through spoiling them to voting in any other non-government candidate.

    Among the Malays they are similarly mix about the EP as they never see this anywhere in the community’s priority to do list for the government. The mainstream media nonetheless as expected has gone into overdrive since the announcement for a reserve EP was made. The picture coming from them is the general support and gratitude of the Malay community towards this initiative by the government. The more realistic ones see this as a desperate manoeuvre to stop the potential victory of Dr Tan Cheng Bock at the polls if it was an open election. This group would likely cast a vote for the non-government candidate.

    In all honesty, the Malay vote ironically do not really matter much as it is a low percentage. The swing will be to see where the supporters of Dr Tan Cheng Bock and Mr Tan Jee Say cast their votes. They are clear defined blocks that may determine who wins. The PAP block are quite predictable and from what the last EP showed its about 30-40% at most. So there are 60-70% potential vote eagerly waiting to be cast against the PAP/government candidate. All is not lost people. Let this EP be a healthy contest for a better deal to the people to check this government. So let the contest begin.

    #PE2017 #MalayPresidentforSingapore

     

    Source: Damanhuri Bin Abas

  • Khan Osman Sulaiman: Reserved Elected Presidency Is Fundamentally Flawed

    Khan Osman Sulaiman: Reserved Elected Presidency Is Fundamentally Flawed

    Im not that fired up on the upcoming Presidential Election. I know some of my friends are grateful that we now can have a Malay President after 50 years. We now can see photos of a Malay President and a Malay First Lady in every government buildings.

    Let’s not miss the forest for the trees.

    There are fundamental issues that need to be addressed with regards to reserving the presidential election for Malay candidates.

    1. This gov has put out of reach the aspirations of Singaporeans from being the president. It has implemented some strict conditions where most probably only the top 1% of the population is eligible, perpetuating an elitist society

    2. It has made changes to the President’s role that there is not much the president can decide on its own discretion. Council of Presidential Advisers (CPA) can override the President. Parliament can override the President. President to consult CPA. In the end, the President is a ‘lame-duck’

    3. Reserving this presidential election for Malay candidates posed a few problems. It gives out the notion that the Malays cannot stand on its own merits and win the election fair and square.

    It is condescending and reek of tokenism when at the same breadth, minorities are not allowed to assume the position of Prime Minister

    4. It goes against the grain of meritocracy. It places the Malay community as a pawn in a chess game. To be used only when needed.

    If the above points cannot be seen by those rejoicing for joy on the prospect of getting a Malay President, then as a whole, we deserve to be minions.

     

    Source: Khan Osman Sulaiman

  • Good News For Malay/Muslim Community – Yaacob Ibrahim Confirms Not Contesting Reserved EP

    Good News For Malay/Muslim Community – Yaacob Ibrahim Confirms Not Contesting Reserved EP

    Aspiring candidates for the presidential election have to see the office not as a job but as a calling, Minister for Communications and Information Yaacob Ibrahim said on Thursday (June 1).

    They must also be able to reach out to all Singaporeans, and uphold multiracialism, he said.

    “Whoever is willing to step forward to take on the job must continue to carry the ethos of multiracialism, which is important,” Dr Yaacob said. “He or she must continue to do their best to rally all Singaporeans, not just the Malay community.”

    Dr Yaacob, who is Minister-in-charge of Muslim Affairs, was speaking to reporters at the inaugural madrasah student awards ceremony.

    He also reiterated that he was not interested in running for the presidency, a point he made in an interview with Malay daily Berita Harian that was published in January this year.

     

    Source: www.straitstimes.com