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Tag: PAP

  • Osman Sulaiman: Many More Pressing Issues That Concern The Malay Community Than The Elected Presidency

    Osman Sulaiman: Many More Pressing Issues That Concern The Malay Community Than The Elected Presidency

    My community raised the issue of discrimination of Malays in RSAF.

    My community raised the issue of allowing school children to wear the tudung.

    My community raised the issue of allowing Hijabs in uniformed groups.

    My community raised the issue of having a ‘halal kitchen’ in the navy ships.

    My community raised the issue of having an independent MUIS.

    My community raised the issue to legislate some form of discrimination laws.

    Having a Malay president isnt the most pressing issue but yeah, it will be ‘given’ as though it’s what we need the most.

    We can now celebrate the magnanimous gesture by the Gov.

     

    Source: Khan Osman Sulaiman

  • Noor Mastura: Is Singapore Relatively Racism-Free Because Singaporeans Are Naturally Nice Or Because Of Government Intervention?

    Noor Mastura: Is Singapore Relatively Racism-Free Because Singaporeans Are Naturally Nice Or Because Of Government Intervention?

    Hey Singapore.

    As I read all the posts today from my friends living in America – I can’t help but reflect as a Singaporean.

    The fact that Trump has gotten so far with his racist and xenophobic views does not show how good he is. It shows what America has become.

    Of course there are still incredible people on the ground, fighting the good fight and working hard to counter these views and many of my friends are amongst them – but there are millions who actually voted and support Trump and worse- his views.

    The upside of this is – if Trump never ran for Presidency, you would never know. You would never know that so many of your countrymen support xenophobia, racism and are misogynists. A scary revelation.

    Attacks on Muslims, Blacks & places of worship are on the rise. And these actions are validated and justified according to the attackers because the guy running for presidency supports it as well right?

    I wonder sometimes if Singapore is so ‘safe’ and ‘harmonious’ because we are genuinely nice people or because the government has set such stern laws against racism. What if that was lifted?

    How many of us would fight tooth and nail to keep the peace of our people?

    And would there actually be a bunch of us or worse, a whole lot of us – who will use that opportunity to finally vent out their vitriol and hate?

    What do you think?

     

    Source: Noor Mastura

     

  • Harasha Bafana: Government’s ‘Calibrated Meritocracy’ Approach Should Be Applauded

    Harasha Bafana: Government’s ‘Calibrated Meritocracy’ Approach Should Be Applauded

    Our Prime Minister announced in Parliament yesterday that the next presidential election, due next year, will be reserved for candidates from the Malay community: “That means if a qualified Malay candidate steps up to run, Singapore will have a Malay president again… this would be our first after more than 46 years, since our first president Encik Yusof Ishak. I look forward to this.”

    He also said that: “Every citizen, Chinese, Malay, Indian or some other race, should know that someone of his community can become President, and in fact from time to time, does become President.”

    I applaud this move.

    It’s a unique approach to a sensitive issue. I call this a ‘Calibrated Meritocracy’ approach, Singapore-style. The Malay candidate(s), after all, must still be qualified to enter the race (no pun intended) – but assuming that there is a primordial urge to vote for one’s own ethnic group, there is little hope that the Malay candidate will garner enough voter support. Hence the need for this provision.

    PM said in his speech that he’s doing this now “because it would be irresponsible of me to kick this can down the road and leave the problem to my successors.”

    I pray that this will not open a can of worms.

    After all, beyond the racial stereotype that had emerged over the decades, there ARE many successful Malays (& Muslims) in our midst. We just need a better way to bring them into the National Consciousness – an emerging trend over the last few years that I am pleased to note in various fields such as mass media, the military & other national leadership positions.

    Majulah Singapura.
    Regardless of Race, Language or Religion.
    Let’s all be one inclusive Singapore where our beautiful diversity is acknowledged & appreciated – even as we work hard to succeed in a merit-based playing field.

    … & One day soon, I hope that we will be mature enough as a society to remove the CMIO (Chinese/Malay/Indian/Others) organising principle. When that day arrives, we will no longer need special provisions such as this.

    ****************

    “Uneasy lies the head that wears a crown.”
    ~ William Shakespeare

     

    Source: Harasha Bafana

  • Alfian Sa’at: Elected President Must Be Effective Check Against Government, Not Be A Puppet

    Alfian Sa’at: Elected President Must Be Effective Check Against Government, Not Be A Puppet

    We’ve had four Presidential elections (of which two went uncontested). The issue of whether it was important for a minority Singaporean to become the Elected President did not once crop up. Not even when there were four Tans running for the post in the year 2011.

    So I can’t help but view the recent call for a minority race President with skepticism. If minority representation was so important, why was this not factored in when the office of the Elected President was first introduced? Why now? And then one remembers that the next Presidential Election is due next year, and that the previous one in 2011 resulted in a very slim victory margin–0.35%–for the candidate that the PAP had backed.

    Yusof Ishak is rolled out to provoke nostalgia for a time when Singapore had a Malay President. But he became President only in 1970. In 1959, when Singapore attained self-government, Yusof Ishak was appointed the Yang di-Pertuan Negara, a position that was formerly held by Sir William Goode. When Singapore joined the Federation of Malaysia in 1963, the post of Yang di-Pertuan Negara was that of a vice-regal representative of the Yang di-Pertuan Agong (the elected monarch of Malaysia).

    A Malay head of state, Malay as National Language, the national anthem, etc were all part of a Malayanisation campaign to sweeten the deal for Singapore’s entry into Malaysia. The Malayan political elites had never wanted Singapore to be part of the Federation, as it was considered too Sinocentric. Having a Malay head of state was reassurance that it was not.

    That ship has long sailed. I, personally, have never had any yearning for there to be a Malay President. I know there are arguments about how having a Malay President will instill pride in the Malay community, that when we Malays view the portraits of a Malay President and his wife in schools and government buildings we will feel less invisible. I’m sorry but to me it will only make the President and his wife more visible and that is all.

    I wonder whether conditions for the Indian community improved during the 12 years when S. R. Nathan was President, whether the community’s image was elevated in the eyes of the majority when he held office. And then I remember that one of the more racist things S. R. Nathan was called was ‘the prata man in the Istana’. What next with a Malay President, Singapore? Some joke about how the President walks in front of the PM because the ‘Ahmad’ sits in front of his Chinese boss when he’s chauffering?

    So I say now, as a member of the Malay community: I don’t need a symbol to elicit respect, what I need is respect for my rights. (And anyway the respect one expects to earn on a tokenism ticket is shadowed with doubt.) What I want is for the government to be transparent about what is happening with their manpower policies in the military, to see more Malay ministers in portfolios other than environment and infocomm, to settle the issue of wearing tudungs as part of uniforms, to stop perpetuating cultural deficit theories, to enact anti-discrimination laws. There is a Malay President on our dollar notes and I’ve never heard of it, even subliminally, challenging longstanding stereotypes about Malays being ‘bad at money’.

    And most importantly, I don’t want us minorities to be used, once again, as a pretext to devise a system which will allow the PAP to entrench power. The GRC system was first proposed as a means to ensure minority representation but successive elections have shown how it’s been used to gerrymander, to create unequal voting power (an Hougang voter sends 1 representative into parliament, but an Ang Mo Kio voter sends 6), to dilute electors’ voting power, to usher in new faces riding on the coattails of popular incumbents at the helm of each GRC.

    Long story short: I would rather have a Chinese Elected President who can act as an effective check on the government than a puppet Malay President holding a golden rubberstamp.

     

    Source: Alfian Sa’at

  • Damanhuri Abas: Kepimpinan Melayu Tidak Berwibawa, Masyarakat Diperlakukan Sebagai Tidak Setaraf Bangsa Lain

    Damanhuri Abas: Kepimpinan Melayu Tidak Berwibawa, Masyarakat Diperlakukan Sebagai Tidak Setaraf Bangsa Lain

    Pemerintah terus memperlekehkan perasaan orang melayu dengan sesuka hati hanya kerana kepimpinan melayu yang merelakan bangsa sendiri diperlakukan sedemikian.

    Diam dari golongan pimpinan masyarakat yang terdiri daripada pemilik syarikat, pengerusi masjid, presiden/ketua persatuan, tokoh-tokoh masyarakat, golongan asatizah yg berpengaruh, golongan artis, golongan karyawan yg berpengaruh, mantan-mantan pemimpin dll., memungkinkan segala yang telah berlaku ini, kerana di mata masyarakat majmuk jelas tiada kedengaran langsung apapun suara dari golongan pemimpin melayu yg membantah mahupun menyoalkan tujuan dan kebijaksanaan tindakkan pemerintah tergesa-gesa mengubah dasar mereka dengan sesukanya. Ia memberikan persepsi palsu bahawa orang melayu menyokong perubahan dasar ini. Lebih buruk lagi, orang melayu sendiri merasakan seolah-olah pandangan luas masyarakat melayu sudah tidak penting kerana tiada sesiapa dikalangan pemimpin-pemimpin melayu yg berani menyuarakan keprihatinan mereka.

    Yang lebih prinsip lagi ialah dasar baru ini sekaligus menghapuskan adanya kuasa pemeriksa keatas pemerintah yang bebas dan berwibawa dalam menjaga urusan harta simpanan negara demi kepentingan rakyat jelata. Adanya kuasa penghalang adalah genting demi memastikan tertegaknya proses mengawas dan mengawal kemungkinan berlaku penyalahgunaan kuasa oleh pemerintah.

    Sebaliknya apa yang telah berlaku ialah kekeliruan memahami matlamat utama adanya jawatan Presiden terlantik dengan alasan-alasan sampingan yang mengeruhkan isu pokok yang seharuskan menjadi tumpuan kita semua.

    Memperuntukkan jawatan Presiden terlantik untuk orang melayu demi memastikan adanya bangsa melayu menjawat kursi Presiden adalah pendekatan yang sangat bahaya. Ia kerana setelah adanya seorang berbangsa melayu menjadi Presiden terlantik, ia akan mengkaburi isu perkauman yang masih ada dan terus berleluasa bersumber daripada dasar-dasar lain pemerintah sendiri seperti sikap waspada, curiga dan tidak yakin dengan bangsa melayu secara amnya. Ini masih jelas dalam perkhidmatan negara yang terus mengamalkan dasar-dasar yang mengecualikan dan menindas peluang-peluang anak-anak melayu mendapat jawatan-jawatan yang dianggap bahaya untuk diberikan kepada orang melayu.

    Jika benar adanya diskriminasi perkauman dalam masyarakat yang menidakkan kemungkinan orang melayu menjadi Presiden terlantik mahupun apa lagi jawatan tinggi negara, ia harus dikaji sedalamnya dan akar puncanya dimusnahkan. Barulah kita jujur ingin mengatasi masalah perkauman yang masih ada.

    Kita sebenarnya diberi peluang kini dengan pengakuan pemerintah sendiri mengiktiraf adanya penindasan perkauman. Ini masanya untuk orang melayu menyuarakan keprihatinan kita sebagai rakyat Singapura atas kewujudan penindasan ini selama 50 tahun sejak merdeka.

    Orang melayu bersikap matang dan bersabar sepanjang 50 tahun melihat dan merasai sendiri penindasan yang jelas berlaku tiap kali anak-anak melayu yang menjalani perkhidmatan negara dinafikan peluang yang dinikmati kesuluruhannya oleh bangsa lain. Tidak sepatahpun suara menyoalkan kenapa anak-anak melayu diperlakukan sedemikian, apa yang jelas adalah penindasan perkauman.

    Yang bahaya lagi ialah kesan perpanjangan kepada persepsi masyarakat majmuk terhadap bangsa melayu yang telah berakar dan sebati memandang serong bangsa ini dengan waspada dan curiga. Ia menjadikan orang melayu seperti rakyat yang kurang syarat dan sentiasa diperanaktirikan. Akibatnya telah lama dirasakan dalam merata lapisan masyarakat dalam semua aspek dari pendidikan hingga pekerjaan. Inilah kesan buruk yang telah bermaharajalela selama 50 tahun ini.

    Sudah tiba masanya dengan isu perkauman jelas terbuka, untuk kita mendesak pemerintah untuk berlaku adil kepada bangsa melayu dan segara menukar dasar-dasar lain yang bersikap perkauman dan menindas peluang orang melayu dalam negara kita yang tercinta ini.

    Jika pemimpin-pemimpin melayu masih takut untuk dilihat menentang dasar pemerintah, ingatlah tanggungjawab murni anda untuk membela nasib anak-anak melayu kita yang terus menerus berdepan dengan peluang-peluang terbatas tanpa dibela sesiapa. Kita tidak seharusnya diperlakukan sebagai rakyat tidak setaraf dengan bangsa-bangsa lain di negara kita sendiri.

     

    Source: Damanhuri Abas

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