Not ready for non-Chinese PM? Who is PM to speak on our behalf?

My respect for the current PM dropped yet another few notches – again. It is not that I take issue with his opinion – yes, it is HIS opinion and no one else’s – that Singapore is “not ready” for a non-Chinese PM. I take issue that he is saying that Singapore is not ready BECAUSE the electorate is not ready.

Yeah, who the hell is he to speak on our behalf?

Excerpts from ST on 9 Nov 2008.
http://www.straitstimes.com/Breaking%2BNews/Singapore/Story/STIStory_300203.html
Non-Chinese PM?

SINGAPORE may have a non-Chinese prime minister one day but that is unlikely to happen any time soon, Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong said yesterday, four days after Americans elected their first black president.

Mr Lee said race is still a factor that determines voters' preferences here, although he noted that attitudes have shifted.

Aww, come off it. If the PAP is race bias, don’t blame it on the people. This “can a non-Chinese be a PM” issue has been around a long time. About more than 15 years ago, the same question was posed to LKY and he made a direct reference to S Dhanabalan, not being able to be the PM, because Singapore is a Chinese majority race country.

Let’s face it. No matter how much PAP has been saying that race is not an issue for them, and at the same time poking jibes at other countries’ race policies, the PAP has ALWAYS played the racial card, even before our independence.

Here is the latest jibe at Malaysia (and NZ too!) at their racial policies, with an air or arrogance implied by the PM himself, that Singapore’s policies are not racially skewed. Ha ha.

http://www.straitstimes.com/Breaking%2BNews/Singapore/Story/BgSty_300203_1.html
NATION'S INTERESTS MUST COME BEFORE RACE: PM

SINGAPORE'S leaders must put national interests first before those of their particular racial community, Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong made it clear yesterday.

That is why the country will not head down the road of electing people to Parliament to represent the interests of their race, as is the case in Malaysia and New Zealand.

In response to a question on whether Malay Members of Parliament have difficulty balancing their community's interest with the national interest, Mr Lee explained what he expected of MPs here.

'If he is a Chinese, I want to ask him if he is a Singaporean who happens to be of Chinese descent or is he Chinese first, who happens to be living in Singapore,' he said.

Singapore is unlike Malaysia as it does not have 'a coalition government where there is a Chinese party and a Malay party and an Indian party, and then we try to push and see who can push harder'.

Neither does it intend to move towards a system of proportional representation as practised in New Zealand, where the small number of MPs voted in to represent Maoris can exact a price each time the government seeks their support.

'But for Singapore, I think it would be the wrong thing to do. In Singapore, you come in, you have to think about the interests of Singapore,' Mr Lee said.

On the difficulty of finding Malay political talent, he said it was tough to find such talent across all the races.

Although the pool of Malay talent is bigger than what it used to be, the proportion of Malay professionals - such as doctors, lawyers and engineers - is still lower than the national average, he said.

Mr Lee also called for the grassroots leaders' help in talent-spotting, asking: 'Do you know anyone to introduce to me?'


It seems that PAP is always quick to name other nations for their “faults”, yet are blind to the “same faults” we are practising!

Malaysia and NZ have racial policies in government representation, while we don’t subscribe to that? Hello? Is the PM in touch with his own politics at home?

What is the GRC system about? Isn’t that race politics in action? Has not the GRC system allocated the number of MPs in parliament based on race?

As for a minority race PM, let’s take a look a S Dhanabalan again. He still is around, isn’t he? What’s keeping him away? It can’t be the money, can it? After all, PAP has long said that we need to pay leaders well for them to be in politics. Obviously, to Dhana, the money isn’t attractive enough.

I strongly believe it is not that we do not have enough minorities capable enough to be the PM of Singapore. I strongly believe it is the racially skewed policies in Singapore (something PAP denies it exists, yet pokes fun at other countries – ha ha, what hypocrisy!) that is preventing capable minorities from being the PM of Singapore.

Here is a list of possible minority race individuals who could have been PM, if not for the racist policies of PAP, as well as LKY’s 20+ year rule as PM, and if PAP had not schemed a Lee Dynasty for Singapore.

David Marshal
EW Barker
Yusuf Ishak
Devan Nair
S Rajaratnam
S Dhanabalan
JB Jeyaratnam

To PM Lee HL, who says that Singapore is not ready for a minority race PM, here is my reply. Singapore has had many capable non-minority race individuals who could have been PM. It is not that the Singapore people are not ready. It is that PAP has a racially skewed system – very similar to Malaysia’s and NZ’s, where race plays a major role.

Incidentally, S Dhana is still alive. Why are we not getting him back?

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Note – Here are some of my other posts on race issues in Singapore.

If I told you Singapore has racist policies, would you believe me?

Racial Quota for HDB is for PAP to stay in power – and it is racially discriminatory