Malaysiakini - Obama takes oath as first black US president.
Truly, an amazing event!
After 233 years as a nation that practiced black slavery, and 53 years after a black woman, Rosa Parks, was ordered to get to the back of a bus to vacate a seat at the front for a white man (which she refused to), the USA now has a black man as its Head of State, equal in status to Emperors and Empress, Kings and Queens.
And by his side stands a black woman as American’s 1st Lady, the Harvard educated lawyer, Michelle Obama.
Black indeed is beautiful and President Barack Obama and Michelle Obama make a lovely and august looking couple.
The greatest and last hurdle for black Americans has been surmounted. While Obama rode into the Oval Office on the promise of ‘change’, I wonder to what extent had low brow moronic warmonger George Bush and his abundance of follies helped White America’s acceptance of Obama.
But good riddance to Bush. The world has suffered humongously from that dangerous dumbo.
Many Malaysians looks at Americans with admiration and envy, yes, envy, for we now wonder, with such a phenomenal acceptance by White America of a black man as its 44th President, will a Chinese or an Indian ever become the PM of Malaysia?
Hmmm, I reckon not, so long as the so-called ‘social contract’ is defended every millimeter of the way, not least by Malaysian royalty.
Maybe the PM's position is too ambitious a dream considering that even the position of Deputy MB of Selangor had been too high a mountain for Teresa Kok to reach, so let's mull over other lesser positions like:
Political
(a) DPM? - hardly likely but hope springs eternal in our breasts ...
(b) Finance Minister (once held by Tan Siew Sin) but again unlikey as this is a crucial and juicy post ...
(c) Home Minister? - can a Chinese be trusted? Before Hindraf I was quite willing to hope for an Indian but alas ... now, forget about it lah ...
(d) Defence Minister? - maybe ...
(e) Foreign Minister? - maybe too ...
YDP of the 4 non-royal states
(a) Malacca? (once held by Leong Yew Koh) but alas, there have been too many ketuanan Melayu Hang Tuahs down there defending the fort ... besides, the Datukship factory ;-) is doing well ...
(b) Penang? – once I proposed that PG Lim, a prominent Penangite and lawyer, and sister to her better known brother, Lim Kean Siew, be made the first non-Malay YDP of Penang.
PG Lim’s impressive CV reads:
Director of the Regional Centre for Arbitration, Kuala Lumpur from 1982 to February 2000. Member of the National Consultative Committee set up to establish a New Economic Policy after the 1969 racial riots and a Member of the National Economic Consultative Committee 1 (NECC1) set up by the Government to draft a National Development Policy (NDP) for Malaysia.
1971, Malaysia’s First Woman Ambassador to the United Nations and thereafter Yugoslavia, Austria, Belgium and the European Economic Community.
She has published many papers and addressed several international conferences on international arbitration.
... well, we can hope, can't we ... and I wonder which non-Malay Penangite (other than yours truly ... no no no, am a socialist wakakaka) may have a stab at this position?
Don't make me scream by proposing Koh TK ;-) I don't mind Lim Chong Eu or someone with the distinguished personality and impressive qualifications of the current Deputy CM, Professor Rama.
(c) Sabah? – preferably a Sabahan
(d) Sarawak – preferably a Sarawakian
Civil Service
Chief Secretary – has any Chinese or Indian ever held this top position? I guess no and unlikely as a future apppointment too ...
Armed Services
(a) IGP? Nope ...
(b) Chief of the Armed Forces? Hmmm, maybe ... provided the Army Chief is (and will definitely be) Malay ...
(c) Chief of Army? No blooming way ever ...
(d) Chief of Navy? Thanabalasingam was its first chief, but only because two Malay Army generals declined the post. Maybe ...
(e) Chief of Air Force? Maybe ...
Will we see ‘change’ too? Well, let's hope for some crumbs, but perhaps in the meantime we can work on the appointment of Teresa as Deputy MB of Selangor ;-)
Kalau nak samakan Obama dengan situasi Malaysia, orang India dan Cina yang hendak jadi Perdana Menteri Malaysia mestilah beragama Islam, bertutur dengan baik Bahasa Melayu dan mempunyai sama ada bapak Cina/India dan Ibu Melayu.
ReplyDeleteKalau Obama tu bukan Christian jangan haraplah dia boleh jadi Presiden!
kami telah maju kearah spt yg disarankan oleh sdr - dah ramai yg bukan Melayu telah menerima hudud PAS ;-) wakakaka
ReplyDeleteanon from above said
ReplyDelete"Kalau Obama tu bukan Christian jangan haraplah dia boleh jadi Presiden!"
and even if he was a christian but still live like a normal black man stereotype, he still wouldn't be president.
Obama is black outside, ALL FREAKING WHITE INSIDE
do you see what we're trying to say here ktemoc?
or am i just being a bit too serious about this?
wait a second, that guy wasn't an anon, his name is Fadhli Rahim, haha
ReplyDeleteIn a nutshell, be appealing and connect with the majority and thou shalt have your way. ;)
ReplyDeletelong way more to go la bro...
ReplyDeleteappoint madam low as the temporary GM of PKNS (even after 30 years of loyal service!) also nearly want to have armed revolt, what more positions of govt power!
adli
ReplyDeleteso what exactly is a normal american black stereotype? F-word between every 2 or 3 words? lotsa Bling Bling? greet folks with "w'supp" and call people "dawg" regularly?
You mean all black men are SUPPOSED to be like that, otherwise they should be classified as WHITE INSIDE?
Taking the logic further, you mean if a white man who's "black inside" would still win the Presidency? Come on man! You honestly believe the Americans will vote in a man who starts his political speeches with "w'supp dawg"?
Or are you saying that only "white people" (even if they have black skin) can rule the country?
The Americans had TWO Democrat choices who captured their imagination - the choice of the first WHITE WOMAN Prez and the first BLACK Prez.
If it was about colour, Hillary had double advantage - she was WHITE...AND she was a WOMAN.
It's not about the colour la bro - it's the mind and spirit of the man. Those have no colour...
Obama may be black, but he goes to the same church.
ReplyDeleteIn Malaysia if you go to the same Mosque, by all means you can become the PM.
If Obama goes to pray in Mosque, do you think he will be President? THINK!
What they said is true. If you go to any blogs in US all of them said they will never vote for a Muslim president.
ReplyDeleteWhite or black or any colour they can accept.
But Muslim never.
Dont think they are so good. They were questioning Obama's birthright and religion.
Still accusing he was born in Kenya and he is a Muslim.
Therefore dont qualify.
Imfact many petition in court on this.
Eyes wide open said,
ReplyDelete"Or are you saying that only "white people" (even if they have black skin) can rule the country?"
spot on! you're getting there! sket je lagi bang
i was afraid i would have to elaborate myself further on this
just trying to take ur logic and applying it to my defense
so do you believe someone who still speaks malay with pelat cina will ever have the chance to be Prime Minister of Malaysia?
The things you mentioned in your reply strengthens my point, Americans don't tolerate with people they see as not being in touch with the majority of the crowd. Obama has blended himself perfectly with the community with behaviors that americans have so proudly call it erm.."AMERICAN". using the word "dawg" is NOT AMERICAN.
Being american is to embrace christianity, the way he communicates, the way he wears his clothes, the way he chooses his friends etc. for a country that claims itself as liberal, its surprising to see how close minded their people are.
And who is it that have set all these rules in order to be AMERICAN? oh yes, you guessed it alright, its the white people, the majority.
so in order for obama to win, he has to play by the rules. which is? to be ____?? one word, starts with a "DOUBLE U"
fortunately in Malaysia, Obama's special case has happened here. YES! HERE! Mahathir tu kalau nk dikirakan tok nenek dia bukan melayu pun, but he's a muslim, he talks like a malay, adapts malay culture, has a malay wife, you do the maths.
yea, its the mind, the spirit, bla3, but without all those things ive mentioned above and some other contributing factors (funds, backups), he couldn't possibly have won.
sorry if ive offended you. so touchy la these people whenever kita poke sket on race issues, i guess using the word "stereotype" was a big mistake eh? hehe
I agree with adlibudiman. Obama wasn't elected President because Americans suddenly become color blind. It is because Obama blended with the white majority.
ReplyDeleteLets not forget, Obama spend millions on advertisement hammering that he was a God-loving Christian and not a suspicious Muslim.
"kami telah maju kearah spt yg disarankan oleh sdr - dah ramai yg bukan Melayu telah menerima hudud PAS ;-) wakakaka"
People hate BN, they will hang to any alternative. People hate Bush, they will hang to anything. Haha.
Most of the commentators here (who's knowledge on Black Americans normally comes from watching Channel [V] or MTV) forgot several things... Obama didn't need to change his very un-white sounding "Barack Hussein Obama" into some WASP name like Bertrand Henry Oswald. The Arabic name "Hussein" is still there, and didn't matter for many Americans on Election Day.
ReplyDeleteObama didn't deny his Kenyan heritage, unlike a former Prime Minister who went all out to act "more Malay" than the native Malays themselves! :p
Regarding the religions of American Presidents, some were Deists, who believe in the presence of a God, but without any religious dogma...
http://www.deism.com/
...or had no affiliation (Abraham Lincoln).
Meanwhile in M'sia, any PM wannabe now & in the near future can't be any kind of Muslim. He must be a Sunni only... and any Shi'a or Ahmadi is out of the question (and into re-educational prison).
Anyway, there'll come a time when race & religion won't matter in our nation's choice for Prime Minister. But what's more important is the person must be someone who's capable of leading our country.
Obama is very much in the same mould as Colin Powell and Condeleeza Rice.
ReplyDeleteVery black on the outside, very white on the inside.
That's part of the reason why he's "acceptable" to most Americans.
Of course, its already quite a breakthrough that they were even able to look past his dark skin to accept his other qualifications.
By the way, if you are familiar with the way Americans speak, Obama doesn't speak like a typical white. He has a negro "pelat", if you want split hairs about that.
How many Malaysian Ambassadors are from other than....
ReplyDeleteHow many CEOs and Senior Management of GLCs are from other than...
How many Chief Secretaries of government ministries are from other than....
No need to compare, lah...though the US has many faults, it is a far, far more colour blind nation compared to Malaysia.
Eyes wide open and bright eyes,
ReplyDeleteYou must have missed the analyses. this us election was all about race. the blacks overwhelmingly voting for obama.
I suggest too that you read really rightwing blogs and watch right wing channels and you may get a grasp of the animosity.
nignog
Had Obama Senior married a malaysian instead of an American, his son would still be unable to qualify for malaysian citizenship. He would now probably working from morn till night in an estate as a daily paid worker and given the nickname "Hindoo dari Afrika". And he would be constantly harassed by the religious council officers for converting to christianity and not following the religion of his father. His malaysian mother would be in jail for marrying a muslim and not converting.
ReplyDeleteMr. Fadhli Rahim....kenape kalau org India atau org Cina nak jadi PM mesti beragama Islam?
ReplyDeleteSemua org boleh jadi PM..asalkan dia bijak pandai kendalikan negara & berwarganegara Malaysia.
isu agama tak patut timbul dlm hal ini.
Hi Ktemoc
ReplyDeleteObama's mother is "white" and his
father is "black". So this makes him black? (Some people of mixed parentage in the USA now demand to be called "Mixed Race").
Mahathir's mother is "Malay" and his father is "Indian Muslim". So this makes him "Malay"?
South Africa has the "Coloureds".
And USA has the "One Drop" rule.
These show the absurdity of the "social construction of ethnicity".
Phua Kai Lit
I would love to see Penang having Ms PG Lim as Governor. Ms Lim certainly has all the credentials to be one.
ReplyDeleteSri Hartamas
Before you talk about positions in the Civil Service we must first of all bring back the unwritten understanding at the time of independence to recruite officers to the Pegawai Tadbir dan Diplomatic better known as (PTD) on a ratio of four malays to one non malay.I was recruited in 1968 and at that time the racial representation in the elite civil service reflected the racial composition that you find in the Malaysian cabinet today.
ReplyDeleteMy question is why did our representatives ovelook this to a point today when non malays are endangered spicies in Government.
The constitution stipulates that Malaysia is a Multi- Racial country. We blame the private sector for employing non malays. But my observation is that the government started this bias employment policy.
We still have time. If somethig is done today at least 50 years from now your wish list of positions in the civil Service will reflect the racial composition of the Malaysian Cabinet.
Ramlax
Dear Ktemoc and other readers
ReplyDeleteTake a look at this article:
http://www.politico.com/news/stories/0109/17282.html
Time for us in Malaysia to do better on our ethnic ("racial")
problems.
P.S. I also got teary-eyed when I saw African-Americans breaking down in tears at Barack Obama's inauguration. I know something of how they feel - having lived for
17 years as an "Oriental" or "Asian" in the USA.
Phua Kai Lit