• IP addresses are NOT logged in this forum so there's no point asking. Please note that this forum is full of homophobes, racists, lunatics, schizophrenics & absolute nut jobs with a smattering of geniuses, Chinese chauvinists, Moderate Muslims and last but not least a couple of "know-it-alls" constantly sprouting their dubious wisdom. If you believe that content generated by unsavory characters might cause you offense PLEASE LEAVE NOW! Sammyboy Admin and Staff are not responsible for your hurt feelings should you choose to read any of the content here.

    The OTHER forum is HERE so please stop asking.

Chitchat We've had 4 Tans contesting for President in 2011

Dinkum

Alfrescian
Loyal
Prominent playwright Alfian Saat made this post at Facebook.

I think they're going all out to ensure that Dr Tan Cheng Bok does not qualify.






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. 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.
 

soikee

Alfrescian
Loyal
Obviously Mee Siam Mai Hum is using minorities as an excuse for the PAP to remain in power for the next 1000 years.
 

Leongsam

High Order Twit / Low SES subject
Admin
Asset
The country is doomed no matter what species they appoint as president.
 

bodycells

Alfrescian
Loyal
Why is surname an important aspect of being a president? I thought is the competence and integrity of the person that matters and not his surname?

Are sinkie losers that disgracefully 3rd world?
 

Leongsam

High Order Twit / Low SES subject
Admin
Asset
Why is surname an important aspect of being a president? I thought is the competence and integrity of the person that matters and not his surname?

Are sinkie losers that disgracefully 3rd world?

They're a bunch of racists. That's why they keep going on and on about ethnicity.

Singapore should be proud to be a hodge podge collection of circus freaks of different colours and backgrounds. The country should accept this fact and move on with life.
 

halsey02

Alfrescian (Inf)
Asset
"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 rubber-stamp."

You forgot, we had a 'dark piece of lard'....that had been rubber stamping for a fee of how many millions?...why we need to pay for a president, ?? & pay so much!....I never voted for that ONE & even the current ONE....why should I vote for somebody....that is overpaid, 'rubber stamper"...
 

scroobal

Alfrescian
Loyal
I always wished Alfian had completed his medical degree and had become a doctor. His voice would have been much louder and more influential.

The ethnic President excuse is to save the PAP from another embarrassing Presidential Elections where yet another President has a laughable vote count of 35% and no mandate. This was another one of Old Man's hare brained idea which became a standing joke. In the process the Malays as a race are dragged thru the m&d. Even before the Commission delivers its recommendations, its a foregone conclusion how it will turn out.
 

CABcommander

Alfrescian
Loyal
Advertise for jobs cannot specify race as it will be considered racial discrimination.

Looking for president can specify race. :*:

What logic is this? :oIo:
 

3_M

Alfrescian
Loyal
They just released the survey last week about race relation here and now PM talks about minority representation. I can't help but question the timing and accuracy for that survey. Is the results skewed to serve a political purpose?
 

scroobal

Alfrescian
Loyal
Yes, well orchestrated.


They just released the survey last week about race relation here and now PM talks about minority representation. I can't help but question the timing and accuracy for that survey. Is the results skewed to serve a political purpose?
 

Jah_rastafar_I

Alfrescian (Inf)
Asset
Pls la who cares about their race? The fact that all 4 were Chinese with the same surname shows that only the Chinese could make it. You mean they just have to add in a token non Chinese before alfian nigger sat won't complain?
 
Top