Malaysians sinking with ‘race and religion’ arguments for PM material

Each time we cross into the general election year, the same arguments keep popping up. It is always and finally all about race and religion, period.

In the latest twist, we are arguing about what and who can qualify as the Prime Minister of this country.

Yes, race and religion are two of the several realities that demarcate the world’s population. But at the same time one race and one religion are not the sole and absolute, discriminating factors that establish humanity’s journey in managing its earthly matters for a progressive life’s experience on earth in this New Age century.

Yet in Malaysia our politicians keep drumming that race and religion are the benchmarks for Prime Minister material. The arguments they propagate is that Malaysians are not ready to have a non-Malay and non-Muslim citizen as the leader for the country.

These politicians keep harping that while leadership capabilities are necessary, the ultimate qualifier is that the individual must also be a Malay and a Muslim. And the reason they claim is because Malaysia’s State religion is Islam and that the predominant majority are Malays who are Muslims. They conclude that Malaysia is not ready for a Prime Minister who is a non-Malay and a non-Muslim.

That argument or logic in itself is a fourth world mindset. It is flawed. You cannot claim to aim to transform a nation into a first world band if you live by the credo of fourth world mantras, given a a nation that has a potpouri of ethnicity and religious anchors.

If you try to push the argument to a platonic debate, the counter arguments will in all probability only sink deeper with heated and seditious statements like:

Can a Catholic be the President of America? Can a Muslim be the Prime Minister of Japan? Can a Hindu be the Prime Minister of Pakistan? Can a Malay be the Prime Minister of Singapore? And the like.

How sad, how very sad indeed. We always end up putting the cart before the horse. And that in itself best explains why we cannot progress with leaps and bounds despite being a resource rich nation even by comparison with all our immediate neighboring countries in the Temperate belt on planet earth.

If we talk about transformation, then that transformation begins with the mindset. Unless and until our leaders can talk about leadership charisma and capabilities as the lead criteria for selecting a leader to be a Prime Minister, we can resign in will to remain a fourth world mindset for another half a century.

True, when you have a charismatic and capable Malay and Muslim individual leading a nation that is predominantly Malay and Muslim, it adds as a bonus. But when the nation of people are transformed to a mindset that fits well into the 21st century New Age parameters, where charismatic leadership and capable qualities are put ahead of the race and religion criteria, we have a progressive population that does not abandon its traditions, culture and religious bearings.  

For a nation with a mere 26 million population yet blessed with immensely rich resources and bell weather all year round, we could have easily migrated to a celebrated global platform of transformed leadership status quo these past half a century. We could have become a leader nation for the world providing the beacon in this New Age where humanity is becoming more enlightened about politics, society, economics and the environment – the very four parameters determining the paradigms of progressive life on earth.

But when we start with race and religion as the ultimate qualification for leading a nation, we have only set the clock back. We have allowed ourselves to sink into the blinkered world of divisive politics that rips society apart, denying humanity of that lifeline of democracy and liberty that does not rob the individual’s right to religion and take away that sense of belonging to race.

In today’s world, leadership of a nation demands characteristics that are well ensconced by the sciences of management and administration. We need to recognize the ethical, spiritual, managerial, personality traits and background of individuals more than just blanketing with race and religion priority.

What use is it to have a leader who fits the race and religion call card but fails with a huge baggage of skeletons in the closet?

We would be light years ahead of our times if only politicians start preaching about Prime Minister material that is benchmarked with talent and the innate ability to create and add value; having high performance and high potential; having the ability to take the nation forward and leaving significant legacies; in essence demanding style, presence and charisma.

As Talleyrand famously said, “I am more afraid of an army of a hundred sheep, led by a lion, than I am of a hundred lions led by a sheep”, Malaysians need to come out of their self-imposed security blankets that keep all of us dwarfed and mutated in our mindsets. We need to speak in the veins of Mahatma Gandhi who said “we must become the change we want to see.”

But if we do not have the courage, the determination and the dictates of wisdom in our hearts and minds to place charisma and capability preceding race and religion as the benchmark for prime ministerial leadership, we remain stuck as a fourth world nation that will eventually waste its blessings and resources and be left with first world rated artifacts and structures void of spirit and soul. In short a wasted nation, a plundered lifetime.