What Malaysia can learn from the US Elections
Shamil Norshidi, UMNO Sungai Burung, Penang
For me, one of the most interesting outcomes of the ongoing Presidential race is the surge in support for Latino candidates. Senator Ted Cruz took nearly 28% of the vote in Iowa and Senator Marco Rubio clinched 23% of the votes. This is a milestone progress for the Latino community in America, two of their own running strongly in the race for the White House.
This achievement however barely scathed headlines for one key reason: both Mr. Cruz and Mr. Rubio adamantly refuse to wholeheartedly represent the Latino community. Specifically central to why Latino voters don’t support Cruz and Rubio is the two senators’ strong opposition to the legalization of unauthorized immigrants. There’s something peculiar about individuals who come from immigrant parents advocating for the shutting down of opportunities for other immigrants.
Whilst on the topic of people who abandon their cultural roots, one must not fail to mention “Bobby” Jinndal (real name Piyush Jindal), son of Indian immigrants and the former Governor of Louisiana, who famously keeps a portrait of himself in his office painted in white skin.
On the plus side, it is genuinely promising that individuals such as Cruz and Rubio can talk about issues and not have to use their religion or race as the main medium of rhetoric. Malaysia definitely falls victim to this habit; using and often abusing religion or race to bring forth personal political agendas. We need to move beyond this.
In 2008, when Barack Obama was running for office, voters got to see a politician who refused to be defined by his race. There was an adamant refusal by the Obama campaign to directly pilot the race card within the election—no matter how dramatic and edgy it got.
Now of course, relating all this back to Malaysia, the question turns to whether our politics and political parties bordered around race is relevant for this nation’s future. My opinion would lean on an undeniable yes. But to answer this promptly we need to focus back on the US Presidential race.
Univision anchor, Jorge Ramos made his opinions plain when he said that Cruz and Rubio were a disgrace to the Latino community: “There is no greater disloyalty than the children of immigrants forgetting their own roots. That is a betrayal.” Ramos and many other analysts note how shameful it is that the two Latino candidates work to deny their heritage: Cruz for example, at the age of 13, legally changed his name from Felito to Ted.
So yes, the fact that there are now politicians who advocate on issues that aren’t based upon their race and religion is promising, but does it have to come at the cost of forgetting your own identity?
Whilst here in Malaysia we do sometimes indulge too much in racial rhetoric, I do believe that institutions such as UMNO are crucial because they remind us clearly where we came from.
When the flags are raised and the banners hung at the UMNO General Assembly, we are reminded of the pride behind the party that fought hard for this country’s independence. When we sit in the halls of Dewan Merdeka, surrounded by portraits of our past party Presidents, we’re thankful of how the likes of Tun Razak led UMNO to be an open-minded and inclusive political party. We’ve come a long way as a party and nation but sometimes we forget our roots and values amongst the convolutions of our present.
Most people who criticize UMNO for being a racial institution ignore (for the sake of their argument) the fact that UMNO is a part of a greater platform, Barisan Nasional. This, for me, is the great balance we have been provided in Malaysia, dual institutions where we can continue to celebrate our cultural heritage and also come together with other races and advocate for the best path forward.
For much of the past years however, I believe that we have indulged too much on one side of this balance. We’ve been too indignant on the personal interests of our belonging race and minimally considerate of the higher cooperation that is Barisan Nasional.
We don’t need a revolution, we just need to embrace the benefits that our current system withholds. Benefits that for a while now have been forgotten.
