Race still matters in Malaysia, says Chua

The Star GEORGE TOWN: Colour and religion still play an important role in Malaysia, said MCA deputy president Datuk Seri Dr Chua Soi Lek. “To many people in Malaysia, race matters a lot. I am not even talking about the positions of the Prime Minister and Deputy Prime Minister but colour does matter even for the chief executive officer of government-linked companies and state development corporations,” he said in his blog yesterday, citing the appointment of a Chinese woman as acting general manager for the Selangor State Development Corporation (PKNS) as an example. Quoting Martin Luther King’s famous “judge a man by the content of his character and not the colour of his skin,” Dr Chua described racial harmony as “fragile and very superficial” in Malaysia. “Some call it mutual tolerance,” he said when congratulating Barack Obama for being the first African-American to be elected as the 44th president of the United States. “This is indeed a proud and defining moment for American politics. Race or colour of the skin does not count in US during elections.” Dr Chua said Obama’s victory was a watershed in the US and might change the American political landscape, adding that civil rights activists had finally realised their dreams and the American dream of opportunity for all. Praising Republican John McCain for fighting a long and hard battle like an old warrior that never dies, Dr Chua said McCain should be admired and congratulated for his grace in conceding early defeat and accepting the American voters’ verdict. He said MCA politicians should emulate McCain’s graciousness rather than bad mouth the victor in party elections. “To the loser, it is not the end of the world and to the victor, it is only temporary since the party election is once every three years,” he said. Commenting on the same issue on Thursday, MCA president Datuk Seri Ong Tee Keat said it was time that Malaysians free themselves from the shackles of racial issues. “Sadly in Malaysia, we are still bickering over the appointment of a Chinese woman as acting general manager for the Selangor State Development Corporation. “It is time for us to break free from the orthodox way of doing things. In the US, it took more than 200 years for a black man to be elected president in a predominantly white country,’’ he said.