The race to replace Mr. Boris Johnson as Prime
Minister of the United Kingdom has been narrowed down to two and in September,
the UK will either have its third woman or its first “non-white” Prime
Minister.”
What makes this fact, so intriguing is the fact that
both Mr. Sunak and Ms. Truss are members of the “Conservative” party, which has,
for most of its history been about the supremacy of the white male in the UK. So,
how is it such that a party which has traditionally been the bastion of white
male supremacy thrown up so many women and minority candidates for the top job?
The struggle to answer this question has gotten many
people wringing their hands. I just saw an article in the Malay Mail, which
talked about the leadership lessons that Singapore can learn. After all,
despite being actively “non-racist” and “meritocratic” for the last 55-years,
Singapore still makes a point that “Singapore is not ready for a Non-Chinese
Prime Minister,” and all our leaders have inevitably been men from the majority
community. The article can be found at:
However, whilst its good to see so many candidates
from “non-traditional” backgrounds going for the top job, the question remains
how “non-traditional” are Mr. Sunak and Ms. Truss really. If you look at the
background of Ms. Truss and Mr. Sunak, you will find that their gender and race
are pretty much irrelevant in as much as both have very standard backgrounds
for Conservative politicians. Both went to Oxford, and both worked in huge
companies before joining politics. The only thing that really distinguishes Ms.
Truss from the standard Conservative party politician lies between her legs.
As for Mr. Sunak, he’s as “Elite British” as it gets. He
was born in Southampton, went to Winchester (the oldest public school in the UK
and a competitor of Eaton, the alma mater of Prince William and David Cameron)
and then Oxford. The only thing that’s “exotic” about Mr. Sunak is the fact
that his name is “Sunak” and he’s a shade tanner than the average Conservative
politician. The only thing about him that is “actually” Indian is his wife and
her family.
I hope Mr. Sunak takes the job because it would be a
good boost for one of the most productive communities in the UK. However,
whilst people of Indian origin will celebrate any success of his, Mr. Sunak is
not an ethnic minority who made it but the exception that proves the rule. Let’s be honest, he’s where he is because he’s
at the top of the system rather than an outsider on the fringes.
The truth remains that ethnic minorities still need to
work harder to get to the same place as members of the ethnic majority. In many
ways, an ethnic minority has to be smarter and better educated than their
counterparts in the ethnic majority and you have to blend into the majority in
a way where your pigmentation becomes secondary.
Let us go across the Atlantic, where everyone talked
about Barak Obama as the “first black president.” While Mr. Obama was
undoubtedly a shade darker than many Americans, that was probably the “blackest”
thing about Mr. Obama. His mother was “white” as were the grandparents who
raised him. The man went to Columbia and Harvard. His life experiences are as
far away from the experiences of the chaps who grew up in Harlem as it gets.
Singapore is not immune to this. I think of the number
of Tamils who speak better Hokkien than Tamil because they have to become part
of the mainstream in Singapore. If you listen closely enough to the coffee shop
chatter on our Tamil politicians, you’ll note that there’s always an
appreciation for one that marries a Chinese girl. The common remark being “Ah,
their thinking is different.”
So, just as America had a black president who had to
be whiter than white and the UK may have an Indian Origin Prime Minister who is
as elite British as it gets, Singapore will one day have an ethnic minority
Prime Minister who is more Chinese than Chinese.
No comments
Post a Comment