My British
friends may not have much to be cheerful about these days. Ever since the
United Kingdom (UK) voted to leave the European Union (EU) in 2016, the British
have been struck by a never-ending cycle of political crisis, which in turn has
hit the economy hard and caused people to suffer. If you want an example of how
far the UK has fallen – look the currency, which once had the proud place of
being the most expensive in the G7. Back in my school days, it was 2.5 to 3 SGD
to 1 GPB. Today, that rate stands at about 1.6 – 1.7 SGD to 1 GBP.
I guess you
could say that part of the reason for the fall is the fact that Asia has become
more prominent economically. However, there is no denying that the UK is going
through a rough spell of sorts. I grew up in the UK in the 1990s. There was a recession
then and nobody talked about choosing to go hungry or freezing. By contrast,
this was the chatter as the UK entered winter.
The picture
looks bleak and now that the UK has left the EU and lost its greatest asset
(the strategic location of being the easiest place to enter the European
market), its hard to see how things can get better.
While things look
bleak, I do believe that there is a bit of hope for the UK. That hope lies in
the fact that the UK has become a very successful melting pot of people from
various cultures and today, the UK is blessed with a King who has spent a
lifetime promoting interfaith dialogue, its first ever Prime Minister of Asian
decent and most recently Scotland got its first ever Muslim as First Minister in the shape of Humza Yousaf.
Let’s start with
the King. Whilst Charles III didn’t make himself popular as Prince of Wales and
in his divorce from his first wife, the popular Princes Diana, he has, by all
accounts been a very passionate king for the people. Charles has been the
champion of causes like looking after the inner cities and the environment and
promoting inter-faith dialogue. He has made it a point to visit mosque and gurdwaras
thus making it known that as King, he believes that he regards ethnic
minorities as equally British as his traditional base of White Anglo-Saxon Christians.
Whilst race
relations in the UK are by no means perfect (Brexit being a prime example), the
country has at the very least a symbolic figurehead who fights hard to keep people
together rather than fanning the flames of division.
The second cause
for optimism is the fact that in the space of a year, the country has seen two
prominent political offices go to people of South Asian Decent. The joke on the
internet is that a Prime Minister of Indian decent and a Scottish First
Minister of Pakistani decent arguing over the partition of the UK is Karma.
It would be
undoubtedly ironic is the UK were to be broken up and that break up be
negotiated by someone of India and Pakistani decent. However, if that were to
happen it would be because the Scottish National Party (SNP), which Mr. Yousof
now leads managed to make a case to the Scottish people that they’re better off
outside the UK. This is something the SNP has been calling for since its
foundation in 1934. The fact that Mr. Yousof is of Pakistani decent has nothing
to do with it.
The second
point is that race and religion actually played a minimal role in the headlines
during the elevation of Mr. Sunak to the Prime Ministership of the UK and to an
extent the Mr. Yousof’s elevation to First Minister. Mr. Sunak’s elevation to
Prime Minister seemed to cause more excitement with the Indian diaspora than it
did within the UK. In Mr. Sunak’s case, the English commentator had to remind
the Indian TV station interviewing him that Mr Sunak was becoming Prime
Minister of the UK and not India.
Why is this good?
It is good because it’s a sign that race and religion have lost their potency
in British Politics. Sure, there are those who would not vote for someone
because of their skin colour or religion. However, the parties that both Mr.
Sunak and Mr. Yousof come from believe that these people in the minority and both
men are being judged on their ability to win votes. In the case of Mr. Sunak, it’s
been especially clear. It’s been mentioned that he’s the first ever Prime
Minister of Asian descent. However, other than that the focus has been on successes
like the Windsor Agreement or failures like being ticked off by the police for
letting his dog run in the park. Mr. Sunak has displayed a level of competence
which neither of his predecessors had.
So, what does
this mean? Well, the fact that race and religion have played in miniscule role
in the rise of Mr. Sunak and Mr. Yousof should encourage people of different
backgrounds that they can succeed if they work hard. The Asian (specifically
the South Asians that were expelled from Africa) community in the UK have been loyal
citizens who have paid back the protection of the crown many times over with
their hard work and business savvy and it would good karma if the UK’s salvation
came from people of South Asian descent.
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