Shanmugam says Singapore can have Malay or Indian PM; here's how some netizens responded
PHOTO: The Straits Times file
PUBLISHED ONJune 30, 2022 1:30 PMByAmierul RashidIt's a question that comes up ever so frequently — can a non-Chinese become the Prime Minister of Singapore?
When asked about this on BBC's current affairs show Hardtalk yesterday (June 29), Minister for Law and Home Affairs K Shanmugam's candid response was "I don't think it is accurate to say an Indian cannot be a Prime Minister, or a Malay cannot be a Prime Minister".
It is "entirely possible", he told presenter Stephen Sackur, as long as the Members of Parliament (MP) in Singapore have the confidence that this person can lead them into the General Elections and win the elections.
"So I would not rule it out," he added.
During that interview, even though he spoke on a wide range of topics including LGBTQ+ matters and the death penalty, netizens seemed most interested at the possibility of a non-Chinese PM here, sharing their views on multiple social media channels including Facebook, Reddit Singapore and Hardware Zone.
On Yahoo Singapore's Facebook post on Shanmugam's interview, one netizen agreed with the law minister but added that "the problem is that the right candidate has not appeared in the scene yet".
Other netizens mentioned Senior Minister Tharman Shanmugaratnam who was, according to a survey conducted by market research consultancy Blackbox back in 2016, the top choice to be Singapore's next Prime Minister.
Some 69 per cent of almost 900 respondents indicated that they would support him to be the candidate for PM then.
However, one Facebook user on another post said that Tharman "can't be PM" as the country isn't ready for a minority to be one.
Over on Reddit, one netizen felt that the "possibility and likelihood" of a non-Chinese PM in Singapore are "two very different things" while another said that the key determinant for choosing a country's leader should not have anything to do with race but the competency of that person.
According to a CNA-IPS Survey on Race Relations of more than 2,000 respondents conducted between November 2021 and January this year, it seems that Singaporeans have grown more open to the idea of a non-Chinese Prime Minister, reported Today in April.
The results show that some 69.6 per cent of respondents are now accepting of Singaporean Malays as the Prime Minister, up from 60.8 per cent in 2016.
On the other hand, some 70.5 per cent of respondents are now accepting of Singaporean Indians as the Prime Minister, up from 64.3 per cent in 2016.
In March 2019, at the Nanyang Technological University Students' Union Ministerial Forum, then Finance Minister Heng Swee Keat mentioned that Singapore's older generation was not ready for a prime minister from a minority race, Today reported.
However, he added: "I do think that at the right time, when enough people think that we may have a minority leader, a minority who becomes the leader of the country, that is something that we can all hope for."
At the Singapore Perspectives Conference panel discussion in January 2021, Senior Minister of State Janil Puthucheary was asked if Singapore can have a non-Chinese PM.
On this, he said that he hopes that Singapore's racial harmony progresses to the point where when people talk about a non-Chinese PM, it will be on the basis of that person's ability to do the job.
"And that will be for Singaporeans to decide," he added.
Click here to listen to the interview.
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