Boleh ke?

It is possible for anyone from a minority group to be a nation’s leader, even in Malaysia, says Prime Minister Datuk Seri Abdullah Badawi.

“It is up to the people to decide, just as the Americans had done through the democratic process,” he said while extending his congratulations to Senator Barack Obama.

Reporters had asked him in the Parliament lobby yesterday if it were possible for a person from a minority group to become Prime Minister in Malaysia.

Erm... does Emperor LaLa think he's living in Utopia...?

Aside from the PM, a number of other people including one minister, two (one rumoured, one potential) PM candidates, one ex-PM, have all jumped on the bandwagon to make statements of hope for Iraq, better times, better relations, etc, BUT ALL OF THEM conveniently avoiding reference to the precedent set by Obama of being the first black man elected to the White House.

Even Lim Guan Eng, Chief Minister of opposition and minority Chinese-led Penang, managed a neutral comment; "Americans had made an “inspiring” choice in picking Obama".

Ironically, I think it might be PAS who made a cross-cultural reference to the US elections results; Its spiritual adviser Datuk Nik Abdul Aziz Nik Mat reasoned that Obama’s victory was a “victory of sorts” for Islam because Islam did not differentiate between race or creed. “That is why Obama’s victory is groundbreaking. It also proves there is no such thing as the superior race of the Caucasian. Everybody shares equality in Islam,” he said.

At first read, I didn't see the point he was trying to make... seeing how Obama is not Muslim. But then, I mulled it over and concluded that regardless of the skew in his statement, it was he and the PM who were the only two who ventured into, even if it merely brushed the surface, any reference of a topic that is deemed so sensitive that no one dares publicly speak about it, no matter how obvious the implication may be to the Malaysian context.

Martin Luther King, Jr dreamt of a land where men will not argue that the color of his skin determines the content of his character. The best man, woman or dog for the job. And yesterday, it became very real. In America. But Martin Luther King was an American with a dream for America. Where is Malaysia's Boleh-Man?