6/26/2009
First brown General
The US took more than 200 years to welcome a black President. We took 44 years to produce a brown General. Not too bad actually. BG Ishak Ismail is the first Malay to be promoted to the general rank, at the age of 46.
The world is changing for the better. Let's hope that he will beat a path for more able Malay soldiers to rise to higher ranks, and not because we need to promote them to fill up some quota or a public relations exercise. So far the reports on Ishak is quite commendable.
As we move on, our Malay brothers and sisters should move on together as a people and share the progress of the nation. The able ones should take the lead and show the way.
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7 comments:
It's time we shed off the stereotyping and move on with the times.
The world is getting more colour blind each day. That's good for any country, good for the economy and hell, it's even good for the financial markets.
See no reason why anybody should be discriminated.
if one looks back at the story of malays in the SAF, it is interesting to note that racial discrimination was not the real reason that led to a dearth of malays in the forces. there were a lot of historical baggage arising from security concerns than racial. the latter was a consequence of the problems of the time and eventually seen as a racial issue short of a deeper understanding of the causes.
it was a very unfortunate state of affair that was very difficult to deal with even today.
I was do not believe that a single swallow will make a summer. Of course, an incident like this is to be exploited to the fullest to create an appearance that things are changing (whether it is just an illusion or not) for the good of a certain minority race in our midst.
I believe that the fear of a minority race that will one day become the majority, and therefore demand and challenge the status quo of power, in the tiny dot is still very real and deep-rooted. If you don't believe that, just go and ask how many non-Malay Sinkees are willing to whole-heartedly support merger with Malaysia now, and ask them for their reasons why.
By the way, he is not the first brown general. There was one previously already. Go and check the facts.
There are many intricate issues in race relations. Until these intricate issues are resolved, only then, I think will a truly non-discriminating community finally emerges. I believe it will take some time. However, signs are rather positive that we are moving in the correct direction.
look into the rationale behind this problem. look at the racial discrimination in malaysia and their reasons and look at this lack of malay generals in the military and sensitive organisations here and the real reasons behind it.
the former is purely racial. ours took a racial form not because it was meant to be racial. it was national security at a time when the cards were dealt differently and we could not reveal all our cards and had to be very careful in how the cards in our own hands were dealt.
as the geopolitical factors change, we will gradually be in a better position to change the way we deal our cards.
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