HALIMAH NEW S’PORE PRESIDENT
Former parliament speaker only one out of four hopefuls who fulfils criteria for top post
SINGAPORE
THERE are no Muslim Malays in the top echelons of the army, and few among the senior ranks of its judiciary, but one is set to become the first woman president of the city state.
Halimah Yacob, a former speaker of Parliament, will be formally named to the mostly ceremonial post tomorrow, media reported, after other candidates fell short of the criteria set for contesting the election.
Aiming to strengthen a sense of inclusivity in the multicultural country, Singapore had decreed the presidency would be reserved for candidates from the Malay community this time.
Halimah’s experience as house speaker automatically qualified her under the nomination rules.
Of the four other applicants, two were not Malays and two were not given certificates of eligibility, the Elections Department said.
The last Malay to hold the presidency was Yusof Ishak, whose image adorns the country’s banknotes.
Yusof was president between 1965 and 1970, the first years of Singapore’s independence following a short-lived union with Malaysia, but executive power lay with Lee Kuan Yew, the first prime minister.
Living in a Muslim-dominated neighbourhood, with Malaysia and Indonesia next door, Singapore’s leaders have long worried about the risk of conflicted loyalties among Malays.
“You put in a Malay officer who’s very religious, and who has family ties in Malaysia in charge of a machine-gun unit, that’s a very tricky business,” the late Lee Kuan Yew was widely quoted as saying in 1999.
For Lee, whose son Hsien Loong is now prime minister, the answer to social cohesion lay in creating a culture of meritocracy, rather than adopting policies of positive discrimination.
Despite being the establishment candidate, Halimah wears a hijab, which is banned in state schools and public sector jobs that require uniforms. But she has seldom spoken publicly on the issue and there is little sign of change in official attitudes.
Farid Khan, one of the unsuccessful candidates and the chairman of marine services firm Bourbon Offshore Asia, said more Malays were holding political office, and some are making their way in the corporate world, but “there is still room for improvement”.
The prospect of a Malay president is by itself unlikely to resolve concerns about under-representation, but analysts and advocates say it could foster trust among communities.
Yet, the reserved election has also injured some pride.
“It cheapens the credibility of a Malay person that it requires a token election for us to be president,” said comedian and television personality Hirzi Zulkiflie.
“Some people intending to run are very capable.” Reuters