Friday, February 16, 2007

Pick leaders on merit, not cultural affiliation
Straits times (home)/15/02/07

Should national leaders be chosen by their cultural affiliation or by their personal merits? In this case, the writer raised the point that he would rather vote for a decisive non Singaporean visionary than an indecisive and incapable Singaporean. However, in my opinion, if these Singaporeans were in the position to opt themselves as a national leader, he or she is no empty shell. Secondly, the writer had overlooked the importance in the tradition of having the ruler of the country to be affiliated culturally. Whether it is the powerful countries like America or Japan or the not so powerful ones, such traditions are still followed closely. Can you imagine if majority of our national leaders are made up of a group of foreign talents? Would the Malays still be able to obtain their subsidized school fees? Will the kids in school still be studying Singapore’s history or their mother tongue languages? The answer is most likely a no. If a decisive non visionary were to become our national leader, he or she will be too pragmatic to consider the importance of our local culture. After all, their main ambition is to deliver results and nothing more. It is a good thing I must say, but this will not last long. Eventually, our cultural roots will be gone too. Singapore, being a small country will get more vulnerable as time passes because Singaporeans will no longer respect their leaders.

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