It is nice to know that Prime Minister Abdullah Ahmad Badawi thinks anyone can become PM in Malaysia. He must think we are stupid and blind to the realities of being ethnic minorities in Malaysia.
If Barack Obama was unfortunate enough to have been born in Malaysia, he couldn't even become the general manager of PKNS, never mind, president of the US, the most powerful country in the world.
If he became a born-again Christian in his teenage years, keeping in view his father was African Muslim, Jakin would have hauled him off to a religious rehabilitation detention centre in Malaysia, and his kids would have been taken away from him.
Michelle Obama would then have been advised by our racist religious authorities to divorce him.
Just for not being Malay, Umno would have overlooked his obvious talents and intelligence, and they would have denied him permanent residence or a citizenship and he can forget about any potential scholarships, job promotions or a place in a public university.
Like Vijay Singh, world champion golfer, he would have been forced to emigrate to live elsewhere.
If Barack Obama had advocated equal opportunity and equal rights in Malaysia, he would have been demonised by Utusan Malaysia as being anti-Malay and anti-Islam and taken into custody under the ISA just like what happened to Teresa Kok, and he would have had Molotov cocktails chucked into his parent's house, and had curly daggers waved at him.
If he had advocated rule of law like Zaid Ibrahim, they would called him a traitor to the Malay race.
If he advocated democracy like Anwar Ibrahim, then Umno, the world champions of fitnah would have fixed him for sodomy.
If like the jailed Hindraf 5 leaders, Barack Obama tells us to ‘hope for change’ and have the ‘audacity of hope’ then it would have been ISA and water cannons for him and his supporters.
For practicing freedom of religion and conscience, and following the religion of his choice, he would have been charged with apostasy, and don't forget, some of our Malaysian politicians have advocated death for apostasy, just to prove their religious standing in the eyes of their ethnic voters.
Abdullah Badawi's statement that anyone can be PM in Malaysia is a sick joke and a clear attempt to mislead the public, and to assuage the collective privileged guilt of Umno's wealthy and corrupt warlords who head a party dedicated to race supremacy, religious and racial apartheid, and the worst type of racial and religious politics.
I am so glad Barack Obama will be the next president of the US. It goes to show that ordinary voters in the most powerful country in the world are prepared to reject the evils of racism, and embrace solidarity with their fellow voters in the context of equal rights and equal citizenship.
They have shown long-suffering ordinary Malaysians what real muhibbah looks like instead of the dagger-waving displays (Umno AGM), Umno Youth beating up women delegates at peace conferences (Apcet II, KL), and nameless criminals chucking Molotov cocktails into women MPs’ houses - that is, what I would term the Biro Tata Negara brand of nation-building by Umno.
I doubt if Barack Obama can have any impact on Malaysia's racist politics but it is good to know that people in America can still make a common stand with their fellow voters across racial lines for the common good.
I challenge Umno to invite Barack Obama to Malaysia to show him the political and judicial wonders of our Malaysian system.
I challenge Umno's gutless politicians to tell Barack Obama, president-elect of the United States of America what opportunities he would have had if he were born in Malaysia.
