The next prime minister of Malaysia – Umar Zulk

"Whoever the next prime minister will be, he has to fulfil not only the ideal criteria of the minority citizens but also the vast majority of the country who happens to be predominantly Bumiputera. By understanding this value they could become the next prime minister and pave the way for the country to enter into the global fray with renewed enthusiasm and goal for the betterment of the country."

My fellow Malaysians, the past weeks have seen the heated issue of premiership being discussed by the media, primarily whether or not a non-Bumiputera (read Chinese) can be prime minister.

To clarify, the constitution (Articles 39, 47, 136) does not compel a person of Bumiputera (read Malay) descent to become the next executive head. That being said, our system of government is ingrained in the spirit of democracy, meaning a consensus rule by virtue of citizens through the number of seats a party holds.

Thus the heavy rhetoric and decoction of the next prime ministers can be summed up by saying the party with the most seats has a right to elect whom they feel is best at leading them – and this could be a person of any ethnicity.

Of course, in an ideal world this issue should not even be entertained – but we are not in an ideal world and life is not easily reduced to idealism. There is a need to entertain individual of citizens of the country. The principle of democracy is the sole reason it is looked up to by many countries as the ideal form of representation as opposed to, say, a dictatorship.

Dismissing others who do not want to vote for a minority prime minister by saying they are bigots or idiots for not understanding democracy is proof that the persons themselves do not understand democracy.

Coercively telling people to vote for a certain party by virtue that a minority should be president just because they are a minority (and only by this virtue) is in no way democratic.

Rejecting the idea because a person feels the next prime minister is not up to the job does not make them bigots. It would if the factor were solely based on ethnicity, however.

Conversely, if a prime minister of minority descent manages to win over the majority, then they are more than welcome to helm the country at the executive level.

Looking at the US (because people always seem to quote this instance) where a minority became president, one also has to look at their election process.

Barack Obama was chosen by the majority to become president and thus by virtue of this he was able to become as such. The majority did not coerce the minority into voting for Obama because he is a minority. He was sworn into office because people genuinely believed he could bring change to the country.

Of course, that was not without difficulties through the “birther movement” who questioned his citizenship, religion, etc as a form of fear mongering.

It also helped the majority into voting that he is a Christian, on top of the promise he showed in turning the country around.

Whoever the next prime minister will be, he has to fulfil not only the ideal criteria of the minority citizens but also the vast majority of the country who happens to be predominantly Bumiputera.

By understanding this value, that person could become the next prime minister and pave the way for the country to enter into the global fray with renewed enthusiasm for the betterment of the country.

* Umar Zulk reads The Malaysian Insider.