The race to replace Mr Boris Johnson as Prime Minister of the United Kingdom has been narrowed down to two and in September, the UK will either have its third woman or its first “non-white” Prime Minister.”
What makes this fact so intriguing is the fact that both Mr Sunak and Ms Truss are members of the “Conservative” party, which has, for most of its history, been about the supremacy of the white male in the UK.
So, how is it such that a party which has traditionally been the bastion of white male supremacy has thrown up so many women and minority candidates for the top job?
The struggle to answer this question has gotten many people wringing their hands. I just saw an article in the Malay Mail, which talked about the leadership lessons that Singapore can learn.
After all, despite being actively “non-racist” and “meritocratic” for the last 55 years, Singapore still makes a point that “Singapore is not ready for a Non-Chinese Prime Minister,” and all our leaders have inevitably been men from the majority community. The article can be found in Lessons in leadership from the UK to Singapore.
Having lived in the UK as an ethnic minority for the better part of my formative years and having listened to rhetoric about how we are not ready for a “non-Chinese” Prime Minister, I would like to see Mr Sunak win.
I admit I have a soft spot for the Indian community that came from Africa and ended up in the UK. These are the guys who worked hard and sent their kids to school and don’t go on welfare and complain that people are stealing their jobs.
So, to have a member of this community take the top job would be a wonderful celebration of the hard work they put in to make the UK function. Plus, I don’t think a man like Mr NR Narayana Murthy would allow his daughter near Mr Sunak unless he felt there was something special about him.
Then, there is the point that if the UK can elect an ethnic minority to the top job, there’s no reason why Singapore can’t.
However, whilst it’s good to see so many candidates from “non-traditional” backgrounds going for the top job, the question remains how “non-traditional” are Mr Sunak and Ms Truss really.
If you look at the background of Ms Truss and Mr Sunak, you will find that their gender and race are pretty much irrelevant, in as much as both have very standard backgrounds for Conservative politicians. Both went to Oxford, and both worked in huge companies before joining politics. The only thing that really distinguishes Ms Truss from the standard Conservative party politician lies between her legs.
As for Mr Sunak, he’s as “Elite British” as it gets. He was born in Southampton, went to Winchester (the oldest public school in the UK and a competitor of Eaton, the alma mater of Prince William and David Cameron) and then Oxford. The only thing that’s “exotic” about Mr Sunak is the fact that his name is “Sunak” and he’s a shade tanner than the average Conservative politician. The only thing about him that is “actually” Indian is his wife and her family.
I hope Mr Sunak takes the job because it would be a good boost for one of the most productive communities in the UK. However, whilst people of Indian origin will celebrate any success of his, Mr Sunak is not an ethnic minority who made it but the exception that proves the rule. Let’s be honest, he’s where he is because he’s at the top of the system, rather than an outsider on the fringes.
The truth remains that ethnic minorities still need to work harder to get to the same place as members of the ethnic majority. In many ways, an ethnic minority has to be smarter and better educated than their counterparts in the ethnic majority, and you have to blend into the majority in a way where your pigmentation becomes secondary.
Let us go across the Atlantic, where everyone talked about Barak Obama as the “first black president.” While Mr Obama was undoubtedly a shade darker than many Americans, that was probably the “blackest” thing about Mr Obama. His mother was “white” as were the grandparents who raised him. The man went to Columbia and Harvard. His life experiences are as far away from the experiences of the chaps who grew up in Harlem as it gets.
Mr Obama like Mr Sunak is a “darkie” but the right type of darkie as far as “white society” is concerned – hence perfectly electable. They are the type of “darkie” that most white liberals are comfortable with – a shade dark enough to be different but in actual fact the same.
Singapore is not immune to this. I think of the number of Tamils who speak better Hokkien than Tamil because they have to become part of the mainstream in Singapore. If you listen closely enough to the coffee shop chatter of our Tamil politicians, you’ll note that there’s always an appreciation for one that marries a Chinese girl. The common remark is “Ah, their thinking is different.”
So, just as America had a black president who had to be whiter than white and the UK may have an Indian-origin Prime Minister who is as elite British as it gets, Singapore will one day have an ethnic minority Prime Minister who is more Chinese than Chinese.
A version of this article first appeared at beautifullyincoherent.blogspot.com