A letter to Singapore’s new president

By Dewey Sim

GRAPHIC: AMY ONG

Dear President Halimah Yacob,

Just a month ago, I remembered expressing my excitement to my friends that I would be able to vote for the first time as a 23-year-old Singaporean.

I looked up past presidential election statistics and researched on the other candidates who had thrown their hats into the ring — I was thrilled to be a part of this election.

But my chance to vote this time was denied by an announcement by the Presidential Elections Committee that your fellow presidential hopefuls, Mr Farid Khan and Mr Salleh Marican, did not qualify to contest the election.

Unlike in 2011, Singaporeans did not get to vote this time.

A walkover meant that Singaporeans were denied the chance to take ownership in the democratic process.

Many citizens voiced their displeasure over this election — the first that has been reserved for the Malay community. They framed it as a compromise of meritocracy as other qualified candidates were not eligible for the position by virtue of their race. To assert their point, citizens staged a silent protest at Hong Lim Park, and took to social media, speaking up on Facebook and Twitter under the hashtag #notmypresident.

That said, much of the vitriol was not directed at you. As you assumed your position undeterred, you rallied us to work with you towards a “much stronger Singapore”. You also mentioned that one of your top priorities as President would be to unite all Singaporeans.

Even though the Singapore president is largely a ceremonial head of state with a few key powers, I hope we can count on you to guard the interests of the people.

In particular, this election has shown that race and religion continue to be sensitive topics in Singapore.

On one hand, Singaporeans fiercely guard their racial and religious harmony, with an example being the arrest of Amos Yee. Yee was charged with making insensitive remarks about race and religion, and later sought political asylum in the US.

Yet on the other hand, the very essence of the current election – the first reserved one — has thrown up what exactly it means to be “Malay”, as presidential candidates have to be assessed by a panel to determine if they belong to the Malay community.

In addition, a Channel NewsAsia-Institute of Policy Studies survey on race relations last year cast a harsh light on the undercurrents of this racial harmony. It revealed that respondents preferred a president of their own race. In fact, only 59 per cent of the Chinese respondents said they would accept a Singaporean Malay to be their president. This is worrying.

We have long prided ourselves as a nation of differences, and we have also been praised by foreign leaders for being able to set aside our differences to live harmoniously together.

Just two years ago, former US President Barack Obama commended Singapore for its racial inclusivity, adding that it has led to the Republic’s growing success.

It is exactly because of this diversity that our country needs a leader who can bring us closer together.

This includes Singaporeans of all ages, races, religions, abilities, sexual orientations, education backgrounds, income levels — the list goes on. Because of how diverse we are, we need a leader who can stand firm when faced with external pressures to make decisions, which might potentially harm a certain community.

Dear President, I hope you’ll be this leader.

I hope that you will have the moral authority and courage to fight for our rights; not just for the majority, but also for the pockets of minority groups, whose voices have been silenced and muted.

I hope you would, when making decisions on behalf of the country, have the citizens’ interests at heart.

Above all, I hope you will have the far-sighted vision to help shape Singapore into a nation that all Singaporeans can proudly call home.

By now, your portrait would have been hung around all government offices and polyclinics, and in schools across the country. In fact, I am thrilled that your term as president has finally begun.

You are the Republic’s first female president, and I hope that this “non-election” has not clouded the fact that this shows progression in our little red dot.

Just five years ago, there was no woman in Cabinet. But today, there are not just two female ministers — Minister for Culture, Community and Youth Grace Fu and Minister in the Prime Minister’s Office Josephine Teo — but there is also you, our new president.

I hope that you will continue to inspire the next wave of female leaders, both in politics and in the workplace.

An article by The Straits Times aptly puts that maybe this spells hope — that every child, of any gender and race, can grow up believing that anything is possible under the Singapore sky.
As a Singaporean who has witnessed the country’s ups and downs over the past decade, I hope the next six years will be a time of breakthrough and progress for us, and a period that we can all look back fondly on and be immensely proud of.

Your Excellency, the stage is now yours.