MCA president Ong Tee Keat has called on all Malaysians to take heed in the lessons of yesterday’s historic American presidential elections, by breaking free from the racial shackles.

Ong who is also transport minister wrote in his blog today that while Americans had put a black man into the White House, we in Malaysia are still bickering over the appointment of a Chinese acting general manager for the Selangor Development Corporation (PKNS).

ong tee keat interview 230810 04 Calling on all Malaysians regardless of their political affiliations to break away from the racial stigma, Ong said the American presidential elections should serve as a lesson for all Malaysians.

“It is time for us Malaysians to break free from such shackles. We need to think out of the box and cannot be chained by the conventional ways of doing things,” he said.

“We must dare to dream and through big dreams we can achieve great things in life. If we did not dream of being able to fly, aeroplanes would not have been invented.”

The MCA president said Malaysians should not be like animals in a circus always only following instructions and orders from its masters.

“In the US, it took more than 200 years for a black man to be elected president in a predominantly white country. Ironically, the very people in Malaysia who cheer for Obama do not think that a Chinese lady is deemed fit to lead PKNS.”

“It is time for us now to break free from the orthodox way of doing things,” he said.

Stuck in racial cocoon

Ong said unfortunately, the reactions from certain politicians from both sides of the divide show they were still stuck in their own racial cocoon.

barack obama 031106 speaking “They have not moved beyond looking at a person’s race and this is truly unfortunate,” Ong added.

Many Malaysian leaders, both from the government and opposition, generally welcomed the election of Barack Obama who won the presidency with a landslide not seen in almost a century of American political history.

Non-Malay leaders are now posing the question as to whether a Malaysian representing a minority race can ever become the prime minister.

Prime Minister Abdullah Ahmad Badawi has responded to this saying that “anyone can become the prime minister”, adding that there is no law to prevent those from the minority from becoming one.