THE dust has begun to settle on the US presidential election, at least on the Democratic side.  

The spotlight in Malaysia though, appears to be on the winner’s running mate Kamala Harris, the first female and non-white vice-president in the US. 

Many have pointed out the irony of Malaysians cheering on Senator Kamala, marvelling that a woman of Indian descent and a child of migrants is able to ascend to the second highest position in the US while simultaneously denying the same opportunity to local Indians, who are still labelled “pendatang”. 

Malaysia has smashed that glass ceiling before, at least partially. While we’ve never had a non-Malay deputy prime minister (DPM), we had a woman – Dr Wan Azizah Wan Ismail just recently, before her unceremonious removal in February. 

Of the four senior minister positions that opened in the DPM’s stead, not one was allocated to a woman. 

Some of the more universally acknowledged as capable previous ministers, like Yeo Bee Yin was replaced by three ministers covering her previous portfolio. Again, not one of the three is female. 

As for minorities, much of the noise generated against returning the senior most “minority” position of finance minister to a Chinese has come from many in the present administration. 

So did we reinstall the glass ceiling? 

The reality is, our political system is still evolving and growing. As uncomfortable as we are adjusting, and once the geopolitics and ethno-religious bits are sorted out, we could very well be seeing a two-party system, and with plenty of luck, one that is driven by ideology instead of racial or tribal lines. 

But we have much to do too if we wish to see this realised. 

Our politics is still divided heavily along racial and religious lines. Even parties that claim multiracial membership, tend to gravitate towards one race or another. 

Religion and race have been distilled into a narrow, zero sum game. Growth and development in one community is often viewed with tinted lenses by the other.  

There needs to be political will across the aisle to rectify this.  

A good starting point could be common issues, such as poverty eradication. A bipartisan team working on this not only fosters racial ties, but also normalises the idea of cross-aisle cooperation, de-escalating toxic politics, the negative results of which seen in a divided America post-Trump. 

With a rapidly evolving and volatile global economy, we need, more than ever, a united front to maintain our competitive advantage, or risk being sidelined and a fringe player.

One of Malaysia’s greatest strengths is its diversity, making it a perfect launchpad into Asia. Our ability to communicate in many languages makes for a case to be a knowledge and education centre as well.  

Speaking of education, the present state of our system is far from ideal.  

While we can argue that we have always had multiple medium-type schools, they have since evolved, drifting apart, along with the national curriculum, but maybe more because of the class divide.

This carries onto tertiary education where public and private students graduate with different worldviews, and eventually this is carried forward onto the workforce as well. 

Instead of vilifying vernacular and national education, building on each other’s strengths could not only uplift the level of quality and mutual recognition, but makes our education system complementary and serves as a unique selling point as well. 

The US elections also taught us how wide a rural-urban divide can separate us, and parties should strive to close that gap as well. Both voter blocs are important in the delivery system and if political parties truly wish to represent Malaysia, they cannot do so by speaking out for one while neglecting the other. 

Just like the US, we, too, are at an important political crossroads that go beyond a change of guard, but of the system. 

Politics should be about building bridges, and we have a long and proud tradition of it. Now, more than ever, is the time to remember it. – November 11, 2020.

* Emmanuel Joseph firmly believes that Klang is the best place on Earth, and that motivated people can do far more good than any leader with motive.