Guan Eng hails Halimah for her achievement in Singapore
The DAP leader says this is a significant milestone for women as well as Malay-Muslims.
KUALA LUMPUR: DAP secretary-general Lim Guan Eng has lauded the impending appointment of PAP’s Halimah Yacob as the eighth president of Singapore, hailing her achievement as a significant milestone for women as well as Malay-Muslims.
“Apart from breaking the glass ceiling for women, she is also a Malay and Muslim, a minority in Singapore,” the Penang chief minister said.
“She also wears a tudung without any restrictions. This augurs well for both inclusion and diversity, granting equal opportunity for all, regardless of race, religion, gender or background,” he added in a statement today.
He also said Halimah had succeeded where even the US had failed in electing its first woman president when former first lady Hillary Clinton lost to Donald Trump in the US presidential election in November last year.
He said his party hoped the statement would not be misconstrued by “racists and religious extremists from certain political parties” that the DAP was lobbying for non-Muslims to hold the highest office in Malaysia such as the prime minister.
“Nothing can be further from the truth,” he said. “No non-Malay or non-Muslim leader has ever sought the post of the prime minister.
“Instead, DAP has always supported Malay-Muslim leaders with a proven record of working together and treating minority ethnic groups and non-Muslims with respect and dignity.”
Lim said DAP would refuse to cooperate and fight with racist and extremist parties that wanted to brand non-Muslims as second-class or third-class citizens.
Halimah, 63, is a former parliament speaker and former MP.
She is set to assume the largely ceremonial post of president, reserved for the Malays this time, after two other candidates were disqualified by the Presidential Elections Committee.
The last Malay to hold the post was the island republic’s first president, Yusof Ishak, who served immediately after separation from Malaysia, from 1965 till 1970.
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