Quora Answer: Would Lim Guan Eng, or Lim Kit Siang, be a Better Prime Minister than Mahathir bin Mohamad?

The following is my answer to a Quora question: “Would Lim Guan Eng, or Lim Kit Siang, be a better prime minister than Tun Dr. Mahathir bin Mohamad?”

The answer is essentially moot because the racist ideology of Ketuanan Melayu will never allow a non-Malay and a non-Muslim to be the Prime Minister.  Also, in the unlikely event that Malaysia were to discard its apartheid Constitution, regardless of the qualities of Kit Siang and Guan Eng, I cannot see them functioning with any adequacy simply because Malay-supremacist groups such as PAS, PERKASA and others will agitate for civil disturbance.

In terms of qualities, the DAP have done well in Penang, despite not having help from the federal government, all these years.  Penang is the manufacturing hub of Malaysia, and has the highest Gross Domestic Product per capita among all the Malaysian states.  Considering the inclement all these years, Penang have done well, and that is testament to the leadership of Lim Guan Eng, Lim Kit Siang, and the team they built.

However, repeating that success at a federal level is impossible.  Malaysia has an entrenched warlord class due to the feudal nature that votes were controlled under the previous Barisan Nasional regimes.  Mahathir bin Mohamad was part of that system.  As such, they can be technocrat in the cabinet, but they will never have the sort of political support required to be as effective as Mahathir bin Mohamad.