By Mohsin Abdullah

Going by what new Perak menteri besar said about the absence of non-Malays in his executive councilor line-up, then the federal government should not have non-Malays as ministers!

We know all this while that the federal government, with a Malay as prime minister, has always included non-Malays in the cabinet, be it Barisan Nasional or Pakatan Harapan (which had a good number of non-Malay ministers).

Even the overwhelmingly Malay Perikatan Nasional administration can "boast" of having non-Malay ministers, albeit seen as "token" representation.

But apparently things are different in Perak.

We have newly appointed MB Datuk Saarani Mohamad saying his administration will not be changing what the previous government had implemented. The previous state administration, as we know, was also from PN but headed by Datuk Seri Ahmad Faizal Azumu as MB.

Hence, the new MB is on record saying there is no need to appoint Chinese and Indian excos in his administration because the two communities are already represented in other levels of government.

Saarani, who is from Umno, went on to say that there are already Chinese and Indian leaders in local councils, and "the appointment of advisers to the MB will be made according to needs. I cannot promises anything. To me, what is important is implementation of state initiatives."

I agree with the MB for placing importance to the implementation of government initiatives and not personalities. But if I may add, appointments ought to be made based on merit, not race and religion. Meritocracy is the way forward.

But sadly in this country of ours, race and religion still play a big part. For ages we have been led to believe that our needs can only be "better" taken care of by "people from our own community".

Somehow we are "taught" to be "comfortable" if people representing us are "our kind".

Much as I dislike such a notion, I need to admit that's the reality of the situation. Sad it may be, but hopefully things will change one day.

But for now, that's the painful reality. Therefore, based on that reality I think many Chinese and Indians would love to see representation at exco level with the appointment of Chinese and Indian excos.

But to be fair, if you like, to the MB, his choice is limited, or rather there are no choices at all.

His administration is made up of BN — which is actually only Umno — Bersatu and PAS, all Malay-based parties.

True, Bersatu has decided to have non-Malays as associate members, but associate members are not "real" members and even that is quite a long way off.

A friend of mine, who is Indian, commented that non-Malays are being marginalized yet again.

"It's one thing for Indians as we make up a small percentage of the population, but it's sad to see this happening to the Chinese, and more so in Perak where the Chinese population is big."

That's just one example. I'm sure there are many more complaints, to put it mildly. But they do have valid points and thus should not be blamed for airing out their grouses.

Back to the point about the MB not having much choice in appointing his excos.

State executive councilors must be chosen from among members of the state assembly or Ahli Dewan Undangan Negeri (ADUN).

There are 19 non-Malay ADUNs in Perak: 15 from DAP and two from PKR. To state the obvious, they are opposition. There are two ADUNs who won their seats on DAP tickets in GE14 but have since switched allegiance.

A. Sivasubramaniam, the assemblyman for Buntong, is now with Gerakan, while Tronoh assemblyman Paul Yong Choo Kiong is independent. Both are PN-friendly.

Yong, however, is facing court charges for alleged raping of an Indonesian maid.

Perhaps, according to political observers I spoke to, Perak needs select committees. And perhaps non-Malays (Malays as well) from the opposition can be opted into select committees where the opposition and government backbenchers can monitor the government closely and keep them on their toes in ensuring the people are well taken care of regardless of race and religion.

I humbly agree.

(Mohsin Abdullah is a veteran journalist and now a freelancer who writes about this, that and everything else.)