Salleh Marican is a successful entrepreneur and CEO who started from scratch to establish his various businesses as household names among the Malay community in Singapore.
Alas, nobody paid heed to his hard-earned achievements when he announced his intention to run in the upcoming presidential elections — folks chose instead to laugh at his poor command of his mother tongue.
Of course it’s important that a Malay man who’ll be holding the title of president should be able to fluently speak his own language, but jeez, what’s with the hate? Folks (even from the Malay community) have judged and cast stones at the man for being less than capable in his native language — but really, the more significant issue here is his ability to be Singapore’s head of state.
Arguably, he is. After nearly going bankrupt from early failed business endeavors, the entrepreneur focused on setting up clothing chain Second Chance, selling readymade menswear that soon became a hit in Singapore.
When sales started to tumble, he then pivoted to readymade womenswear in a new enterprise called First Lady, offering affordable yet chic traditional clothing. The success of First Lady prompted him to explore a new avenue: selling gold jewelry under a new brand called Golden Chance. As the founder and CEO of Second Chance Properties, his net worth is believed to be somewhere in the hundreds of millions.
Alas, not many could see past his fumble when it came to conversing in Malay. Taking all the criticism seriously, he noted to Yahoo Singapore that he’s currently taking Malay language lessons ahead of the upcoming presidential election.
“You don’t need to be good in Malay to carry out your duties as a president because the official language is English,” he said to the publication.
“Now that this has happened, I have to do my best to improve my mastery of the language and I am taking it as a challenge”. Dude is pure focus right now.
The only sound comment made in response to the whole hullaballoo was from one particular Facebook user who slammed those who were unhappy with Salleh.
Translated (although it’s way funnier in Malay):
“Y’all looking for a President or a cultural scholar? You all talk cock why Malay cannot be this why Malay cannot be that — then when there’s Malay representation you all damn kaninabuay. His company is worth over $200 million. You’re still struggling with paying installments for your motorbike, so sit your ass down.
I’ve said it before. Our community has some kind of minority complex. There’s always something that’s not satisfactory. His command of the Malay language is poor — big friggin’ deal. You try being in front of the camera and being asked to speak in formal Bahasa Melayu. You aren’t even good at speaking English — the only English words you know are “Please Make This Viral” with lots of exclamation marks. Language can be learned, polished. Business acumen, resilience — do you even have them?
Also, how Malay you all want him to be? You expect him to wear a tanjak (a traditional Malay headwear), take out his kris (a traditional Malay sword), and recite poetry in front of reporters?
And people actually have the nerve to make fun of how his wife looks? She is swimming in money. What are you swimming in? Debt? You’re just sitting in front to TV watching JUS hoping to get $10,000 in a lucky draw? STFU. Seriously.
The man just picked up his papers. He is not even approved to run as a candidate and the community is already being damn cibai. Way to go. Other communities are just laughing at us. If this is the case, we shouldn’t have a Malay president. You’re not ready, evidently. How about you go take a drive, roll down your windows, fumble with your 12-inch glow in the dark dildo gearstick and crank Despacito.
