Salleh Marican is a successful entrepreneur and CEO who started from scratch to establish his various businesses as聽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 鈥 folks chose instead to laugh at his poor command of his mother tongue.
Of course it鈥檚 important that a Malay man who鈥檒l be holding the title of president should be able to fluently speak his own language, but jeez, what鈥檚 with the hate? Folks (even from the Malay community) have judged and cast stones at the man for being less than capable in聽his native language 鈥 but really, the more significant issue here is his ability to be Singapore鈥檚 head of state.
Arguably, he is. After nearly going聽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聽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 that he鈥檚 currently taking Malay language lessons ahead of the upcoming presidential election.
鈥淵ou don鈥檛 need to be good in Malay to carry out your duties as a president because the official language is English,鈥 he said to the publication.
鈥淣ow 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鈥. Dude is pure focus right now.
The only sound comment made in response to the whole hullaballoo was from one particular聽Facebook user who slammed those who were unhappy with Salleh.
Translated (although it鈥檚 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 鈥 then when there鈥檚 Malay representation you all damn . His company is worth over $200 million. You鈥檙e still struggling with paying installments for your motorbike, so sit your ass down.
I鈥檝e said it before. Our community has some聽kind of minority complex. There鈥檚 always something that鈥檚 not satisfactory. His command of the Malay language is poor — big friggin’聽deal. You try being in front of the camera and being asked to speak in formal Bahasa Melayu. You aren鈥檛 even good at speaking English 鈥 the only English words you know are 鈥淧lease Make This Viral鈥 with lots of exclamation marks. Language can be learned, polished. Business acumen, resilience 鈥 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鈥檙e just sitting in front to TV watching JUS hoping to get $10,000 in a lucky draw?聽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鈥檛 have a Malay president. You鈥檙e 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聽Despacito.
