Reserved election: Boost for multiracialism?

This is an article written by Mr. Eugene KB Tan, Associate Professor of Law at SMU. I agree with many points Eugene spoke about especially first half of the article. Here are some extracts: "But we have to guard against the reserved election being seen as a vehicle for affirmative action. A race-based election can give rise to the belief that a racial community has a legal right for one of its own to be elected President" "However, as a reserved election is not open to hopefuls from other races, a legitimate argument can be made that the meritocratic principle is not exercised in its full measure. The reserved election approach also presupposes that only a minority- race President can be a symbol of our much-vaunted multiracialism. Is any of our former and present ethnic Chinese presidents any less a symbol of multiracialism than our former non-Chinese presidents? Indeed, it was not race or the colour of their skin that automatically endowed our Presidents as symbols of Singapore’s multiracialism. Rather, it was their practice and promotion of multiracialism that infused into the institution of the presidency the spirit and soul of multiracialism. Furthermore, a reserved election might just reinforce the alleged tendency of Singaporeans to vote along racial lines."