Barack Obama’s election is sure to further fuel the demand for change and a new world order in many countries and institutions. After 232 years, the predominantly Caucasian voters can choose to vote across racial lines and put what some would term a son of a "pendatang" from Kenya in the White House.

I can imagine our Hindraf boys enjoying a revival to their cause, using Obama as a catalyst for the change they themselves have been clamouring for the past one year. (Sources say a memo has already been sent to president-elect Obama to secure the release of the five Hindraf leaders detained under the ISA.)

No doubt, Obama’s win heralds a new dawn of opportunity for minorities, prompting our prime minister to concede that even someone from a minority race could lead this country in the future. A belief shared by his predecessor who had said on two occasions that a non-Malay could become prime minister of this country.

After all, as far as the Constitution is concerned, the prime minister is the person who commands the confidence of the Dewan Rakyat. This happened twice previously – Tun V.T. Sambanthan was PM for a day when Tunku Abdul Rahman was abroad, while Datuk Seri (now Tun) Dr Ling Liong Sik was caretaker premier when Umno was declared illegal. These two men could have usurped power – albeit with dire consequences – but they honoured the social contract on which this nation was built and gave up the seats when the time came.

But minorities worldwide must take cognisance of Obama’s win and the path he took to get there. Throughout his campaign, he never played the racial card. He never pronounced the fact that he was black to win black votes. Neither did he dangle the fact that his mother was white and he was brought up by a white grandmother in a predominantly white environment to win support from Caucasian voters, especially those from the conservative south where Obama was virtually wiped out by his Republican opponent.

What he chose to do instead was to tell his story to the American people – a story of an unprivileged life; the absence of patronage in his foray into politics; of hard work and heartbreak; a multiracial family network and of championing his ideals for protecting the working class.

His story mirrors the lives of millions of others who face similar challenges and obstacles to get to where they are, which is why the media and his campaigners and supporters had done him a disservice when they focused on his ethnicity rather than his manifesto of regulating Wall Street, ending the reign of the special interests, bringing troops home from Iraq and a more people-centric tax, education and health plans.

His victory resonates with the age-old philosophy that hard work, merit and ideals – not the colour of one’s skin, can take you far. This is something that we should take note of if we ourselves want to progress as a nation and get out of the Third World mindset trap set by some of our policies and the selfish and misplaced beliefs of some politicians and administrators.

In Malaysia, we have been voting across racial lines for sometime now, but never has this been more profound than on March 8 when we had our own Obama moments – predominantly Chinese Klang, an MCA stronghold, picked Charles Santiago to represent them in Parliament. In fact, the Chinese community in Kelantan has been giving their vote to PAS for the last 18 years, and Hindu-centric Sungai Siput gave its vote to Dr Michael Jeyakumar, a Christian.

While Penang was run by Gerakan for more than three decades, with the new state government in Perak, we had our first Chinese deputy mentri besar and the current administration in Selangor picked a Chinese to manage a state subsidiary, although the proposal for an Indian mayor for Ipoh was rejected.

However, one cautions that these appointments are and should be based on merit and not a cosmetic exercise for mere ethnic representation. In our enthusiasm of sharing the economic cake, we must not risk sidelining able persons from among the majority. It will be counter-productive for us to be consumed by the blurring of the colour of one’s skin only to compromise on merit.

Penang Chief Minister Lim Guan Eng surmises the US election results perfectly: "The people have voted for a president based on character and the principles of rule of law, equality, human rights, justice and democracy, rather than colour of skin."

One hopes it won’t take us 232 years to achieve this level of maturity.

Terence hopes to see the day when racial divisions prevalent in our own community are a thing of the past. He is deputy editor (special reports & investigations) and can be reached at terence@thesundaily.com.