Asian Elected Governor Of Louisiana
US Republican Bobby Jindal has won the Louisiana governor's race - making him the first-ever politician of Indian descent to become governor of one of the 50 US states.Jindal secured 444,550 votes or 53 per cent.
His nearest competitors were: Democrat Walter Boasso with 155,154 votes or 18 per cent; Independent John Georges had 120,103 votes or 14 per cent; Democrat Foster Campbell with 109,375 or 13 per cent. Eight candidates divided the rest.
Jindal was born Piyush Jindal in Baton Rouge to a Hindu Indian family. As a youth, he started calling himself Bobby in an attempt to assimilate with the US society, and as a teenager converted to Roman Catholicism.
He studied biology and political science in college and won a prestigious Rhodes scholarship to study at New College in Oxford, England. Jindal went to work for the prestigious consulting firm McKinsey & Co.
In 1995, the 24-year-old Jindal was appointed head of the Louisiana Department of Health & Hospitals, cementing his reputation as a public policy "wonk".
He served President George W Bush as assistant secretary of the US Department of Health and Human Services from 2001-03, until his first bid for governor four years ago.
After losing that race, Jindal ran for Congress in 2004, easily winning in a conservative district and cruising to re-election in 2006. Jindal is the second Indian-American to serve in Congress after Dalip Singh Saund, a Democrat who represented California's 29th District from 1957 to 1963.
Jindal is expected to take the oath of office on January 12, 2008, and will be the youngest governor in America at the age of 36. (Sify News)
***** America - still the land of opportunity for the determined, industrious and those who want to succeed.
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posted by The Malaysian. at 10/21/2007 03:04:00 PM
3 Comments:
Its quite a big achievement, considering Louisiana is in the Deep South.
Even today, racial attitudes towards non-whites in the former core Confederate states can still be pretty backward.
I hate to make this comparison but in Malaysia, other than Penang in Penisular and a complicated merry go round in Sabah and a stranglehold in Sarawak, can a minority dream of being the MB of Selangor or Perak, etc ?
Gov Jindal shows what is possible in the US but in Malaysia, maybe not.
Even in Penang, a certain race-based polticial party has been clamouring for their rep to be made CM.
I hate to make this comparison but in Malaysia, other than Penang in Penisular and a complicated merry go round in Sabah and a stranglehold in Sarawak, can a minority dream of being the MB of Selangor or Perak, etc ?
Gov Jindal shows what is possible in the US but in Malaysia, maybe not.
Even in Penang, a certain race-based polticial party has been clamouring for their rep to be made CM.
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