December 25, 2010
Pakatan vs 1Malaysia Logo and Symbols: A Political Blooper by Selangor’s MB Khalid Ibrahim
by Rashid Yusof@nst.com.my
PAKATAN Rakyat must be desperate for the year to end sooner. No such luck. Selangor executive councillor in charge of local government Ronnie Liu must have been inundated with media queries over the Parti Keadilan Rakyat-led Selangor government’s move to ban all symbols and logos related to the 1Malaysia logo.More bloopers and miscalculations are waiting to happen. It seems that political symbols must not appear on Selangor billboards and that 1Malaysia advertisements are deemed to be Barisan Nasional’s political message.
Bewildering, considering that the public have not complained about such billboards, especially those extolling the virtues of unity and integration. Some of the voters who backed Pakatan during the March 2008 general election must have been swayed by its so-called colour-blind pursuits, only to be told that 1Malaysia is political.
Flip-flopping Pakatan propagandists should not acknowledge that it was spin that delivered 
Pakatan those impressive wins in 2008. And the propaganda war was crafted on a key message of depicting UMNO as racist.
The keris episode was exploited shamelessly to drive home this point. The temple issue in Selangor was paraded as an evidence of racial and religious intolerance. Arrogant UMNO! A bashing of Ketuanan Melayu was the most comical. It had barely figured in the UMNO mindset and yet ketuanan Melayu was being persecuted with zeal.
Clearly, this was done for a tactical reason. Pakatan must demonise something — even if the subject of vilification is illusionary — in order to proffer a solution. This panacea came in the form of Ketuanan Rakyat.
Juxtapose that — Ketuanan Melayu vs Ketuanan Rakyat. Ketuanan Melayu was bleeding in absentia, and the carrier, which was supposedly UMNO, had to be punished. The trouble was Pakatan failed to unseat BN to form the Federal Government. It had to make do with four and then three additional state governments, which had to be governed in a super-efficient manner.
A deluge of reforms in these Pakatan-ruled states would demonstrate to the voters that they could well do a better job at the centre. Alas, the credo of new politics has been hollow, a stillborn.
Malaysia Bersatu
Pakatan’s discomfort with 1Malaysia — first it was Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim’s attempt to make an outlandish link between 1Malaysia and One Israel and now this billboard ban — is wholly tactical and political. 1Malaysia should effectively preclude any further attempt to dismiss UMNO as racist.
There may be no winter of discontent in the Malaysian political context, yet the harrowing past few months for the loose grouping must have troubled its leaders, hence the clumsy reactions and pronouncements.
Now that the Jewish conspiracy of sorts has been pretty much demolished, should we expect more frivolous spins to match that story about Malaysian Special Branch dictating the thought processes of the intelligence agencies of the First World?
Footnote:
A Flip-Flop by Pakatan Selangor State Government
Selangor state housing and local government exco Ronnie Liu has moved to quash the controversy over 1Malaysia logo being used in advertising materials by advising all local councils to hold back enforcing the ban until further notice.
Yesterday (December 24), Selangor Menteri Besar’s political secretary Faekah Hussin explained that the ban was a “political decision” to prevent the slogan from being used to cover up BN’s wrongdoings.
It has been confirmed that at least seven local authorities – the municipal councils of Kuala Langat, Sabak Bernam, Ampang Jaya, Selayang, Klang, Kuala Selangor and Subang Jaya – have enforced the ban.–http://www.malaysiakini.com
Din Merican: the Malaysian DJ Blogger 
It is an example of poor political judgment on the part of Pakatan Rakyat Selangor’s supremo, Tan Sri Khalid Ibrahim. There is nothing wrong with the logo since it is trying to promote Unity. Please offer something more constructive and meaningful to the people of Selangor; failure to do so will be costly to Pakatan Rakyat come GE13.
What I am personally critical about is not 1Malaysia as a concept and idea. I am more concerned about the politics of Malay supremacy and exclusivity. There is no point spending millions of ringgits on promoting 1Malaysia, if at the core of our politics it is still ethnicity, not nationality.
I hope in 2011, the rhetoric and action will be focused on national unity and a celebration of our diversity in our 54th Year of National Independence. Prime Minister Najib should take the lead and play down divisive rhetoric which seems to be the political game of 2010.–Din Merican
Pointless to shout 1Malaysia! Don’t do as they say, do as they do, boleh-kah?
Divided we failed, United we win! Don’t fail into ‘Divide, and rule’ by others again!
If I were Tan Sri Khalid Ibrahim, Pakatan Rakyat Selangor should not lose sleep over the 1Malaysia logo or symbol to the extent of banning the advertisements on Selangor billboards. For now, it is just a slogan or concept that was conceptualised without any definitive terms and blueprint on its desired end result it wishes to achieve.
This blurred vision of what 1Malaysia is all about is even vibrating within the BN component party members and even some of their leaders. To have 1Malaysia logo and slogan advertised is a case-in-point – a costly PR exercise to right a wrong. Pakatan Rakyat Selangor should not be so naive as not to sense the diversion BN is undertaking to camouflage the many sensational national issues which are critical to BN’s political survival such as the Syabas water saga, PKFTZ scandal, Khir Toyo – ‘a slap on the wrist’ court case, APCO, and the list goes on. Political expedience should be the order of the day. We need not only action-oriented leaders but also able, smart-thinking ones.
Is 1Malaysia consistent with
1. DPM – Malay First?
2. BN – Ketuanan Melayu?
3. BTN Indoctrination?
4. Corruption?
5. Cronyism?
6. Selective prosecution?
7. Lack of press freedom?
8. Detention without trial under ISA?
9. Re-writing History?
10. Use of Police, MACC and judicial means against opposition?
11. Suppression of dissent in institutions of higher learning?
12. Overthrowing of legitimate state government?
Well, this is only the Dirty Dozen part of BN’s countless agenda which are inconsistent with what 1Malaysia should be. 1Malaysia is no political, but the current use of 1Malaysia to suit UMNO’s spin is.
1 MALAYSIA ..rakyat di bohongkan.. penipuaan di dahulukan !!!
Pakatan Rakyat should let BN prove the hollowness of their 1Malaysia Slogan. Where is 1Malaysia when the sanctity of the Church had to be violated for the sake of the PM’s visit. What is 1Malaysia when its citizens are differentiated by race and religion? Where is 1Malaysia when corruption rob the poor of their rights to a decent life?
i would like to ask one question? was the main reason why the 1Mlaysian logo being ban being said has political related bcoz of the fact it was based on the personal idea of prime minister (BN) and they say that it contravenes the local by law…what is the local by law?