Great tagline, that. Straight to the point. Catchy. Even without the (obligatory) songs and advertisements and other what-have-yous that the PR campaign has successfully churned out. (On a side note, I seemed to have missed Petronas' advertisement this year. I strained to look for it on tv and in the papers - even their website! - but came up empty. What's the story?)
Anyway back to 1Malaysia.
Oh, great concept too. All peoples moving as one in our single-mindedness towards building this nation. Semuanya bertekad terhadap satu objektif: Memajukan negara dengan memajukan setiap insan yang berwarganegara Malaysia - tak kira bangsa, agama, dan sebagainya.
That's my take on 1Malaysia.
That's just the problem.
I'd have no problems grasping it if I actually saw it being implemented. We can't move on towards realizing 1Malaysia if political parties continually harp on racial differences and highlight them as faults. The recent by-elections in Permatang Pasir was openly described as one where racial cards were dealt. Have we not learnt?
We can't progress if we insist on "maintaining our standards by our own yardstick" by lowering the standards or flip-flopping on education policies as and when it suits our statistics and short-term agendas. Singaporean papers (and I bet other countries too) attributed the flip-flop stance to one of our Government's usual practices. Have we not learnt?
We can't progress if time and time again, it's NOT the best, most capable, and most reliable providers that are selected to undertake national projects. Okay, not all providers are sucky - MYEG has got a great service going on and I hope they expand their scope - but honestly, the success stories are few, far, and in between many, MANY failures. (Don't give me the "5% entrepreneurs make it" line - you know very well what I'm trying to get at. )
We just can't progress if we do not learn that excellence is achieved through sheer hard work, the act of constantly proving ourselves, and the art of appreciating and building each other up on the pretext of mutual benefit and advancement for a common, greater good.
Anything less, and we sell ourselves short on what we are capable of achieving.
I'll admit - I scoffed when I read that the PM called on us to "repair bridges"- excuse me, we didn't build them. The policies did. I'll say too, that it probably wasn't his fault in entirety. The whole system has been there all along, enhanced and modified to perfection... and it's hard to pass on a well-oiled machine so entrenched in its functions.
It's hard not to be jaded and think that it's never gonna change.
What would Yasmin Ahmad have conjured?
Tragically, would it have remained just that - a mere concept, beautiful and admired, but never quite allowed to be fully implemented and realized?
That's not the 1Malaysia I seek, long and pray for. God, we need You more than ever.
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