By Carolyn Hong
Malaysia Bureau Chief
carolynh@sph.com.sg

 

IN KUALA LUMPUR

At the height of the 1Malaysia mania last month, I could have sipped a 1Malaysia coffee, while talking on my 1Malaysia phone as I headed to a 1Malaysia bank.

1Malaysia has invaded the country. Billboards now clutter the streets with the 1Malaysia logo.

Every so often, I'd spot a 1Malaysia tagline advertising coffee (instant coffee, at that), and have to endure the Salam 1Malaysia greeting over radio.

Former newspaper editor A. Kadir Jasin wrote in his blog that even Malaysia Airlines has added a 1 to its flight tag to become 1MH.

To top all that, there's now a 1Malaysia F1 team. A mischievous blogger joked that this will hopefully not be a case of '1Malaysia, 1Car, 1Lap'.

Malaysia's top comedians, Allan and Indi, have gleefully honoured it by dubbing their latest show 1Kind Show.

1Malaysia is a tagline created by the prime minister's media machinery as an overarching theme of his administration. It's a call to unity.

But despite its ubiquity, most Malaysians have no idea what it means.

There's no shortage of people to enlighten them, though.

The Chinese-based Democratic Action Party has equated it with its own Malaysian Malaysia slogan, ie. a country without racial privileges.

Minister in the PM's Department Jamil Khir Baharom has his own interpretation. While criticising a pop concert being held during Ramadan, he said his objection was made in the spirit of 1Malaysia.

More than mere silliness, this slogan is running the risk of becoming divisive as it's co-opted for a variety of agendas.

This has happened before. Former premier Abdullah Badawi’s Islam Hadhari (progressive Islam), too, became all things to all men.

Liberals saws it as sanction for their agenda, while the conservatives took it as an endorsement for their views.

Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad's slogan fared better.

His 'Malaysia Boleh' (Malaysia Can) encouraged the overzealous to come up with the world’s longest popia or biggest kuih. But as it transcended race and religion, it did not become divisive.

As a political analyst friend noted, it didn't harp on racial and religious divisions. It focused instead on common goals.

But 1Malaysia may not have the same luck.