1Malaysia: Good Slogan + Lame Execution = Bad Impression?

I guess everyone who considers him/herself a Malaysian should now be more than familiar with this revolutionary phrase:

1Malaysia

Pencapaian Diutamakan, Rakyat Didahulukan.

Which translates into "One Malaysia. People first. Performance now."

Well, and I am sure that everyone who considers him/herself a Malaysian should ALSO know that it brings up mixed reactions: 

Mr. A: I sapot lah the government if like this. Hidup 1Malaysia.

Mrs. B: Very pretentiouslah this slogan. I tak nak lah.

Miss C: Wei, like this kenot wor...must support government de.

Mr.D : Ei kawan, what is this lah? Aiyoo...where got 1Malaysia? Always will berat sebelah one...

Mr. E: No bah. The kerajaan will tolong all the rakyat bah kan? Then we all aramai iti lah!

Miss F: Nadailah...bulak nyak government!

But I am not surprised that something that was meant purely for good intentions could escalate to something extreme such as:

Okay...this is a bit over lah. Scary. Some are a little bit funny:

Alamak...tiba-tiba Mongolia pulak. Now we are promoting Mongolia as well? 

Speaking of Mongolia...

Who could now forget the beautiful Altantuya Shaariibu? (And for those Russian-educated this is her name in Mongolian: Шаарийбуугийн Алтантуяа) Kesian her kena bom to pieces. She could have been a strong candidate to represent Mongolia to Miss Universe. Sad, so sad.

Thanks to the media, not only we got to know about the the girl who was literally non-existent before (I mean, no one knew about her at all before her death. Then suddenly she was all over the place, sometimes found even in the inside part of a nasi lemak newspaper packaging.) - but also about some other people , i.e.  a missing Indian man? an allegedly murdered chinese man? It's surprising that I know these people much more than I know my neighbour! I didn't even know my neighbour bought a new car! I'd have to agree one thing though - news travels fast.

Those were what the adults are saying. One question - have you ever thought of what the children has to say about 1Malaysia? A young artist has his/her own point of view.

And this is what the artist commented on his/her own picture: 

"This is a pic which I draw to enter my school's 'Hari Kebangsaan' competition. For your information, 'Hari Kebangsaan' is Malaysia's national day. Furthermore, the word '1 Malaysia' in the pic is my country's latest slogan. This competition is compulsary for all the students in my school."

Aww. So innocent. So cute. Poor thing the artist doesn't know anything that is happening in the country nowadays as it is not exactly as peaceful as depicted in the picture. Ignorance is bliss. Sigh.


So - what now? 1Malaysia? Personally I like the concept. It's catchy. It's urm, practical. And it's marketable! Don't believe me? Take a look at this Frenchman's own rendition of his understanding of 1Malaysia:

This is what I call rakyat didahulukan, pencapaian diutamakan. 
Why? This Frenchman opened the eatery to dahulukan food service to the rakyat, and at the same time he utamakan his financial pencapaian. 
Agree?


Whatever it is, it is up to everyone actually to decide what does 1Malaysia means. 
But I am sure that EVERYONE will surely agree if I tagged 1Malaysia as a GOOD SLOGAN but POORLY EXECUTED.


And for the record, I would like to say that the 1Malaysia concept are actually perfectly grasped by our sesame-street watching generation. Maybe we could learn a thing or two from them :)

Crossing my fingers to a better future for Malaysia.