The Selangor government ban on the use of the 1 Malaysia logo on all billboards in the state reflects the opposition’s fear of the concept, Deputy Prime Minister Tan Sri Muhyiddin Yassin said today.
The 1 Malaysia vision that Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Razak expounded is increasingly popular and this scared the opposition, he added.
“They (the Selangor government) are afraid of the 1 Malaysia logo which has become iconic to the people,” he told reporters after attending a leaders-meet-the-people gathering here.
The 1 Malaysia vision has noble intentions, one of which is to unite the people regardless of their political leaning, Muhyiddin said.
Chairman of the Selangor Housing and Local Government Committee Ronnie Liu, announcing the ban yesterday, had said that the 1 Malaysia logo had a political message and that a by-law prohibited political advertisements on billboards.
Muhyiddin was also asked to comment on documents produced by Minister in the Prime Minister’s Department Mohamed Nazri Abdul Aziz that refuted the allegations of Opposition leader Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim that 1 Malaysia was the creation of APCO Worldwide, which the latter claimed was also responsible for the One Israel concept.
One document was a letter from the public relations firm denying having anything to do with either concept while the other was a sworn statement from the consultant who claimed credit for the One Israel concept.
Muhyiddin said the opposition would continue to “twist the facts” despite the clarification.
Minister in the Prime Minister’s Department Tan Sri Dr Koh Tsu Koon said the ban contradicts the professed stance of the opposition parties on freedom of information and its communication to the people.
“1 Malaysia is for all and it is to foster unity among the people. It should not be viewed politically,” he told reporters after presenting prizes to winners of a competition in translating local Mandarin short stories into Bahasa Malaysia.
Minister of Information, Communication and Culture Datuk Seri Dr Rais Yatim questioned the legality of the ban, citing provisions in the Federal Constitution on the right of assembly and freedom to display logos.
He then claimed that the Selangor government was desperate to check the popularity of the 1 Malaysia concept.
Selangor Umno information chief Shukor Idrus said the ban was a “backward action.”
He said that 1 Malaysia was a concept for uniting Malaysians and the logo was not political.
MCA NGO Liaison Bureau Chief Datuk Ti Lian Ker said that 1Malaysia was aimed at forging a united Malaysia, and the Selangor government should not try to obstruct achievement of that goal.
