1Malaysia

1Malaysia official logo

1Malaysia (pronounced One Malaysia in English and Satu Malaysia in Malay) is an on-going programme designed by Malaysian Prime Minister Najib Tun Razak on September 16, 2010, calling for the cabinet, government agencies, and civil servants to more strongly emphasize ethnic harmony, national unity, and efficient governance.

Logo and slogan

An official logo and slogan has been introduced along with the launch of 1Malaysia concept. The logo is the symbol of '1' which incorporates the national Jalur Gemilang flag and the word Malaysia. The government has spent RM38 million to promote Prime Minister Najib Abdul Razak’s 1Malaysia concept in 2010, said Deputy Minister in the Prime Minister’s Department T Murugiah. ^[1]

Slogan

Year	Theme
2009	Rakyat Didahulukan, Pencapaian Diutamakan (People First, Performance Now)
2010	Menjana Transformasi (Generating Transformation)
2011	Transformasi Berjaya, Rakyat Sejahtera (Transformation Successful, People Prosperous)

Ideology

1Malaysia stresses national unity and ethnic tolerance. The 2010 values of 1Malaysia as articulated by Najib Razak are perseverance, a culture of excellence, acceptance, loyalty, education, humility, integrity, and meritocracy.^[2]

Public policy

Improving government efficiency is an important aspect of 1Malaysia. The use of Key Performance Indicators (KPIs), metrics and targets more typically used in private business, and National Key Result Areas (NKRAs) is thus naturally an important part of the 1Malaysia effort.Najib says, "The government is committed to carrying out a transformation programme as its main agenda based on approaches and philosophy of 1Malaysia -- people first, performance now."^[3]

Immediately after assuming the office of Prime Minister of Malaysia Dato Seri Najib Tun Razak introduced a series of KPIs in order to measure and improve the efficiency and quality of government services as well as realizing the 1Malaysia concept. Najib said that KPIs were implemented to ensure “the people’s satisfaction...whether they are satisfied with our service, whether we have solved their problems.” ^[4]

Najib's announcement of the KPI effort was generally well-received. Deputy Prime Minister Tan Sri Muhyiddin Yassin said the KPI formula was a yardstick against which the people could measure the performance of Najib and the government. He said the KPIs would provide motivation for every minister to perform well.^[5]

The KPIs provide a mechanism for the evaluation of ministries and other government agencies including performance reviews carried out every six months. Each ministry has been required to establish specific KPIs including that focus on policy outcomes over the traditional emphasis on inputs typically found in government performance assessments and planning. KPIs include detailed job descriptions and goals for ministers, deputy ministers, and some other senior government officials.^[4]

Najib has identified six major policy areas in which KPIs will play an especially important role in improving the effectiveness of the Malaysian government. These are known as National Key Result Areas (NKRAs). The NKRAs include crime prevention, reducing government corruption, increased access to quality education, improvements in the standard of living for low income groups, upgrades to rural infrastructure, and improvements in public transportation.^[6]

Najib also introduced a new cabinet position to support the Unity and Performance Minister in implementing the KPI system. Idris Jala, the former CEO of Malaysia Airlines, was appointed Minister Without a Portfolio and CEO of Performance Management and Delivery Unit (Pemandu), to work with Dr. Koh Tsu Koon in training over 500 government officers to implement the KPI system. As CEO of Pemandu Idris will support the work of Koh, who is the minister in charge of National Unity and Performance Management.^[7]

National campaign

The 1Malaysia concept is being promoted through a wide range of great activities.

Prime Minister Najib has instructed the National Civics Bureau or Biro Tata Negara (BTN) to use its courses and seminars to educate present and future civil servants, politicians, and community leaders about 1Malaysia and promote national unity. Deputy Prime Minister Ahmad stated, “We will ensure that the BTN courses also inculcate the 1Malaysia concept and its eight values, namely high performance culture, accuracy, knowledge, innovation, integrity, strong will, loyalty and wisdom.” ^[8]

Radio Television Malaysia (RTM) and private television channels have incorporated ideas from 1Malaysia into numerous TV programs. The use of multi-lingual hosts and actors from different ethnicities is one of the methods uses to promote national unity.^[9]

1Malaysia clinics

Prime Minister Najib's Budget 2010 includes funding for 50 medical clinics to provide basic medical services for illnesses and injuries such as fever, cough, colds, wounds and cuts, diabetes, and hypertension. Malaysia citizens are charged RM1 for treatment and medication. Non-citizens are charged RM15.^[10]

1Malaysia email

It was announced that the RM50 million contract was awarded to a company called Tricubes Bhd to run the 1Malaysia e-mail project as part of the government's social networking project in which free email accounts would be given to the public to communicate with the government. There has been criticism by the public and the opposition Pakatan Rakyat on the sheer waste of money involved and that Tricubes previously was in financial difficulty. After the public outcry Najib had to backtrack stating that this was a private sector initiative and that acceptance of the email accounts was voluntary.^[11][12][13] Protests has been organised against the project on Facebook and parodied on a website.^[14][15]

1Malaysia grocery stores

In 2011, the 1 Malaysia franchise was branched off into a grocery store franchise, with the first store being located at the Kelana Jaya Line Light Rail Transit(LRT)station in Kuala Lumpur. The franchise was aimed at allowing the low income group to obtain cheaper groceries and lightening their burden besides bringing Malaysians closer to the significance of 1 Malaysia.^[16]

NGOs

1Malaysia Foundation

The 1Malaysia Foundation (Y1M) Foundation was established in 2009 to promote and develop the idea of 1Malaysia. Y1M works to coordinate and supplement government and private-sector activities related to 1Malaysia. Chairman of the Y1M Board of Trustees, Dr Chandra Muzaffar said, "Y1M is planning to expand and strengthen the commitment from all Malaysians towards national unity through various activities to increase public awareness and community development."^[17]

1Malaysia Youth Fund

The 1Malaysia Youth Fund was launched in order to provide financial support for young people to undertake creative projects that nurture national unity. RM20 million was allocated for the fund under Malaysia's budget passed in 2010. The fund was proposed by the Barisan Nasional Youth Lab.^[18]

Prime Minister Najib said that 1Malaysia Youth Fund reflected the government's commitment to empowering young people. "The scope and the projects should address three criteria – focus on nurturing unity in Malaysia, have a multiplier effect on the general community, and be led by young people. The objective is to encourage youths to use their imagination to the fullest. We want them to be creative and innovative. Maybe their ability may exceed our expectations and maybe they can do something which has not been thought of by us,” said Najib.^[18]

Response to 1Malaysia

Interpretation

A year after the concept's introduction, Mahathir Mohammad reportedly said he "still doesn't understand (masih tidak faham)" the concept.^[19] Almost two years later, the public similarly, based on an opinion poll in July 2010, were wary of the concept. In particular, the non-Malays surveyed, according to The Malaysian Insider, "were almost split on the Najib administration's national unity agenda with 46 per cent of the respondents believing that the 1Malaysia concept is only a political agenda to win the non-Malay votes," and "only 39 per cent of the non-Malays believed that the concept introduced by Najib after he took over the government was a sincere effort to unite all races in Malaysia".^[20]

Bumiputera rights

Prime Minister Najib's efforts to liberalise government policies and create a more open policy towards all races with 1Malaysia led Malay rights group Perkasa to seek further clarification on the policy, as they feared that his 1Malaysia would undermine Malay or Bumiputera rights in favour of minorities in Malaysia.^[21]

Anwar Ibrahim's suspension from parliament

Main article: Anwar Ibrahim#Jewish remarks, APCO and 1Malaysia

On 22 April 2010 Anwar Ibrahim, the leader of Malaysia's opposition, was censured by Malaysia's parliament for remarks he made during a press conference in parliament on 30 March 2010. Previously Anwar claimed to have documents linking 1Malaysia, One Israel, and the public relations firm APCO but initially refused to allow access to the documents when challenged^[22] It is against Malaysia's foreign policy to have any dealings with Israel and the appointment of APCO has deeply angered the sensitivities of the Muslims in the country, who wanted Najib to terminate the contract with the company. Najib has however refused to do so and has instead entered into a fresh contract with APCO worth hundreds of millions. The Malaysian government and APCO have both strongly denied Anwar's allegations. The censure motion passed by the House of Representatives referred Anwar's case to the Rights and Privileges Committee which will recommend a punishment for approval by the full chamber. Such punishment could include being banned from parliament.^[23][24][25] Anwar has retaliated by producing the two documents to back up his statements and refute the government's denials.^[26][27] It was announced that Anwar was to be suspended from parliament by the Parliamentary Rights and Privileges Committee based solely by a contents of a letter by APCO without him being able to put up a defence for himself.^[28][29][30] On December 16, 2010 Anwar and three opposition MPs, Karpal Singh, Azmin Ali and Sivarasa Rasiah were suspended from parliament without any debate being put forward. Anwar has blamed APCO Worldwide for his and his fellow opposition parliamentarian's suspensions.^[31][32][33]

See also

• Bangsa Malaysia
• Ketuanan Melayu
• Malaysian Malaysia

References

1. ^ http://www.malaysiakini.com/news/160590
2. ^ 1Malaysia Ideology
3. ^ All the facts on NKRA, 1Malaysia out this week, Lydia Gomez and Ili Liyana Mokhtar, NST, 14 December 2009
4. ^ ^{a b} Press Release, Prime Minster's Office
5. ^ Najib Sets The Pace For Transformation In Administration, by Sophia Ahmad, Bernama, December 11th, 2009
6. ^ KPIs to measure PS performance, PSnews
7. ^ Najib makes Idris Jala minister to run KPIs unit, The Malaysian Insider
8. ^ PM Wants BTN To Intensify 1Malaysia Concept In Its Modules, Bernama, 15 December 2009
9. ^ 1Malaysia Concept In Local Drama Series, Bernama, 14 December 2009
10. ^ Only 1RM treatment charge for common illnesses, The Star, 8 January 2010
11. ^ http://www.freemalaysiatoday.com/2011/04/26/one-e-mail-one-bad-idea/ One e-mail, one bad idea
12. ^ http://www.freemalaysiatoday.com/2011/04/22/1malaysia-email-will-fleece-us-says-dap/ 1Malaysia email will fleece us, says DAP
13. ^ http://www.bernama.com/bernama/v5/newsbusiness.php?id=581208 Tricubes Says Funding Is Secured For Email Project‎
14. ^ http://www.themalaysianinsider.com/malaysia/article/on-facebook-24000-spurn-1-malaysia-email/ On Facebook, 24000 spurn 1 Malaysia email
15. ^ http://www.freemalaysiatoday.com/2011/04/27/free-1malaysia-e-mail-parody-emerges/ Spoof site mocks 1Malaysia e-mail
16. ^ The-Star-Newspaper-26-June-2011
17. ^ 1Malaysia Foundation To Realise 1Malaysia Concept, Bernama, 14 July 2009
18. ^ ^{a b} 1Malaysia Youth Fund a boon for youthful ideas, The Star, 22 January 2011
19. ^ [1] Mingguan Malaysia. August 2, 2009
20. ^ Poll Shows Divided Malays The Malaysian Insider. July 9, 2010
21. ^ "Perkasa tells Najib to explain his 1Malaysia or face rejection". Malaysian Insider. http://www.themalaysianinsider.com/malaysia/article/perkasa-tells-najib-to-explain-his-1-malaysia-or-face-rejection/. Retrieved 2010-09-25. 
22. ^ Parliament: Anwar claims Apco was in M’sia before 1Malaysia concept was announced, The Star, 30 March 2010
23. ^ Malaysia parliament votes to censure Anwar, Reuters, 22 Apr 2010
24. ^ Anwar produces APCO documents, Malaysian Mirror
25. ^ Anwar produces documents on APCO-Israel-1M'sia link, Malaysiakini
26. ^ Anwar produces APCO documents, Malaysian Mirror
27. ^ Anwar produces documents on APCO-Israel-1M'sia link, Malaysiakini
28. ^ Suspension likely for Anwar, TheStar
29. ^ Apco row: Anwar may be suspended with no defence, Free Malaysia Today
30. ^ Malaysia's Anwar says likely to be suspended from parliament, AFP
31. ^ Parliament: Anwar, Three Opposition MPs Suspended, Bernama
32. ^ Umno and Apco must explain, says Anwar, Free Malaysia Today
33. ^ Opposition MPs walk out over Apco case, Sun Daily

External links

• 1Malaysia Website
• 1Malaysia Facebook
• 1Malaysia Twitter
• 1Malaysia Email