He said the 1Malaysia advertisements were a political message of the Barisan Nasional."It is clear that Barisan is pushing hard for the 1Malaysia concept and to send out its message to the people," he said, adding that it was nothing but a political agenda and not allowed in the state.
He is accusing Najib of using his office as the Prime Minister of Malaysia to promote an idea that is tied/linked to Barisan Nasional. The idea is that because BN likes the idea, therefore it must be a BN idea, and therefore Selangor will ban it, in the disguised spirit of "no politics in advertisements".
Two questions with this:
1. Isn't PR also using their political position in Selangor to make a similar political statement? By labeling 1Malaysia a "BN idea", that's a political statement, a passing of judgement that the 1Malaysia plan is NOT in the interests of Malaysia, but in the interests of BN. Whether or not 1Malaysia is a BN idea is besides the point -- making a statement that it is, and passing judgement banning advertising with the logo is a political statement made by the PR excos' political office. Even if we accept they are correct, then their position is hypocritical.
2. Let's discuss the validity of the claim -- is 1Malaysia a BN idea. You can't divorce the man from the job and his representation. Najib is the PM of Malaysia, he also happens to be the President of UMNO, and the leader of Barisan Nasional. These are different hats that he has to wear. That's what democracy does -- it forces people to wear different hats and hopes that they are able to avoid conflicts of interest. In the case of 1Malaysia, what do you expect Najib to do? Say that this is Government initiative (which it is), nothing whatsoever to do with BN? Obviously, that's just not going to happen. People need to judge their representatives based on what they do, and this includes the ideas that they execute. Even if 1Malaysia was a BN construct, the question i'm asking is, "So what?" -- if it's good for the country, does that make it any less valuable just because it's being "pushed" by the ruling party? Don't forget that the "pushers" are all representing the people too, they too have to wear different hats as members of the Government and members of their political party.
1Malaysia is good thing for the country, of all people PR should recognize this. A good idea is a good idea, regardless of who thought of it. The Selangor PR-led state government is doing a disservice to everyone by politicizing it, and banning its promotion.
Salam 1Malaysia to you too, Ronnie Liu.
There is a fine nuance and you are conflating the issues. Yes saying that 1Malaysia is a BN propaganda is a political which is why advertisements which potrays 1Malaysia as such should not be allowed in Selangor. But banning the 1Malaysia campaign (i.e not saying anything about it) because it is political is a decison that the Selangor government can make without being political. The test that is used is objective, is the advertisement used in any political party's election manifesto/campaign. If yes, then ban it.
Sani, you're correct as long as they are able to conclusively prove that 1Malaysia is a BN propaganda machine. Just because BN is in full support of the idea does not necessarily make it BN propaganda, correct?
A good idea is a good idea, regardless of where it comes from and who supports it (or doesn't support it).
Aiz, I obviously agree with your last line/sentence
On the earlier paragraph, I guess it depends on the definition of propaganda used. But going by the objective test provided in my earlier comment, 1 Malaysia is definitely a BN election manifesto/campaign (that of course does not make it automatically bad). But my understanding is that the banning of 1Malaysia is not based on whether it is a good or bad idea, rather that it is a political statement/campaign of a political party. So banning it does not mean that the Selangor govt is saying that it is a bad idea.
I also agree that if this is the stance that Selangor govt is taking, then they should also not allow campaigns of PR to be advertised in Selangor...probably easier said than done though.
By your definition, is there anything that the Government proposes that CAN be promoted?
Everything the Government says, will be linked to being "BN pushed".
Ban on smoking? Can't do that because "BN was behind it" no advertisements allowed.
Ban on drunk driving? Nope, we can't have posted on that either because the Government proposed it therefore it MUST be "BN pushed".
Everything the Government does is "BN pushed". Where do you draw the line?
I thought the test I proposed was clear, apparently not (not sure why though).
Do you see bans on smoking bans of drunk driving being used as election manifesto during election time? Does Najib run on the platform of I will ban smoking or ban drunk driving?
There is a difference between actions/policies that government take after they've been elected and a campaign that appears on almost all posters of a political party during election time. Surely even the most hard core BN supporters can see the difference between those examples you gave and the 1Malaysia campaign.
I understand what you're trying to say say.
Political statement for election = bad = cannot advertise.
Laws passed by ruling party = not necessarily political statement = can advertise.
Am i getting it wrong?
That's my point of content, and that's how blurry the lines are between the two because 1Malaysia is a campaign for Malaysia, championed by Najib who happens to PM. Obviously, when people think about 1Malaysia, they will think about BN, "what a good job they've done with this", but isn't this an by-product of a good campaign rather than necessarily a sign of a political advertisement meant, purposefully, to win BN the next elections?
It's not only now or last week or last month or even 3 months ago that the 1Malaysia concept and logo has been appearing around the country. They've been around for quite some time. Therefore, calling the 1Malaysia campaign an "election advertorial" seems a bit of a stretch unless you give BN a tremendous amount of credit for having that much foresight.
The line may not be clear cut but I don't think it's that blur. The 1 Malaysia concept is a political campaign because it has been used so many times on BN's posters during election. That's what makes it political.
The context and its origins also point to the same direction. You're right that the 1Malaysia campaign is not recent, if my memory serves me right (I may be wrong here), the campaign was conceived after the last election when there was huge swing of non Malay votes against BN. From that point onwards, BN played a two sided game, whipping religious and racial sentiments amongst Malays to get the Malay/Muslim votes whilst using the 1Malaysia to try and claw back the non Malay votes (1 Malaysia has been used in all by elections after GE 2008). My gripe is that they can't have it both ways, the day BN really believes in national unity and translate this believe into concrete action/policies is the day I will support them. Till then, my assessment is that 1 Malaysia is just an empty promise, an election propaganda masked as national unity.