The Malaysian Insider

PUTRAJAYA, Aug 11 — Anyone intending to talk on the 1Malaysia concept must know the country’ s history beforehand, said Information Communication and Culture Minister Datuk Seri Dr Rais Yatim.

He said the 1 Malaysia concept introduced by Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Razak emerged as a continuation of past history, and as such, an understanding of history was most important.

“Anyone of us who are history illiterate will not be able to debate well or with authority on subjects concerning 1 Malaysia.

“How we struggled against colonialism, how the Chinese and Indians were brought to the peninsula, how the social system spread in the urban and rural areas.

“We must know all these things in the context of understanding 1 Malaysia.

That’ s why, from my observation, most of the people who talk without knowledge on history lately, they are not being realistic,” he said when delivering his keynote address at the 1Malaysia Seminar organised by the Ministry of Information Communication and Culture together with Universiti Sains Malaysia (USM), here today.

Rais said under the 1 Malaysia concept: “People First, Performance Now”, the slogan ‘ people first’  does not mean that the people will get everything that they ask for, but the voice of the majority must be respected.

“If there 1,000 people, it is fairer to consider the voice of 501 people compared to 499, but this does not mean that the 499 people are being ignored.

Everyone has a place in this country,” he said.

However, the minister said, the interpretation by the opposition was different, saying that it was the same as ‘ Malaysian Malaysia’ .

He pointed out that 1 Malaysia brought a meaning to solidarity, the inputs, and the meaning of a new life for the people, together with regard to their respective interests, whereas the Malaysian Malaysia was a political slogan created by Lee Kuan Yew which was brought into this country by the DAP, pointing out that the people under the constitution must be changed, and only one desire, one aspiration.

Those who said that the 1 Malaysia concept was the same as Malaysian Malaysia must go back to history, Rais said.

“1 Malaysia allocates to us the existing rights under the constitution, but the constitution is not amended under 1 Malaysia,” he said.

Rais also said that the slogan ‘ Performance Now’  was not confined to government officers alone but included the students too. Their achievements were given priority and must be made a top objective.

Meanwhile, he said that out of the 4,095 respondents interviewed by the Information Department with regard to the 1 Malaysia concept, 68 per cent agreed to accept the concept as a daily practice which must be supported. – Bernama

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