Under pressure, Kedah says will adopt Pakatan N-Day theme
Mustafa said he was informed of the decision by Kedah MB’s political secretary. — File picKUALA LUMPUR, Aug 8 ― Kedah will now use Pakatan Rakyat’s (PR) theme, “Sebangsa, Sejiwa, Senegara” (One Nation, One Country, One Soul), for this year’s National Day celebrations, reversing its previous stand against adopting the opposition pact’s alternative to the federal government’s controversial choice of “Janji Ditepati” (Promises Fulfilled).
The PAS-led state had previously resisted using the federal opposition’s choice, fuelling debate of internal strife among the PAS-DAP-PKR pact that make up PR, in the run-up to key national elections due soon.
“I received a phone call from the political secretary to the Kedah mentri besar informing me of the decision today,” PAS secretary-general Datuk Mustafa Ali was reported saying by party paper, Harakah Daily.
“Alhamdulillah (Praise be to God), today Kedah has decided to use the common logo that was agreed upon by PR.
“Kedah’s decision shows how great democracy is in PR,” he was reported saying.
Mustafa, who also heads PR’s National Day logo committee, had yesterday told reporters in Petaling Jaya that the PAS-led states of Kedah and Kelantan would each stick to their state themes of “Terus Berbakti (Continue to Serve)” and “Menerajui Perubahan (Spearheading Change)” respectively instead of adopting the common theme.
Only Penang and Selangor will maintain “Sebangsa, Senegara, Sejiwa”, he added.
“This is because the state exco of Kedah and Kelantan decided on their respective themes before we decided on (Sebangsa, Senegara, Sejiwa), and the exco decision is binding,” Mustafa had said at yesterday’s joint news conference with his PR allies at the PKR headquarters.
Leaders from the Barisan Nasional (BN) federal coalition had taken a swipe at PR’s decision to use three different themes, saying the discrepancy showed the opposition could not come to a consensus even over small matters.
“They would never be one on any matter because they are a disagreeing opposition pact, hence Pakatan Rakyat is a misnomer,” Umno information chief Datuk Ahmad Maslan was reported as saying yesterday by state news agency Bernama.
PR is due to launch its alternative National Day logo and theme tomorrow.
The federal opposition bloc had rejected the 2012 National Day theme song and logo when both were unveiled last month, claiming the lyrics and design smacked of partisan politics in the run-up to the 13th general election, which could see a regime change for the first time since independence in 1957.
