LIES AGAINST 1MALAYSIA DUE TO GREATER ACCEPTANCE - PM

KUALA LUMPUR, April 4 (Bernama) – The 1Malaysia Concept is an idea
mooted following discussions with various groups to create a new instrument to
strengthen national solidarity, said Malaysian prime minister Najib Razak.

He said the allegation that 1Malaysia was purportedly derived from foreign
countries, including Israel, was a total lie by the opposition.

Najib said he had discussed with several friends after realising that it was
most important for a new initiative aimed at uniting the people.

"I frequently invite various groups for discussion and exchange of ideas and
when I outlined the idea, when we had a brainstorming, the idea of the 1Malaysia
Concept had come up," he said in a special interview broadcast by Bernama TV
Sunday in conjunction with his first anniversary as Prime Minister.

In the programme "One Year on Level 5: Special Interview with the Prime
Minister", Najib was interviewed for almost an hour by the Deputy
Editor-in-Chief of Bernama, Zulkefli Salleh, and Economic Service Editor Mikhail Raj
Abdullah at his office in Putrajaya.

Najib said the allegation by the opposition was aimed at destroying or
tarnishing the concept after the idea received growing acceptance by the people.

"They (the opposition) dare not attack the 1Malaysia Concept, they could not
dispute it, so they try to destroy, tarnish the concept by alleging that the
idea purportedly came from another country.

"This is slander, completely unfounded," he said referring to the allegation by
Opposition Leader Anwar Ibrahim in Parliament recently.

The Prime Minister said what was most important in appreciating the
1Malaysia Concept was when it brought strategic advantage to the people and country.

"What is most important is that we can capitalize on this racial diversity to
turn it into a national asset," he said.

He said the 1Malaysia Concept always placed the interest of the people above
everything else and emphasized the effectiveness and results of a particular
programme that had been planned.

"The outcome is more important than output," he said.

Najib said there was a greater understanding of the 1Malaysia Concept among the
people when many corporate bodies used 1Malaysia as a symbol in their logos.

"The 1Malaysia greeting, for example, is becoming very common now, and there is
even the ‘1Malaysia wedding’. So, I see that it has become a mass movement,"
said the Prime Minister.

On obstacles to the realisation of the 1Malaysia Concept, Najib said it was more
due to the lack of understanding by the people or maybe there were still people
who remained in their own cocoon who were of the opinion that only their own
group or community was important and there is no effort at uniting the people.

"And as an individual, we may have prejudices, racial sentiments and so on, like
the church-burning incidents or the throwing of a pig’s head into a mosque
compound, and so on.

"This means that there are still extremists in our society. It is because of
this extremism that we must have the 1Malaysia Concept," he said.

Asked about his feelings after serving one year as the Prime Minister, Najib
said the one year passed by very quickly and he felt as though "it was only
yesterday that I had taken over the task".

He said it was probably because he was too busy all the time, and many things
and programmes had been introduced, implemented in terms of policy, new
approaches and so on within that short time-span.

"But I’m thankful that during the past one year, we could introduce many new
initiatives which appear to have produced satisfactory results and probably this
had to a certain extent given the people more confidence in the government," he
added.
-- BERNAMA