UNDERSTAND HISTORY BEFORE DEBATING ON 1MALAYSIA, SAYS MINISTER

PUTRAJAYA, Aug 11 (Bernama) -- Anyone intending to talk on the 1Malaysia
concept must know the country's history beforehand, said Information
Communication and Culture Minister Dr Rais Yatim.

He said the 1Malaysia concept introduced by Prime Minister 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 1Malaysia.

"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 1Malaysia.
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 Commnication and Culture together with Universiti Sains Malaysia
(USM), here Tuesday.

Rais said under the 1Malaysia 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 1Malaysia 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 opposition
Democratic Action Party (DAP), pointing out that the people under the
constitution must be changed, and only one desire, one aspiration.

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

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

Rais also said that the slogan 'Performance Now' was not confined to
government offgicers 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 1Malaysia concept, 68 per cent agreed
to accept the concept as a daily practice which must be supported.
-- BERNAMA