Politicians and slogans

I think journalists in those days had to have very strong willpower not to roll up our eyes every time someone mentioned Vision 2020. The phrase wore out very fast.

WHAT'S THE BIG IDEA?
By HAFIDZ MAHPAR, The Star

DATUK Seri Najib Tun Razak’s slogan “1 Malaysia, People First, Performance Now” is a very powerful one that can cover a very broad area, from social to economic issues. Its very pervasiveness and catchiness can work against it if used indiscriminately.

I remember that after Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad announced Vision 2020, businessmen I interviewed would inject “Vision 2020” into the conversation.

I was skeptical that they actually believed in it (kind of like I was skeptical that people who talked so much about participating in Earth Hour were actually doing it out of a sense of green responsibility rather than merely for showing off).

One businessman had the gall to ask that I quote him in my article as mentioning Vision 2020.

I think journalists in those days had to have very strong willpower not to roll up our eyes every time someone mentioned Vision 2020. The phrase wore out very fast.

If there is one thing business reporters can be thankful to Pak Lah for, it is that “Islam Hadhari” is not so easily inserted into a business-related interview, unless, I suppose, we’re talking about Islamic banking or marketing halal products.

Fortunately, no one I interviewed during Pak Lah’s tenure as PM ever hit me in the head with that phrase.

Three days ago, Zainul Arifin, in his commentary in NST, suggested that Najib discourage, if not ban outright, politicians from putting up billboards, posters and banners of themselves with the new PM.

He argued, and like any sane person I agree, that such politicians are probably trying to ride on Najib’s popularity, prestige and power.

It is name-dropping and apple-polishing to an exponential and undignified level.

Zainul went as far as to compare such poster politicians to Lenin and Stalin.

Using slogans is more subtle. Still, I propose a cooling-off period of one month before politicians (except Najib and his deputy) and businessmen use publicly the “1 Malaysia” slogan.

And to be fair, this cooling off period should also apply to Opposition politicians who may be itching to make a joke out of it.

The public must be given a chance to learn fully about Najib’s vision before politicians and businessmen hijack the slogan for their own selfish agenda.

“1 Malaysia, People First, Performance Now” is quite an all-encompassing concept.

Even the least creative people can find ways to slip parts of that phrase into a conversation, and this can be rather worrying.

If everyone who has something to gain commercially or politically from Najib’s government begins to use “1 Malaysia” indiscriminately, it would turn into a parody of itself in no time.

I don’t think Najib would want that. He would not want Malaysia to be a place that breeds apple polishers and name droppers.

·Hafidz Mahpar is an associate editor at The Star whose favourite phrase during high school was “What the–?!”