Selangor govt makes U-turn after coming under intense criticism
By The Star
KLANG: The Pakatan Rakyat government in Selangor has made a U-turn on its decision to ban the use of the 1Malaysia logo after it came under fire from all sides, including from within its own ranks.
State executive councillor Ronnie Liu said a “freeze” had been imposed on the ban and local authorities have been told to stay any action on removing signboards with the logo.
He said the state executive council would meet as soon as possible to make a final decision on the matter.
The state government had banned the logo, saying it had a political undertone but the action came under intense fire.
It is believed the next exco meeting will only be held during the first week of January as Mentri Besar Tan Sri Khalid Ibrahim is on a trip to Taiwan.
“Until then, all matters pertaining to the insertion of the logo will be put on hold,” said Liu, who is state Housing and Local Government Committee chairman.
However, he stressed that all applications to put up billboards bearing the 1Malaysia logo will not be allowed in the interim.
“Right now, we have also instructed all local councils in the state not to remove any billboards with the 1Malaysia logo,” he said.
According to Liu, he did not have the power to arbitrarily decide on the matter which needed the state executive council’s consensus.
“We will come up with a new ruling which is clearer on the matter,” he said, reiterating that the 1Malaysia logo was a political emblem belonging to the Barisan Nasional.
Last week, Liu had said the 1Malaysia logo contravened the local by-laws, which prohibited the use of political signage on billboard advertisements.
Liu’s announcement yesterday on the freeze did not get the backing of Khalid’s political secretary Faekah Husin.
Faekah maintained that the ban was a correct move and did not see any reason for the matter to be debated further as it had already been discussed at the executive council level.
In fact, she said the debate on the 1Malaysia logo was redundant as it was not discussed in Parliament before being launched.
“Why should we hold discussions on the ban when the logo was started without the knowledge of all concerned parties?” she said.
DAP adviser Lim Kit Siang, despite his disapproval of the Selangor government’s ban on the logo, agreed with his Pakatan counterparts that the logo was a Barisan political tool.
Rebutting claims by Datuk Seri Najib Tun Razak that the 1Malaysia concept was not a political agenda, Lim said the Prime Minister was “denying the undeniable”.
Najib had said the 1Malaysia concept was aimed at fostering the spirit of togetherness and unity among Malaysians,
Lim went on the attack and claimed that “in the 20 months since the introduction of 1Malaysia, People First, Performance Now slogan” the people had not gotten a new sense of being a Malaysian.
Lim also questioned if all the Cabinet ministers and Barisan leaders have a common understanding of the 1Malaysia concept.
“In March, I said in Parliament that 1Malaysia means ‘a thousand-and-one’ different things to the Najib Cabinet and government – both to Umno and non-Umno Cabinet ministers. I am still waiting to be proved wrong,” he said in a statement.
