Najib: 1M'sia has not bombed, it's work in progress

By Rahmah Ghazali - Free Malaysia Today

KUALA LUMPUR: Lashing out at critics who have panned his 1Malaysia brainchild, Prime Minister Najib Tun Razak described it as “work in progress”.

In his keynote address at the 1Malaysia Foundation public seminar here, he said the concept cannot be described as having failed.

“It is not fair to say that 'I am not getting fair treatment that 1Malaysia is not working'. That should not be the attitude, it’s work in progress,” he added.

The concept, introduced soon after Najib took over office last year, was supposed to foster greater racial unity but critics, especially the opposition, had called it a failure.

One of the main reasons for this, according to the detractors, was Umno's lenient approach towards Malay right-wing movement Perkasa.

They also argued that racial polarisation still existed in the education and economic sectors.

The 1Malaysia concept was also rendered a blow by cases of racist remarks being hurled at students by headmasters and principals.

'We don't have the magic wand'
Despite this, Najib stressed that his concept was guiding the nation along the road of transformation.

“What we can put right, we will put right. It is a work in progress, where we need full commitment from the people to get us to our objectives,” he said.

Najib also said the 1Malaysia concept was still in its infancy, and would prove to be successful over time.

“This could be implemented in a more systematic way through our main principles of National Key Result Areas (NKRA), the Government’s Transformation Plan, 10th Malaysia Plan and the New Economic Model,” he added.

However, the prime minister said the government did not have a “magic wand to perform miracles” in achieving the goals of the 1Malaysia concept.

“We need the people’s support to achieve this,” he added.