Even before the official launch of his new campaign to replace his earlier lame-duck “1Malaysia” slogan, the Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Razak has to grapple with the headache whether his new “Endless Possibilities” campaign should be aborted some three weeks before launch as it is mired in a double-barrelled Israeli and Mongolian controversies.
On the Israeli knot, the Prime Minister’s Office has officially responded to The Malaysian Insider reports declaring that the new “Endless Possibilities” campaign is not lifted from an Israeli campaign idea, claiming that Putrajaya had launched the campaign globally in January before Israel launched its version.
This is a revisit of the earlier 1Malaysia slogan which faced the charge that it was a copy of the 1Israel campaign.
Before the dust could settle on the controversy of the Israeli link of the “Endless Possibilities” slogan, it is now mired in a second controversy involving of all countries Mongolia.
This was reported by The Malay Mail Online today about a video advertisement marketing Mongolia using the exact same tagline which had been uploaded onto YouTube nearly one year before Najib first mentioned the “Malaysia ‘Endless Possibilities’” nation branding concept at the World Economic Forum annual meeting in Davos, Switzerland in January 2013.
As reported by MMO, a short clip titled “Mongolia Endless Possibilities by CNN” has been available on YouTube since it was uploaded on February 19, 2012.
The Mongolian knot of Najib’s new national branding slogan is equally if not more embarrassing than the Israeli knot, especially after the “shocker” yesterday with the unanimous acquittal by a three-member Court of Appeal of Special Action Unit officers Chief Inspector Azilah Hadri and Corporal Sirul Azhar Umar of the charge of murdering Mongolian translator Altantuya Shaariibuu, plunging the system of justice in Malaysia to its worst crisis of confidence in the 21st century.
To ordinary Malaysians, the more pertinent question about Najib’s “Endless Possibilities” campaign is not it is a copy of Israeli and/or Mongolian campaign ideas, but whether it would be a clarion and inspirational call to all Malaysians to scale new heights of national endeavour in nation-building and all fields of human accomplishments or it would symbolise the country plumbing new depths of all that is bad, dark, evil, new injustices, exploitation and oppression – the very opposite of the Malaysian Dream for justice, freedom, accountability, transparency, good governance, national unity and harmony for all Malaysians.