IPOH - The 1Malaysia concept is not merely a rhetoric or political gimmick, nor is it just a slogan because it is a struggle for justice for all citizens in the country regardless of race or religion.

Prime Minister Najib Abdul Razak said that the 1Malaysia concept contained principles of social justice which would continue to be championed.

"When we look at one of its principles which is the principle of social justice, we must be fair to the Malays in fighting for their cause, we also have to give to the Chinese what they deserve, likewise we give to the Indians whatever is their right.

"There should not be any section of the community who feel they are being neglected by the government, not getting any assistance from the government," he said when launching the programme '1Malaysia With the People of Perak' at the Perak Stadium, here Sunday night.

He said the main objective of the government under the new economic model was to turn Malaysia into a high-income nation which required skill and expertise from all the ethnic groups under the 1Malaysia spirit.

Achieve greater transformation

Najib said that to achieve the objective of becoming a high-income nation on par with the other developed countries, all races in the country could not only think of their own ethnic group.

"We have this great ambition for the country to achieve greater transformation, we don't want to remain as a middle-income country. We want to see Malaysia emerging as a high-income nation on par with the other developed nations.

"For this purpose, we need the necessary skills from all the races, we need the expertise of all races. We want all the races to look at things not from the point of view of their own race but from the point of view of the country that is Malaysia," he said.

He conceded that the word '1' was not something that was synonymous with Malaysia because there had already been '1 China' or '1 Nation', but the '1' used for the 1Malaysia concept was different from the approach used by the other countries.

Najib said the symbol 'one' used in the concept had the Malaysian flag and this showed that the concept was different from the others. "When we say 'One', it means we are referring to Malaysia's image.

There is no brand that is better accepted than the brand Malaysia, the Malaysian flag. 'One' also represents the best figure, there is no other figure that is better than 'One' because when we mention 'One', it means that we want to achieve the best for our country," he said.

The prime minister also said that the 1Malaysia concept was an approach to achieve the Vision 2020 to build the Malaysian nation state.

He said the objective of creating the Malaysian race did not mean that every Malaysian felt themselves to be more Malay, more Chinese or Indian but they should instead accept that the racial diversity was a strength to achieve nationhood.

Diversity as a strength

"We accept diversity as a strength, as something that is positive for us. We are not using just tolerance because if we only tolerate, we will not be happy with the 1Malaysia concept, that's why we must look at diversity as a strength," he said.

In developing the country, every ethnic group had their own contribution to the nation and their contribution was given recognition under the 1Malaysia concept, Najib said.

He said the 1Malaysia concept did not mean depriving one race of their right and giving it to another race. On the other hand, every provision under the Federal Constitution and consensus between the races would be protected.

"The 1Malaysia concept is based on the federal constitution and consensus between the races, and we are capable of being fair to all races," he said.

So far, he said, the 1Malaysia concept had been well received by the people of all races and religions in the country and they felt a sense of belonging to the nation, - Bernama