The Malaysian Prime Minister first announced the 1Malaysia concept “People First, Performance Now” in April 2009.

Inevitably, people started greeting each other with “Salam 1Malaysia”, and a typical speech or greeting could now start with “Salam sejahtera, salam mesra, salam ceria dan salam 1Malaysia.”

Then other huge things followed:

1Malaysia-Lotus F1 Team (1MF1), the national Formula 1 team announced in September and will start competing next year.

Amanah Saham 1Malaysia (AS1M), a RM10 billion fund announced in July and opened for subscription on 5th August, the largest fund offering ever by Perbadanan Nasional Berhad (PNB).

1Malaysia Development Berhad (1MDB), a Government-owned sovereign wealth fund announced in July.

1Malaysia in Business Council, to integrate the concept of 1Malaysia into business, announced in July.

Things went into overdrive during the 2010 budget speech on 23rd October, whose theme even had the moniker on it, thus “1Malaysia, Together We Prosper”:

1Malaysia Student Discount Card: for 50% off travelling on Keretapi Tanah Melayu Berhad (KTMB).

1Malaysia Clinic: community clinics in urban areas similar to clinics in rural areas.

1Malaysia Sukuk: Islamic Bond

1Malaysia Retirement Scheme: for the self-employed and those without fixed income, to be EPF-administered.

… and the upcoming national-level 2009 Deepavali celebrations will be named… yes, you guessed right: 1Malaysia Deepavali Open House 2009 which will be held near Port Dickson on 1st November.

Now it’s just a matter of time before a newborn is given the name “1Malaysia”. Perhaps if you google it right now via one of your laptop computers, someone’s baby might already have been named one!

But I think so far the most unbelieveable is 1Toilet in schools policy by the state government of Terengganu where “teachers – and even principals – will share toilets with their students” so that “teachers and students could have a feeling of oneness” because “when students share the toilets with the teacher, they (students) will believe that they are on par with academicians and this automatically invokes a sense of being important to an organisation, which, in this case, is the school.”

But things with names beginning with the number one has been around for longer, examples that come to mind include shopping malls 1Utama and 1Borneo. Perhaps the PM got his inspiration from there?

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