Pakatan states to use three different Merdeka themes
Four states administered by Pakatan Rakyat will not use the federal government’s Merdeka Day celebration theme, says PAS secretary-general Mustafa Ali.
Four states administered by Pakatan Rakyat will not adopt the federal government’s Merdeka Day celebration theme, PAS secretary-general Mustafa Ali said today.
Penang and Selangor will be use Sebangsa, Senegara, Sejiwa (One Nation, One Country, One Soul) as their theme, Mustafa told a press conference.
Kelantan will use the theme
Menerajui Perubahan
(Spearheading Change) while Kedah's theme is
Terus Berbakti
(Continue to Serve).
"This is because the state exco of Kedah and Kelantan decided on their respective themes before we decided on ( Sebangsa, Senegara, Sejiwa ), and the exco decision is binding," he said.
He said Kelantan and Kedah had also spent money printing material using their state themes.
Kelantan will also adopt Sebangsa, Senagara, Sejiwa as a co-theme to Menerajui Perubahan.
Mustafa said all four states will adopt the same logo, which will be unveiled on Thursday, and that a common song, composed by a "renowned composer", will follow after.
Mustafa said Pakatan had received more than 20 logo proposals from members of the public since it called for entries last week.
Pakatan is opposed to the federal government’s Janji Ditepati (Promises Fulfilled) theme because it is also being used in a BN campaign launched months ago.
Critics have claimed that BN is unable to differentiate between nationhood and partisanship in its theme.
The federal government was also forced to scrap the Merdeka Day logo and replace it with the 1Malaysia logo, after criticism from the design community and the people.
Designers had taken the logo as an insult as it purportedly went against design principles.
The official song, the lyrics of which was penned by Information, Communications and Culture Minister Rais Yatim, also received severe brickbats , with lyricists calling it "vulgar propaganda".
The government has insisted that it will retain the theme and the song.
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