We would like to thank the people behind these websites for trying to correct our earlier article regarding the consultants’ slip-up:
There is always room for a right of reply here in this blog.
But it was not about who copied whom. But it is more about the people who had thought of the idea for our PM and how they had done a really sloppy job in making background check about the slogan.
But since there are over 50,000 words in the English vocabulary, the chances of two words coming together and coincide with national slogan of two countries is one in a billion, therefore it is no longer by chance. It is by design. Popular notion is, the same brand consultant was used.
It was written in the blog – Brand Consultant Asia:
At the end of last year some firms were invited to “submit slogans for a new Nation Branding project”. Of course a slogan isn’t a Nation Branding project but it was considered a start.
The slogan chosen was probably “Endless Possibilities” because this was used during the World Economic Forum in Davos to promote Malaysia as a South East Asia location for investment and tourism.
Therefore, it is advised that the PM’s department to screen these firms/consultants properly and carefully vet them for their previous and current clients. Do we need another embarrassment where our slogans were used by countries that are not really having good reputation with the majority of Malaysians? But in this case, it was none other than Israel.
Now here’s another youtube video from Mongolia taken more than a year ago.
(Taken from the blog – FOUL, with thanks)
There is really not enough thinking being done by the consultants when we paid them to come up with ‘Endless Possibilities’.
It could just be surfing the internet and youtube for catchy phrases. Was our money spent, justified?
Thank you.
Further reads:
Building the Malaysia Nation Brand requires a strategic approach
jebatmustdie 
I am one of those that am seldom astounded by consultants that would normally rehash old jobs and sugar coat it with mind-blowing PowerPoint. A habit of the government and GLCs is their over reliance on grand sounding named consultants and paying exorbitant fees for jobs that we can simply do ourselves. Why? Because no one dares to admit ownership for anything and it is much easier to simply lay the blame on “consultants”. And also for reasons I cannot fathom many Management and Board tend to accept any internal propositions with a pinch of salt and yet will accept anything with mouth agape of anything spewed by these “consultants”. Management and Board of course includes the Executive and public arms of the government.
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I don’t think it matters who the consultant is and who they have worked for as long as they understand the needs of the client and other stakeholders, the way they source and share news, research destinations and what are their requirements for value.
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Is not branding, in the last analysis, a matter of opinion? References and past experiences are the icing on the cake? So, why pay so much for so little, really?
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It most certainly is not a matter of opinion. References and past experiences, to use your terminology are key to brand building. You don’t have to buy brands…
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JMD,
The figure RM30.0 Million (USD10 million) has been mentioned for the roll out of the 1st stage of this brand exercise. I read on the Net that the Israelis paid USD50,000 for their One place, endless possibilities’ TV ads. That is 200 times less than RM30 million.
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It looks like Najib’s destined to committ ENDLESS MISTAKES. But that’s OK for a Novice PM as long as he learns from it.
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Professor Falsampah,
I’m copying this reply to your comment in the previous post as a comment in JMD’s new post as well, as the new blog post is about the same subject as this one.
You deserve to be replied to not only because you wrote a long comment but also there are so many points you raised that need to be given the other side of the coin, and this discussion can be valid in the new blog post as well.
A few general counter comments first:
1. If all that you said is true, they are a bit heart wrenching, though there are justifications for what has or has not happened for the Malays and the Chinese like you.
2. You said, “After form 5, I scored a 1st grade, and yet no University place, compare to my Malay class mate who scored poorer results than me.” I’ll ask you, were University places given to Form 5 Ist graders during your time? What year was that? Why no mention of SPM or was it Cambridge School Certificate time?
3. “Then come form 6, got 5 principals, yet no where to go”. Why no mention of SPM or was it Cambridge School Certificate time? No places in local universities for 5 principals? Did you pass the General Paper, the one that tested pupil’s general knowledge, about civics, about the Constitution, about the Social Contract (though not necessarily called by that name at that time)? Those who did not pass the General Paper would not have been given a place at the U. It’s like not passing BM, and now History as well, will not be given an SPM pass certificate. And couldn’t you get into Singapore universities? But maybe Spore U also have about the same criteria for student intake?
4. If during your time the General Paper was no longer used as a Uni entrance criterion, can you tell me what was? Surely you know that it was not just due to skin colour? If you persist in implying is was skin colour, I may have to insist you provide some names and particulars that’ll enable me to check with the authorities to verify the correctness of what you said. I assume that if you speak the truth, you will not be afraid of providing the necessary particulars.
5. Your English – especially in the latter part of your comment – is hardly that of a Form 5 First Grader and Form6 5 Principal holder.
All the above made me wonder if all you said are true. But I will discuss with you further, as what you said provides me with the opportunity to get the facts and arguments out to the reasonable non BN- supporting readers (I have written off the unreasonable – generally DAP ones, especially after the Chinese tsunami and I’ll explain in detail another time.
I would welcome others to also chip in in this discussion as these are the kind of reasons the tsunami Chinese use to explain their abandonment of MCA, Gerakan and BN at PRU13. But please do so in the new blog post as readers’ generally don’t go to past posts’ comments.
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Clarification:
Point No. 3 – “Why no mention of SPM or was it Cambridge School Certificate time?” should be read as STPM or whatever it was called during your time.
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For anyone wondering what my above comments have anything to do with the current blog post, it’s in the blog post title itself, mate – Endless possibilities on the issue of ‘Endless Possibilities’.
DS Najib’s consultants, said Syed Akbar Ali in his comment above, are paid hundreds of times more than the others for two words that are not even original, and there are therefore endless possibilities as to why, how, who, when and where such dude-ism was concocted.
Similarly, Professor Falsampah’s lengthy comment in the previous post has endless possibilities of it being biased, not respecting the Constitution and the History of this country. So, let’s discuss them.
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In the previous post the “professor” complained why a chap driving a new Volvo is getting 10% discount to buy a house and he was not. The answer: coz the discount was given to a category of people – the economically backward Malays/Bumiputeras. Same thing, at Merdeka, citizenship was given to the whole category of the Chinese people, not just the towkays. Citizenship could not be issued to the Chinese people selectively.
If you cannot accept the fact that the Malays and the Bumiputeras of Sabah and Sarawak have a Special position, and you begrudge the Malays even getting housing discount, the Malays should begrudge the Chinese for being the wealthiest community in the country and call for some limits to the number of Chinese millionaires. How does that sound?
When you question that Special Position, they may question your citizenship right, too. Ask for RCI on the 1 million being issued citizenship without following the citizenship rules – language proficiency tests etc – soon after Merdeka. Like Tun Mahathir said.
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Prof Falsampah,
You are one of the very few Chinese who experience that kind of problems. Most Chinese who did well got into universities even during your time. There was a Chinese teacher fluent in BM who got into university even when DEB was actively carried out during its early part. And he took part in BM promotion activities. And there were many other Chinese students in engineering and science doing study only – to pass exams. But the Chinese teacher also passed.
Just by population ratio only, for every Chinese like you finding problems, there were three Malays facing even worse problems. The Fact that the Malays had never gone into business (until the 1970s) and were mostly poor and in the kampongs means maybe 10-20 Malays suffered for every one Chinese who did. Remember, the British built only Malay schools and only primary schools in the kampongs and far in between the kampongs. The Chinese mostly in the towns didn’t have to walk for 4-5 miles to school. There were both primary and secondary schools and even English schools in the towns. So, how can you complain so much and not think of the bigger picture than your own self?
Chinese got all sorts of clan and sub-clan associations, trade guilds etc that help the less fortunate among you. Recently very often case mentioned was UTAR even refused RM30 million donation by a Chinese millionaire. And we know there were Chinese millionaires even before the race riots 1969. Less fortunate Chinese students could go to them for help through your clan or sub clan associations. Also, many Chinese doing business started to send their children to overseas universities. Like Taiwan, even Singapore. The Malays bigger in number but poorer in income have no where to go except to hope government assistance and places at local universities. .
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The man said “this social injustice in My own country.” He should learn History. The various kinds of social injustice the Malays had and still have to suffer in their own country. Having been here since the beginning. The Chinese are pendatang and the pendatang usually conforms to the ways of the local.
Much worse in Thailand, Indonesia and the Philippines where they had to discard their own names, language, dresses, and cultural practices. And be thankful that in this country they can retain their names, even still have Mandarin as the medium of instruction in schools. Although in south China where their ancestors came from, they refuse to use Mandarin fully.
And he should accept the established historical facts. Not the ones DAP trying to write. Like the Kua Ka Soong bloke did when he was DAP. Trying to say DAP was not responsible for the race riots of 1969. Then he did some kind of riot against the DAP bosses and bolted out of DAP.
The man said he went to Chinese school. Wonder if the history of this country is taught in Chinese schools before. And now, when History made a compulsory subject in schools.
Not too late to learn History. So he can accept political realities. Why the Malays got their Special Position written into the Constitution. And the non-Malay citizenship right also written in. Why that is called the Social Contract. And why he must accept and honour it. Like his children and grand children would understand, accept and honour it. Because they have to learn and pass History in school. Otherwise will not pass SPM.
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Even in US where the British were the first to settle and a system of government was established, all pendatang had to speak English and follow British ways. The Red Indians didn’t have a system of government and were not regarded as settlers like the British were – US was a British colony at one time.
The Chinese who managed to get in and stay before and after expiry of the Chinese Exclusion Act had to cut off their hair pigtails and skull caps. And shirts with cloth buttons, trousers pyjama style.
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You have to accept the underlying cause of the 1969 race riots. It was the huge “disparities in educational and economic situation between the Malays (the majority in the country) and the Chinese (23% in the country). Then they said to avoid race riots happening again, need to “re-structure society” and “eliminate the identification of race with economic functions”, have others also in business, not just the Chinese. So they started the Dasar Ekonomi Baru in 1970.
They drew ilham or inspiration from Article 153 of the Constitution. It states the Malays have a Special Position. It was extended to cover the Bumiputeras of Sabah and Sarawak when Malaysia was formed. Not just because the Malays and Bumiputeras were backward even during the British colonial rule – Prof Zainal Abidin Wahid of UKM researched and said the British had intended that the Malays “look after the food production of the country” and therefore let them be rice farmers and fishermen only. Imagine that.
The Malays in Krian asked for an English school in their kampong but the British colonialists refused. The Malays in Klang (a kampong at that time) also asked for an English school, one was arranged by the British boss in the district but was closed down after a few months when the British bosses in KL were informed about it. So, the Malays continued to be mostly ignorant, not much educated when the Chinese had all the English education very important for a long time in this country.
And many have said the Malays have no culture of doing business like the Chinese have, risk taking, profit taking etc. So, the Malays poor in education, poor in wealth in their own country. And you Chinese got citizenship right FOC after 150 years being Stateless. Now you grudge the Malays and the Bumis of Sabah and Sarawak just beginning to be seen as doctors, engineers, lawyers etc and having only 20% corporate wealth. Be reasonable lah. Only “corporate wealth”, mind you. Belom kira wealth in other forms, like owning commercial buildings.
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aprof Falsampah,
Reasonableness very important to avoid another race riots. The Malays call it patut. Maybe can be said the Malays have a “patut culture”. The Chinese do business, the Malays do “berdagang” or barter trading. No timbang menimbang, no fixing of prices, no profit taking but just exchange their “pasir hitam” (tin ore) with bales of cloth, for example.
The Malays were doing the barter trading in Perak even in the latter half of the 19th Century. About 100 years after the Chinese started to settle down to do business in Penang. Imagine the banyak untung and tanah kena jual di pekan dan di kampong to the Chinese during those 100 years especially when the British started to colonize Malaya and the Chinese in Penang rushed into the Sememnanjong Tanah Melayu after the Pangkor Treaty 1874.
The books often recommended here etc are:
1. Tamadun Alam Melayu
2. The Malay Civilization
both published by the Persatuan Sejarah Malaysia that existed since British colonial times and membership now include many Professors. The books are available at Wisma Sejarah, opposite IJN, Talan Tun Razak, KL.
3. The History of Perak (actual title may vary a bit)
published by Yayasan Perak, written by Prof. M.A Fawzi Basri.
I strongly recommend those books so that the unreasonable can become reasonable. Salam. Peace.
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Yes, “we still can’t throw away old thinking away”. How to aman, long term? Chinese still want Mandarin as medium of instruction in schools. Constitution says BM in Article 152. But in south China don’t want to use Mandarin. In Malaysia insist on Mandarin. How?
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There you go, another new slogan –
Najib: ‘Endless Possibilities’ pelengkap, bukan pengganti 1Malaysia
“pelengkap, bukan pengganti 1Malaysia” is a new slogan … hehehe.
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Good evening gentlemen,
Read through all your comments but still can’t fully understand, why ?? because I look from bigger prospective than the prospective you claimed.
My earlier comments was a piece of “cetusan hati yang terpendam” after all this 20 ++years. Please let it to rest
My parents do not have wide Chinese association connection or clan assistant to send us to private college, but I do eventually graduated in Diploma and Degree as part time student basis while working. Except me and my elder sister, the rest of my younger siblings manage to graduate from local University or TAR. (Local university place was improved much after the 90’s) We let this case rest. Don’t complaint on my English, this is the result of our education system. You can read this in Malaysia-today.
We should always argue on the point that will benefits our country, not retard of slow down our country growth, While we are doing this, our enemy, I mean competitors country in the North, South, East and West is enlarging their share of economy and competitiveness growth. Malaysia was not even the top 5 preferred investment location in SEA nowadays.
Why are we arguing on this issue very much and lets the whole Nation trap inside is so call Social Contract issue, and why our policy must deprived other race, and slows them down in order for race to level up. Yes we have growth and we are proud of our so call achievement, but the pace of our achievement is very much slower than that others country. All of you as an intellectual must have already seen this figure, GDP growth, income per capita, competitiveness indexes, and may travel very much abroad to see how other country performed. Don’t you even concern? Can’t we growth parallel, even if one race is far ahead, if the economy cake is big enough, a small portion also very much bigger to all of us.
Take Korea for example, this nation has almost nothing inside their soil, not rich in any natural resources, net oil exporter and etc. Now look at their car industries, shipping, electronics, Samsung, LG. Do you think we are anywhere near to them?
Visit any factory in China and look at the magnitude of their machines line, scary “wa cakap lu. High speed train where are we? We only started for 200 km/h electric train for god sake.
Go to Bangkok and start a conversation with any of the 60,000 taxi drivers, there you will learn how to survive without government subsidize. Survival of the fittest. If you fail to make your living by driving taxi, then turn to others trade, until you found your niche. One must never give up trying. Learn from failure will make you strong.
In my university project paper, I wrote on productivity. I observe a road repair project. To my amaze, a similar stretch (almost same length and width) of road in Melbourne took 3 days and night to complete, compared to 1 month in Penang. Even though cost in Australia is 4 times higher, their productivity is almost our 10 times.
I remember back in late 1980’s, when I was in Form 5 or 6, I remember read in news paper we will soon have MRT in Penang Island, connecting for main land via bridge, up to Sungai Petani, down to Nibong Tebal, and even Parit Buntar. Wow I was thinking, when I growth up I can go to work in Perai or Bayan Lepas with MRT, how nice. I’m still waiting for these day to come after 23 years.
What we look for below few points instead ;
1) Paradigm shift, we still can’t throw away old thinking away, Care more on country benefits than of politician or individual/race benefits.
2) Find practical solution, not political view.
3) Don’t give excuses and at denial state of phenomena when carry out executive responsibilities.
Finger pointing fingers at others issue instead of identify the real roots causes. Please at mirror and
ask yourself 5 times why, instead of looking through glass at others.
4) Focus on vision and foresight to identify invincible threat and take action before its too late.
5) Improvement is endless, you don’t have to drag others down.
6) Everything is possible whenever you really need it. Lack of education doesn’t mean that one cannot
excel. Paper qualification without any qualify and wills brings you nowhere, except a index on a graph
paper.
Do you intellectually believe by throwing several hundred billion into economy will bring Malaysia towards develop Nation in another 7 years. ??
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Good morning, PF.
I was hoping for a Morning Glory this morning but may not expect it from your comment. But because you bring up points in a civil manner, not Red Bean fashion, you deserve to be responded likewise and I think the responses to you so far have been so.
Many comments have provided the counter to your arguments, as above. But let’s continue the discussion so that hopefully we’ll reach a point of understanding.
I think on matters of principle, where it concerns the basis of our existence post-Merdeka i.e the Constitution, we cannot “let it to rest”. There’s no other way than all citizens having to respect and live by the Constitution of the country fully. It’s the highest set of laws in the country, all other laws were drafted based on the Constitution, no law can contradict it, otherwise such a law becomes not valid or ultra vires.
The Constitution was drafted by the British colonial masters when they were considering giving us independence. It was based on the many discussions between the British and Malay Rulers, the representatives of the Malay Rulers who had sovereignty over the then Federation of Malaya – note that the British colonial Masters have themselves stated that they never took away the sovereignty of the Malay Rulers during the 80 years of their colonial rule – for example, citizenship was always the prerogative of the Rulers and non-Malays were Stateless all the 150 years from the days of Franciis Light in Penang. Representatives of political parties were also involved in the negotiations for independence, led by UMNO.
Btw, DAP was not involved in the negotiations for independence at all, as they were formed well after independence. That’s why the Malays have been very sore with them, not grateful at all for the Malays agreeing to the non-Malays being given citizenship right, yet they have been anti-Malay and anti-Islam since their party formation after Singapore was kicked out of Malaysia in 1965.
(Continued)
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“The Constitution was drafted by the British colonial masters” –
But the draft Constitution was discussed and debated in Parliament and was approved by Parliament – by the representatives of practically all communities in the country.
So everybody must respect it and abide by it. Citizens, non-citizens, including those allowed to stay here as permanent residents, tourists and everybody else touching the Malaysian soil.
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Falsampah,
You are irritating others when saying “the whole Nation trap inside is so call Social Contract issue”. You deserve to be irritated back
What do you mean by “so call Social Contract issue”? You understand the meaning of “so called”? It means you don’t believe in it. If so why not you surrender your citizenship to the Registration Dept? Go vamoose somewhere. Canada easily takes migrants. They are a large country needing manpower for development. .
And what do you mean by “why our policy must deprived other race”? You mean the Chinese are deprived? If so how come they are the richest community in the country and control the economy for decades? Can you ask your people to give up half of what they have. If they do, then you can say they are deprived. Stupid, are you?
Then you said, “and slows them down in order for race to level up.” You don’t agree on the Special Position of the Malays and the Bumiputeras of Sabah and Sarawak ya? If so, this is another reason you should give up your citizenship or migrate. Ultra kiasu fellow. Semua lu mau, olang lain tak boleh lapat what’s written in the Constitution also.
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PF,
If your “parents do not have wide Chinese association connection or clan assistant to send us to private college”, you can’t blame anybody else. But strangely, you still have not stated what year was your SPM despite requested to do so in the earlier comments. I assume the Government was fully committed to the DEB during that time and the Government also could not be blamed.
Good that you eventually graduated in Diploma and Degree. And yes, “the rest of (your) younger siblings manage to graduate from local University or TAR.” It’s just that the timing was bad for you. In my case, I would have been PM, if the timing was right for me, hehe. And now I have to grin and bear it when DS Najib threw away the important laws to curb the criminals and will soon discard the Sedition Act, making many Malays asking UMNO to have him replaced by a strongly Malay leader.
Yes, we’ll let this case rest after you have accepted that the Government has also been fair to your family when the situation “improved much after the 90′s”.
Agree that “We should always argue on the point that will benefits our country”. But you need to have the proper perspective on what constitutes “benefits our country”. Note that “perspective” means differently from “prospective”, the word you used in your earlier comment, The correct perspective must be one that is based on the Constitution and on the history of this country right from the very beginning, not just from Merdeka and you all getting citizenship, and not just from the time the pendatangs came in the 19th century.
You cannot expect to have the country just grow fast without taking into consideration of the rights and the interests of the Malays and the Bumiputeras of Sabah and Sarawak. They have a Special Position that if disregarded, they would ask your citizenship be also disregarded because that was the consideration when they agreed to your citizenship right at independence. Many have now started saying openly that those who do not like this country, the system the country uses, the Constitution the country has been having for the last 56 years, to migrate to countries they like, the system they like, whose Constitution they would respect. Don’t you think that’s the only fair thing to do?
Been said even by well known personalities, including Professor Emeritus Tan Sri Khoo Kay Kim – he knows because he is a Professor of History and he knows fully the history of this country. Professor Emeritus means he is so well qualified that he can use the title for as long as he lives – the non-Emeritus cannot use the Professor title after retirement. But you, Professor Falsampah, can use your title for so long as you are reasonable, hehehe.
Will continue this discussion next time when free. Cherrrio.
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Prof wannabe
Your list of corrective actions are TOO general to be of any use except to boast in JMD’s blog. Even so, your grasp of the English Language is a mere attempt at sounding “intellectual”.
No wonder you were not as successful as you thought you deserve. Learn from Tun Dr Mahathir – he employs SIMPLE English words but contain a world of significance, and useful too.
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“Don’t complaint on my English, this is the result of our education system.” –
I think this is the result of you people attending Chinese schools where Mandarin is the medium of instruction, speak Chinese among yourselves, not reading and writing enough in English.
What Malaysia-today? Give the link lah..
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Mister Sampah, you write in Chinese then use Google translate ah? Kesian. Yous said you clever BM, write in BM, let us see lah..
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I’ve written a brief article here on how to make the Nation Brand project work. http://brandconsultantasia.com/2013/08/26/how-to-make-the-malaysia-nation-brand-strategy-successful/
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Aiseh, ever exploiting kind, arr, you people?
At least give an opinion on the post subject lorr, so you don’t look advertising your service too crudely.
Or are you a robot designed to enter an advert-type comment the moment blogs write anything that mentions brand?
Be fair lorr, you want my few seconds to read what you write, I want a few seconds of your time giving an opinion.
Me? I think the bloody consultants engaged by PMO are obscenely over-paid.
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I have given an opinion on the subject and you can find it in the link I included in my earlier post. I was also quoted in an earlier post on this subject on this site. Yes there is an element of self promotion for which I do not apologise. If you are interested to hear what I have to say, all you need to do is click on the link. If that is too much to ask then I apologise for taking up your time.
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Endless Possibilities amat merbahaya
TNB
TNB
TNB
Tumbang Najib Bapak kepala kucing.
ENDLESS POSSIBILITIES memberi chek kosong kapada Ah Jib Gong.
maksud endless possibiilties:
1.Tiada sempadan
2.Tiada komitmen
3.Tiada undang undang
4.tiada sekatan.
5.tiada check and balance.
6.tiada accountability
7.tiada pengawasan.
8.tiada halangan
9.tiada panduan
10.tiada matlamat ,hanya cara saja.
dll…….
bolih di evolve kapada legalised anarchy dan social disorder dan civil disharmony……..
tiada beza dengan PR …..sama aja…
Endless possibillties perlu di bendung,kerana lebih liberal dari liberal.
Atas keselamatan negara.
arjuna waspada
changkat lobak.
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Pingback: ENDING THE ENDLESS | The Posto – Malaysia News, Opinion & Commentary
I har that the tagline has been cancelled. http://brandconsultantasia.com/2013/09/05/back-to-the-drawing-board-for-brand-malaysia/
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