Acquittal of murder of Altantuya Shaariibuu – Najib could not have a more powerful “soft launch” of his new national branding campaign of “Endless Possibilities”

With a triple strike in the past month, the Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Razak could not have a more powerful though most ironic “soft launch” of his new national branding campaign of “Endless Possibilities” in place of his earlier “lame-duck” 1Malaysia slogan.

Firstly, “Endless Possibilities” broke new ground when the Registrar of Societies (RoS) forced a DAP Central Executive Committee (CEC) re-election on pain of deregistration of DAP, although the RoS is unable to give any reason why he is “dissatisfied” with the DAP party elections last December, a triumph of the seven-month-old and continuing Umno/BN “DDD” – “demolish/destroy DAP” – campaign.

Secondly, “Endless Possibilities” opened up new vistas with the official approval for the screening of the Tanda Putera movie in cinemas nationwide on August 29, including one depicting a young Chinese man urinating in front of the Selangor Mentri Besar’s official residence provoking the May 13, 1969 racial riots.

There are no historical facts, whether photographs or documentation, including the White Paper issued by the National Operations Council on 9th October 1969 entitlted “The May 13 Tragedy” and Tunku Abdul Rahman’s book “May 13 – Before & After”, to show that such a urination incident was not a figment of imagination and a most scurrilous and incendiary lie in a multi-racial society.

Even if it is completely fictional, it is the height of irresponsibility to depict the urination incident in an officially-funded movie because it could incite inter-racial distrust, discord and hatred, completely inimical to nation-building efforts particularly on the occasion of the country’s 56th National Day.

But today, Najib’s new branding of “Endless Possibilities” plumbed new depths even before it is officially launched next month and has become the most favourite “quote” of Malaysians when the three-member Court of Appeal unanimously freed Special Action Unit officers Chief Inspector Azilah Hadri and Corporal Sirul Azhar Umar of the charge of murdering Mongolian translator Altantuya Shaariibuu.

Malaysians are asking whether these three incidents are examples of what Najib meant by his new slogan of “Endless Possibilities” to replace the 1Malaysia slogan to rebrand his administration?