Why Malaysia Madani will never be as iconic as 1Malaysia

Two weeks ago, Datuk Wan Nurzila Wan Abd Rahman, a Media and Strategic Communications director at the Prime Minister’s Office (PMO), handed in her 24-hour notice, and left her post the next day. Nothing unusual about that, people leave their jobs all the time. We didn’t really pay much mind to the news… until rumors surfaced of strife within the PMO.

Apparently, Nurzila’s resignation was linked to friction between her department and the Community Communications Department (J-KOM). You see, both Media and Strategic Communications and J-KOM are responsible for campaign to promote Malaysia Madani, and while there’s not really much in-depth info on this, we’re guessing that the campaign didn’t go as ‘viral’ as they hoped.

And while it’s easier to just point your finger at one person (in this case, Nurzila) and put all the blame on them, what if Malaysia Madani was doomed from the start? Yep, yep, we know, that sounds crazy, but we’ll explain why that is right away. Let’s begin with how…

No one knows what ‘Malaysia Madani’ means

What’s in a name? If Shakespeare is to be believed, names don’t really matter too much, but if you ask anyone who works in the marketing industry, they’ll tell you names are everything. A brand name – or in our case, a political slogan – can make or break a campaign, hence one of the golden rules of marketing: make it meaningful.

A well-crafted, meaningful political slogan can leave a long-lasting impression on the rakyat, even years after they’ve been discontinued. Take 1Malaysia for example – everybody knows and remembers what 1Malaysia stood for, even though it’s associated with the 1MDB scandal now. Unity. Harmony. There’s beauty in the slogan’s simplicity.

Malaysia Madani, on the other hand, probably made most of us ask, “What the heck is Madani?”. Apparently, Madani is an acronym for keMampanan (Sustainability), KesejAhteraan (Prosperity), Daya cipta (Innovation), hormAt (Respect), keyakiNan (Trust) and Ihsan (Compassion):

Sure, the word ‘Madani’ means ‘civilized’ in Arabic, and the values in Malaysia Madani is meant to reflect that, but we only knew that after we did some Googling. No normal person’s gonna do that, and because the message isn’t immediately clear, whatever impact it’s meant to have is lost.

Speaking of impact…

The name ‘Malaysia Madani’ is not catchy enough

Golden rule number 2: a political slogan’s gotta be catchy. It’s gotta be memorable, and there’s no better sample of this than ‘Malaysia Boleh’ from the early 90s. Malaysians are still saying it whenever something really good (or extraordinarily bad) happens in our country, and it’s been 20 years since the slogan has been introduced. It’s infectious, and it conveys a strong, positive message that resonates within our nasi lemak packets.

And we know it’s only been a couple of months since Malaysia Madani was introduced, but we’re fairly sure no one’s gonna yell, “MALAYSIA MADANI!!1!” when Lee Zi Jia smashes the shuttlecock extra hard. Imagine hearing that at a badminton viewing party at a mamak. Someone’s gonna spill their teh tarik.

Before you ask, no, the alliteration did not help endear the slogan to us. The slogan itself isn’t the only forgettable part of the campaign, though…

The Malaysia Madani logo is forgettable af

Do y’all remember what the Malaysia Madani logo looks like? For those who do, you’re… incredible. For the rest of the regular folk, here you go:

As y’all can see, the logo is pretty middling. Don’t get us wrong, it’s not bad by any means, but visuals are one of the cornerstones of a successful brand or campaign – just like everything we talked about above – and you can’t just have a logo that’s mediocre if you want a political slogan to be successful. Take a look at the 1Malaysia logo:

Najib’s administration really knew what they were doing. A number one filled with the colors of the Jalur Gemilang? That tells the whole story. The ‘Malaysia’ text at the bottom is kinda iffy, but overall, it’s a smash hit.  The Malaysia Madani logo, conversely, we can’t tell why it’s a hand. There aren’t even enough fingers to represent all the letters in the Madani acronym. Well, at least it’s better than the Keluarga Malaysia logo:

…despite Keluarga Malaysia being the better slogan. And at this point, y’all must think we absolutely loathe Anwar and everything his administration stands for. On the contrary, we’re of the opinion that…

Despite all its aesthetic faults, Malaysia Madani is pretty good

In spite of our little armchair discussion of why Malaysia Madani might’ve sunk before it sailed (in terms of marketability), the initiatives that are being rolled out by the government are looking quite scrumptious indeed. Without going into the nitty gritty – because we’ve actually done a summary of the content within Budget 2023 – Anwar’s administration is looking at quashing corruption, eradicating hardcore poverty, improving the country’s infrastructure, dispensing the usual subsidies, and more.

So, maybe we’ll be proven wrong. Maybe a decade down the line, Malaysia Madani will be remembered as one of the greats in Malaysian political slogans. Maybe function will triumph over form. Who knows. Until then, we’ve got sambal in our pockets, and we’re already on our office couch, watching the show unfold.