Published: October 15, 2012
LAST week, we had the honour of two very distinguished guests gracing our inaugural Malaysian Brand Forum 2012. The first was a Royal Guest, HRH Raja Dr Nazrin, the Crown Prince of Perak who presented trophies and certificates of the National Mark of Malaysian Brand to 24 companies and later launched The "Brand Transformer".
The other was none other than the architect of Brand Malaysia, former prime minister Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad, who branded Malaysia through Proton, Sepang International Circuit and the iconic Twin Towers , just to name a few.
The aim of this event was to promote the trust mark, National Mark of Malaysian Brand, which brings with it attributes of excellence, quality and distinction of Malaysian products and services.
This strategic initiative, under the SME-Brand Development Programme, is aimed at promoting greater market access for our SMEs that have proven to be capable suppliers of products and services.
Sharing their honest thoughts at the Brand Forum, these two patriotic, distinguished statesmen, shared with the audience a gentle, yet a much-needed reminder that boils down to good upbringing, moral values, well-acquired knowledge of history and a deep sense of appreciation and loyalty for our own country.
In both the royal address, and the keynote address by Tun Dr Mahathir, they both advocated the message and sang the same song !
They said that we Malaysians must instil within us a sense of belonging to the country and that we have to respect our national symbol, the Jalur Gemilang, as it is the mark of who and what we are and that we must be proud of our "Made in Malaysia" stamp.
In his very own words, Raja Nazrin branded Jalur Gemilang as the "template" of the nation that serves to strengthen the bond that binds all 28 million Malaysians .
He quipped that "national symbols were constructed with much care. That function is to serve as an anchor for us to hold on to, and a guidepost to give us direction, whenever we face challenges and crises as a nation".
He continued that "for a strong sense of patriotism to be instilled and sowed into the hearts of the younger generation, there is a need for both well thought of and well taught history in our schools".
The National Mark of the Malaysian Brand, which is in one way or another a high-quality "Ma-de in Malaysia" stamp, should be regarded as a national symbol, a trust mark that the rakyat will associate with and whose purpose of existence is to provide assurance and confidence to the consumers that products and services that carry this trust mark have attributes of "excellence, quality and distinction".
When Tun Dr Mahathir later took to the stage, speaking off the cuff on Branding Malaysia, his brutal honesty awoke the entire ballroom when he candidly announced that "being annoying" is crucial to personal branding.
And I must say that the crowd applauded his candour with much energy and enthusiasm. No one left the room to go to the gents or ladies for not wanting to miss what the Tun would say next!
As if it was all orchestrated, like Raja Nazrin, Tun too did not fail to mention that it is imperative for all Malaysians to have faith and believe in our own products, instead of glorifying imported ones.
He added that if we Malaysians cannot stand tall and be proud of our own products, however small or big they may be, then we cannot expect other nations to buy and trust the Malaysian Brand.
The former Premier ended with a call to all Malaysians, particularly parents of the growing children, to instil moral values into their off springs, for it is only in creating awareness, educating and shaping their minds will the Malaysian Brand be appreciated, loved and cherished the world over!
Datuk Hafsah Hashim is the chief executive officer of Small and Medium Enterprises Corporation Malaysia (SME Corp Malaysia).
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