Launching the icon at Perdana Putra here in the presence of cabinet members, he said the rebranding of the 1Malaysia icon was to avoid confusion among the people who had become familiar with the two concepts.

“Therefore, we’ve agreed to combine the two symbols into one national icon so that we do not discard the 1Malaysia concept and focus only on the Negaraku concept as though 1Malaysia does not exist any more.

“We will continue to champion 1Malaysia.

“We have decided that this is the new icon for our nation, namely 1Malaysia Negaraku,” he said at the launch.

Najib said the 1Malaysia concept launched in June 2009 had been accepted as an approach, philosophy and concept that were most meaningful for Malaysians.

He said 1Malaysia symbolised the desire to achieve national unity through similarities, togetherness, cooperation and mutual respect among the people.

Najib said the journey towards real and meaningful unity took time and had to traverse various challenges and obstacles.

He explained that the 1Malaysia concept varied from that introduced earlier because it was linked to products and programmes using the 1Malaysia name such as 1Malaysia Clinics, 1Malaysia People’s Shops, 1Malaysia Training Scheme and 1Malaysia People’s Housing Projects.

Najib said the Negaraku initiative launched in March this year had received tremendous response.

“When we say Negaraku, we get a warm response because it is so spontaneous. Just say Negaraku and the people will respond with Malaysia,” he said.

Najib said the new icon would be used for this year’s National Day celebration.