ABSTRACT
This chapter discusses the conceptualisation of “nation branding” as both a tourism and political tool in post-colonial Malaysia where the “nation” and “state” are not interchangeable. In 1999, the song “Malaysia Truly Asia” was composed by Datuk Seri Ahmad Nawab and it became, and continues to be, the most iconic song for Tourism Malaysia’s campaigns. Epistemologically, for post-colonial countries such as Malaysia, terms such as “states”, “nations”, and “nation-states” are completely dissimilar and cannot be used interchangeably. This is because the experience of decolonisation among independent former colonies is different compared to that of Europe from where the idea of “nation” originated. Malaysia is located within the Malay world (Malay archipelago). To understand the country’s societal formation today, it is imperative to comprehend the socio-political transformation of the region. As a post-colonial state, Malaysia’s contemporary identity is a result of the impact of layers of embeddization originating from its pre-colonial civilization and cultures within the archipelago.
