Public relations is still considered a young profession for a developing country like Malaysia, compared to other long established ones like law, engineering, medical, accountancy and architecture, nevertheless efforts are not spared to raise the profession to a status that all practitioners should be proud of. Getting practitioners to be professionally accredited is one such measure.
Last Saturday, 28 August 2010, I was on a panel of the Institute of Public Relations Malaysia (IPRM) together with Dato' Shaikh Sulaiman and Puan Rasila Hamzah (both of them are public relations consultants) to decide on the conferment of the Accredited Public Relations Practitioner (APR) status for three public relations personalities. They are Dr. Ramanathan Sankaran, a former UiTM (Universiti Teknologi MARA) lecturer and now a public relations consultant, Dr. Jamilah Ahmad, a lecturer with Universiti Sains Malaysia (USM), Penang and Puan Nur Saidatul, a lecturer from UiTM.
Candidates seeking for accreditation status are required under the Institute's procedures for accreditation to appear before a panel to present their case and defend their credentials.
The IPRM has taken in its stride since the year 2000 to give voluntary accreditation to practitioners who are professionally qualified to carry with their name the title "APR" once they have fulfilled the set criteria and upon approval by the panel set up by the Institute. The first batch of APRs received their status from the patron in August 2005 and I was fortunate to be one of those. The panel members to sit on the committee to decide on the APR status should be an APR holder and must have earned a fellowship (FIPR) of the Institute. As for me, I am also currently sitting on the Council, holding the portfolio of Honorary Secretary.
The first presentation by Dr. Sankaran was on the topic of "Crisis Communication" where he emphasized the importance for organizations to have crisis communication plan in place to address crisis situation at any time. Crisis Communication is an important aspect of public relations job to restore public confidence and rebuild the image of organizations as result of crisis situation whether man-made, or caused by mechanical faults, or following an act of God.
His other presentation was his research and assessment on how Malaysia has progressed this far in meeting the UN Millennium Development Goals (MDG) by the year 2015, in relations to poverty eradication, empowerment of women, children, economic progress, environmental care and partnership for development. Citing statistics from United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) the presentation highlighted some of Malaysia's achievement on human capital development, the status of women and children, and economic progress as evidenced from its Gross National Income. According to his assessment, compared to its neighbours in the Asian region, Malaysia is doing quite well in meeting the objectives set by the world body.
Dr. Sankaran was in fact my former lecturer (he taught me editorial writing) when I was studying at UiTM back in the seventies. He is currently holding the chair for IPRM, Johore chapter, and a country representative at the Asian Media Information and Communication Centre (AMIC), based in Singapore. He also identifies himself with the Wawasan Open University, where he works closely with Mr. U.K. Menon, the university's deputy vice chancellor, who was also my communication law lecturer back then in UiTM..
I have high regards for my guru Dr. Sankaran, who despite his age at almost 70 now, is still very active and in wanting to spend his time to raise the standard of public relations practices. He is at present a public relations consultant with Media Plus Consultancy, based in Johor Bahru.
The presentation by Dr. Jamilah Ahmad was in relations to her involvement in event management and her research project, particularly on the environment and the green projects in Penang. During her presentation she highlighted her recent project involving the New Millennium Graduates (NEMGRADS) as part of the University's Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) programme and her recent involvement on green campaigns which have attracted a lot of attention from the corporate sector, the NGOs and the mass media. She is very much into voluntary social and environmental work trying to uplift public awareness of related issues.
I had the opportunity to attend and observe the CSR environment project and seminar held in USM, 13 to 14 March 2010 together with Prof. Mohd Hamdan Adnan, IPRM's President and Associate Prof. Dr. Kiranjit Kaur, the chair person for education bureau, which was led by Dr. Jamilah.
Dr. Jamilah is a graduate of UiTM and obtained her doctorate from Deakins University, Australia. Being the vice chair of IPRM, Penang chapter, she is very active, full of determination and enthusiasm to do more to promote the visibility of public relations profession especially in environmental and green projects. Before moving to her present position at USM, Dr. Jamilah has lectured at UiTM for several years.
Puan Nur Saidatul had given her perspective on Crisis Communication plan of two GLCs or government-linked companies: PETRONAS, the national oil company, and PROTON, the national car project. Her presentation was based on the content analysis research carried out by her on the two prominent GLCs with regard to how these organizations manage the media during crisis situations or handling of emergency response. The presentation threw significant lights on the importance for Crisis Management team and procedures to be triggered during crisis situations. Puan Nur Saidatul is currently pursuing her doctorate in communication at UiTM.
All the three candidates have shown their strengths in their respective areas for what they are capable of embarking as professionals to further the interest of public relations and to uplift its status academically and professionally.
Last Saturday, 28 August 2010, I was on a panel of the Institute of Public Relations Malaysia (IPRM) together with Dato' Shaikh Sulaiman and Puan Rasila Hamzah (both of them are public relations consultants) to decide on the conferment of the Accredited Public Relations Practitioner (APR) status for three public relations personalities. They are Dr. Ramanathan Sankaran, a former UiTM (Universiti Teknologi MARA) lecturer and now a public relations consultant, Dr. Jamilah Ahmad, a lecturer with Universiti Sains Malaysia (USM), Penang and Puan Nur Saidatul, a lecturer from UiTM.
Candidates seeking for accreditation status are required under the Institute's procedures for accreditation to appear before a panel to present their case and defend their credentials.
The IPRM has taken in its stride since the year 2000 to give voluntary accreditation to practitioners who are professionally qualified to carry with their name the title "APR" once they have fulfilled the set criteria and upon approval by the panel set up by the Institute. The first batch of APRs received their status from the patron in August 2005 and I was fortunate to be one of those. The panel members to sit on the committee to decide on the APR status should be an APR holder and must have earned a fellowship (FIPR) of the Institute. As for me, I am also currently sitting on the Council, holding the portfolio of Honorary Secretary.
The first presentation by Dr. Sankaran was on the topic of "Crisis Communication" where he emphasized the importance for organizations to have crisis communication plan in place to address crisis situation at any time. Crisis Communication is an important aspect of public relations job to restore public confidence and rebuild the image of organizations as result of crisis situation whether man-made, or caused by mechanical faults, or following an act of God.
His other presentation was his research and assessment on how Malaysia has progressed this far in meeting the UN Millennium Development Goals (MDG) by the year 2015, in relations to poverty eradication, empowerment of women, children, economic progress, environmental care and partnership for development. Citing statistics from United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) the presentation highlighted some of Malaysia's achievement on human capital development, the status of women and children, and economic progress as evidenced from its Gross National Income. According to his assessment, compared to its neighbours in the Asian region, Malaysia is doing quite well in meeting the objectives set by the world body.
Dr. Sankaran was in fact my former lecturer (he taught me editorial writing) when I was studying at UiTM back in the seventies. He is currently holding the chair for IPRM, Johore chapter, and a country representative at the Asian Media Information and Communication Centre (AMIC), based in Singapore. He also identifies himself with the Wawasan Open University, where he works closely with Mr. U.K. Menon, the university's deputy vice chancellor, who was also my communication law lecturer back then in UiTM..
I have high regards for my guru Dr. Sankaran, who despite his age at almost 70 now, is still very active and in wanting to spend his time to raise the standard of public relations practices. He is at present a public relations consultant with Media Plus Consultancy, based in Johor Bahru.
The presentation by Dr. Jamilah Ahmad was in relations to her involvement in event management and her research project, particularly on the environment and the green projects in Penang. During her presentation she highlighted her recent project involving the New Millennium Graduates (NEMGRADS) as part of the University's Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) programme and her recent involvement on green campaigns which have attracted a lot of attention from the corporate sector, the NGOs and the mass media. She is very much into voluntary social and environmental work trying to uplift public awareness of related issues.
I had the opportunity to attend and observe the CSR environment project and seminar held in USM, 13 to 14 March 2010 together with Prof. Mohd Hamdan Adnan, IPRM's President and Associate Prof. Dr. Kiranjit Kaur, the chair person for education bureau, which was led by Dr. Jamilah.
Dr. Jamilah is a graduate of UiTM and obtained her doctorate from Deakins University, Australia. Being the vice chair of IPRM, Penang chapter, she is very active, full of determination and enthusiasm to do more to promote the visibility of public relations profession especially in environmental and green projects. Before moving to her present position at USM, Dr. Jamilah has lectured at UiTM for several years.
Puan Nur Saidatul had given her perspective on Crisis Communication plan of two GLCs or government-linked companies: PETRONAS, the national oil company, and PROTON, the national car project. Her presentation was based on the content analysis research carried out by her on the two prominent GLCs with regard to how these organizations manage the media during crisis situations or handling of emergency response. The presentation threw significant lights on the importance for Crisis Management team and procedures to be triggered during crisis situations. Puan Nur Saidatul is currently pursuing her doctorate in communication at UiTM.
All the three candidates have shown their strengths in their respective areas for what they are capable of embarking as professionals to further the interest of public relations and to uplift its status academically and professionally.
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