The importance of public relations is everywhere, more so during a situation of conflict or a crisis where managing it properly is of utmost importance to safeguard the image of an organization.

This is where in the issue of electoral process, the Election Commission (EC) should be proactive (or seen to be proactive) to engage the voters and political parties in communication, to convince its stakeholders of its action and explain its position with clarity. We know that the EC has taken the necessary steps to explain the position raised by parties concerned. But there is still negative feedback that shows dissatisfaction or even manipulation by political parties to give the wrong impression.

I suppose an aggressive public relations exercise would give the EC the opportunity to clear any doubt. It would look good for the body as voters would view the move as transparent in line with democratic practices. At least this is what is expected from the election body.

The recent announcement to go biometric and improve the electoral process should be made known as extensively as possible so that the voters would be able to understand the move towards fair elections. Already there have been attempts by some parties to discredit the system and to create doubts among voters. All this require rationales to be explained. Voters too must be able to see the reasons behind the move.

The idea for EC to carry out a public relations engagement with the media and the voters to tell its stories should be welcome by all.

I welcome the move by the Ministry of Information, Communication and Culture for its information and public relations (PR) machinery to be given a new boost. The government PR machinery cannot operate on the basis of approaches or strategies that were carried out in the past which might already be obsolete. Instead, they need to embrace the new technology, use more of the new media, and the officers too must embark on more aggressive strategies.

There are far bigger challenges for the government PR to deal with the current issues which are being manipulated by so many elements which are opposed to what the government is trying to do. Apart from that, the government PR machinery now has to deal with various types of audiences who are more vocal and have higher expectations and demands. The public demands greater transparency in what the government does.

I wonder how much the public try to understand the government policies or interpret the benefits that they get from the government either directly or indirectly. Most often they are quick to criticize or make complaints. Seldom do they praise if they find benefits. Because they think that the mainstream media is controlled by the government, they must have less credibility. So they turn to the new media and think they can trust the information carried in the alternate media. Little do they realize that there are so many untruths, lies and disinformation being spread by such media.

On the same tone, the government PR should not shy away from the new media, instead they must also make full use of such media especially in addressing the younger or new generation of audiences. But the content must be interesting, factual and reasonable or appealing to the audiences. The public too must be exposed to media literacy so that they would be able to differentiate the truth from pure propaganda and manipulation by some parties. The information that is conveyed must be credible, trustworthy, and believable.

The recent announcement to strengthen the PR machinery would also mean a call for greater commitment and sincerity on the part of the Ministry officials in wanting to see changes and in dealing with such issues efficiently.

Is public relations a stressful job? Many of those who have just joined the field as public relations executives have said so as they began to feel the heat of working in the industry. It is true that the more volatile or competitive the environment, the more demanding will the job of public relations be.

And as the public become more aware of their rights or as they become more educated and know about their interests and wants, the more complex will the tasks of public relations be. Hence, a public relations executive is expected to be proactive, a good observer and a problem solver. He or she must be a good listener as well as a good strategist. More often, the job demands the public relations executive to work long hours in trying to meet the expectations of the organization and its public, or in meeting specific deadlines of stakeholders.

In your role as a communication technician you are expected to spend time, among other things, writing press releases and feature articles, writing newsletters, preparing brochures, drafting speeches, dealing with media contacts, meeting clients, attending to public complaints, and helping with event management. These are not easy jobs because you need to pay attention to details and to know your target audiences so that you would be able to send the right messages. In short, you must be able to design your communication plan.

As a communication facilitator, you need to be sensitive to the environment, hence it is your responsibility to monitor issues and developments that would be of concern to your organization. You are in fact dealing with image problem or handling reputation management. This task demands that you maintain a two-way communication and facilitate communication.

Apart from that, a public relations executive is also expected to play the role of a problem-solver and an expert prescriber as you become more experienced and hold a senior position in the organization. Here lies the need for you to use your professionalism, knowledge and skills to deal with issues intelligently and diligently.

Having been in public relations and having spent more than 30 years in the field both at home and abroad, I must say that the job is indeed very demanding, and you are expected to be on your toes all the time. The job demands that you must have the right skills and traits to be able to handle the tasks efficiently. Indeed, I have always felt that public relations is an exciting field.

Apart from writing and communication skills, you must have the passion for the job. You must be able to grasp the substance and contents fast, you ought to have good analytical and thinking skills , and you must be able to use a lot of discretion. Therefore, you must have the energy and the ability to make sense of the environment affecting your organization's interest and to act accordingly. Keeping yourself informed of the latest knowledge and information affecting your organization is therefore very important to guide you in your actions.

Above all, you must like the job and take the tasks as a challenge rather than a burden. If you are passionate about what you are doing everything would come to you easy, although to the others outside your field might be seen as mundane, difficult or uninteresting.

It interests me to look at some of the world's headlines, following Egypt's revolution:

"A Tyrant's Exit. A Nation's Joy"

"Egypt's New Dawn"

"We are Free"

"We are now in charge"

"We are watching"

"Cairo's epicenter of liberation"

"People Power'

'A New Country is Born"

"Egypt now a Free Country"

"Crisis unfolds"

"Making History"

"Great Victory"

"A new Egypt Born"

"Great step to victory!"

"Shock, Rage, Jubilation"

Internship is a period of time when undergraduates undergo practical training or go on attachment at work places to gain practical experience and skills. In the last two years some 50 students under my care have successfully completed their internship at various organizations in the public sector as well as the corporate and private sector organizations in Malaysia and abroad. At least 10 students are currently completing their internship and some 20 more will be doing theirs in April and May this year.


Internship has been made compulsory for communication students specializing in public relations to graduate. They require a period of only two and half months or 10 weeks of practical attachment. Many of the students choose to do their practical training during semester 3 when they have ample time to complete their training before they come back again to the university to do another semester before graduating. But some prefer to do it at the end of their studies so that they do not have to come back to do another semester before graduating. So it is left to the students actually to decide what is the best arrangement for them.


During the last two years, students have had the opportunity to be attached at some of the established companies and GLCs such as Petronas, PNB, TM, TNB, PLUS, MTDC, PKNS and other state development corporations, Tabung Haji, BERNAMA, Media Prima, TV3, PERNEC, and Kuwait Finance House. Some were attached at established and known public relations consultancy firms like Perception Management, Prestige Communication and GRA Communication. There were also those who did their training at the ministries and government agencies like the Ministry of Tourism, Ministry of Information, RTM, FELCRA, HUSM and the local authorities. Students also ventured to undergo practical training overseas such as at UNESCO headquarters in Paris, Islamic Development Bank in Jeddah, Bosnia TV in Sarajevo and a private hospital in Jeddah.


Certainly I would like to record my appreciation to organizations which had accepted our students for training. Through internship program students are able to gain necessary exposure and to equip themselves with practical experience, knowledge and skills required by the industry. Apart from that, organizations will be able to gauge and assess for themselves the standard and quality of interns expected of the industry. They would also be in a position to expose the interns further to the knowledge and skills that they want for the betterment of the industry.


Prior to compulsory internship attachment students are required to undergo one semester of Practicum class at the university which exposed them to practical project. The practicum class gives students the opportunity to organize project on campus by inviting practitioners from the public relations industry to participate in their project. This does not only encourage students to display leadership skills and organizational ability but also to develop networking as well as to condition their mind before joining the industry. Students are also exposed to writing and speaking skills. So, by the time they go on their internship they would be in a better footing to handle their tasks and face challenges.


I am glad that many interns have paid serious attention to their practical training in wanting to improve their skills and in gaining exposure. This is clearly shown by the interest of the organizations where interns have been attached to offer them jobs even before completion of their studies. Some were employed by these organizations immediately after completing their internship.This is really a recognition by the industry.


During the period students were on attachment at various locations I have tried to visit the interns, of course within the limits to do so, to talk to their supervisors on their progress and to make on-the-ground assessment. It is indeed very interesting to make the calls, at times having the opportunity to meet old friends and the advantage to renew professional acquaintance with the industry. Both interns and their supervisors were happy to welcome me.


But I do receive complaints from my interns who did their practical training in locations outside KL because I did not visit them. It is certainly not my intention to ignore them, but more because of the constraints that I face in terms of time factor, distance and resources. Nevertheless, I appreciate efforts of interns who have been in touch with me giving an update of what they have been doing and seeking appropriate advice on how to approach their work. This has given me a good impression on what they actually have been doing. Apart from that, I am in touch with their supervisors to have a feeling over what they have done. So, I do have other mechanism to evaluate. They should not therefore feel they are totally neglected.

IIUM.fm is a unique campus radio run by the university's Department of Communication, International Islamic University Malaysia (IIUM). It was launched early last year by the university's Rector to provide the opportunity for students specializing in electronic media to put into practice their broadcasting skills. It is not meant for campus broadcast only, but rather it is accessible throughout the world as it is streamed through the internet. It is not surprising, therefore, that listeners could tune in to the broadcast from any corner of the globe.

The radio broadcast gives good opportunity for students to have the real feeling of being involved in the operation of the broadcast station where they prepare news, gather information, carry out live interviews, and organize and prepare programs for broadcasts under the able guidance of their experienced lecturer and a broadcaster, Mr. Johanni Salleh. The contents of the broadcast vary from current news items, and campus activities to research and academic highlights, and scholastic views on social and religious matters, particularly relating to Islam and its portrayal in society and the media.

I am happy to be given the opportunity to appear live in a broadcast over IIUM.fm at 5.00pm (local time) yesterday (27 January 2011) where I was interviewed live by its DJ, Rashida Kagoli, the electronic media student who hailed from Sudan. Knowing that I had long been in the industry before joining IIUM, Rashida had asked me to share my valued experiences with the listeners. Among the questions put to me were why I have decided to join IIUM, what sorts of job or role I was involved in the industry, my impression of the university's role, my expectations of IIUM graduates, and how I manage my time in between teaching, family and profession, and what my achievements are and my contributions will be.

During the 30-minute interview I have tried to reflect on my past experiences, especially in public diplomacy during my early career at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs over a spate of 23 years, which took me to serve in foreign countries as well. Public diplomacy is, in fact, public relations effort at the international level where the focus is communicating with foreign audiences on policies and official stances of the government or the defence of such policies abroad. It involves managing relations with the media, managing public perception as well as positioning Malaysia's image overseas.

My services (some eight years) at the Ministry of Information later in my career were spent on managing issues and media relations at the national level. Later, as director of media and corporate communication at the Department of Information, I was responsible for handling relations with the media, issuing of accreditation for both local and foreign journalists, attending to official functions, visits and international conferences, and managing corporate affairs of the department.

As the director of South-South Information Gateway in the Ministry of Information for one and the half years before my retirement, I was tasked with the responsibility of bridging the information gap between the developing and the developed world in line with UNESCO's New World Information and Communication Order. This called for an exchange of broadcast materials and print media news not only between developing countries but also between the developing and the developed world. The program also included face-to-face communication through seminars and workshops that brought together media and other experts and specialists from different countries.

I have tried to enlighten the listeners by emphasizing my interest to share some of my experience with young people at the university as the reason for joining IIUM after my retirement from the government service three years ago. Apart from that, joining an international and an Islamic university would give me the chance to serve the international community and the Muslim ummah as a whole. I reckon that IIUM has a role in positioning future Muslim leaders and to promote the image of Islam globally, and for this I am proud to be associated with this university.

In response to Rashida's question on my expectations of IIUM graduates, I mentioned that I hope communication and public relations graduates, in particular, would be able to compete in the international setting. Therefore, we need to produce quality graduates to meet the requirements of the market and the industry. Most importantly, IIUM graduates should be seen as unique in the sense that they have the Islamic attributes, to be able to contribute significantly to the world community at large. Hence, I feel that I too have a role to play in this university in advancing the quality of graduates.

Is public relations a global profession? Or can public relations even be called a profession? There has been controversy on the concept of true public relations.

Eminent public relations educator like Grunig has been promoting the concept as a 'two-way symmetrical communication'. Some point out that public relations does not even have entry credentials like that of law, medicine or accounting, therefore, it cannot be justified to be called a profession. This has driven the long standing debate on whether public relations practitioners should be licensed.

In Malaysia, the Institute of Public Relations Malaysia (IPRM) strongly advocates the need for an act to regulate the profession through some form of formal certification, if not licensing. The reactions from practitioners in the industry are still divided. Yet there is a need for the industry practitioners and educators to respond fast to place the field where it should be to fit into the global changes.

John Paluszek of Global Alliance public relations and communication management had made the following observation on the "profession", which I think is timely to be examined in the context of its practice in Malaysia today:

1. Public relations in its fullest, finest sense - developing and maintaining relationship - is arguably a global profession because it now functions in the public interest in virtually every part of our interconnected world.

2. Look at Grunig's concept of 'two-way communication' (indeed there is symmetry here) that helps build and maintain harmonious relationship. It illustrates how public relations can exist, and function at the interface of the organization and society. 'Listening' to the audiences - via substantial, on-going research - fits into an organization's policy formation and performance, which is then subject to communication to target audiences.

3. He does not agree with description of public relations as 'high-minded'. It can be pursued in the humble product news release seeking to promote, in the famous aphorism, "commercial transactions between consulting adults". And he says harmony is also scalable. At the other end of the spectrum, harmony is also the objective of macro public relations commitment called 'public diplomacy'. ('public diplomacy' is a concept used by the State Department to offset the tremendous damage to US reputation abroad due to foreign policy decisions.)

4. Is public relations a profession? Look at the definition of a profession. "A vocation or occupation requiring advanced education and training and involving intellectual skills."

5. Public relations can certainly demonstrate three other standards for designation of profession - an ethical code, on-going social science research, and a body of knowledge - although public relations body of knowledge is so broad, diverse and growing that it has defied codification.

6. On public relations practitioners being 'advocates'. Doctors, lawyers and other professionals are advocates as well. The overriding criterion here is performing in the client's interest and within the ethical codes.

7. How do we as public relations professionals fit into a fast changing world? In the last two decades the world has become so interconnected. New international forces have become so powerful that a fundamental reassessment of public relations profession is critical.

8. Look at the importance and the impact of evolving information technology which can link every one around the world at any time. Examine current and global linkages in addressing many issues of international concern - environment, energy, immigration, tourism, trade and commerce, capital flows, disease and health issues.

9. It is fair and critically important to ask, "what can public relations cannon and portfolio, as they continue to evolve, contribute to a better society?"