In July last year I wrote in my facebook an article "New boost for government PR" in my attempt to draw attention to the importance of giving a boost to government public relations machinery. I don't really know how many people have read my note but my message was quite clear. That public relations has a role in managing the image of the government and in promoting government policies.

With the 13th general elections just around the corner the role of the government public relations machinery becomes more prominent as the public needs to be convinced of policies and programmes that would bring about continued development and progress for the country and the people.

Certainly there's the need to bring in new strategies to win the hearts and minds of the people, particularly among young people, towards what have been done by the present government. They need to be reminded what the government had achieved and what they have  benefited, and what would they stand to benefit in the next years to come, especially with regard to transformational programmes currently embarked by the government.

Despite efforts been carried out to promote the image of the government and to maintain good relationship with the public, many people still have not understood the real meaning of public relations. Critics are saying that public relations is an act of lies and manipulation or an attempt to spin. Public relations people are often called "spin doctors".

But I would say that practitioners too are partly to be blamed if they allow themselves to be misunderstood or misjudged by the public or to indulge in a situation where they appear ignorant of certain developments and policies.

Public relations is about managing image and perception. It is about ethical practice, credibility, openness and transparency. It is about giving the right perspective, taking into considerations the public opinion and feedback from the audience. It concerns building trust and confidence. This could only come about through constant monitoring of the environment and by being sensitive to public response in ensuring survival of organizations, in this case the government agencies. It involves engaging the public.

It would mean that public relations people in government agencies have to work extra hard to prove their worth and to put the present government in positive light. There's so much the government have done over the past years and these are track records for people to see and to judge for themselves. The facts and details must be made available for the public to see. Public relations people must be able to rationalize and not to spin the facts when they are approached by the public. They should not just paint the positive picture but must attempt to be balanced so that the public would be able to judge for themselves the progress that have been brought about by the government.

There is the need to do an audience study. The present audiences, particularly the younger generation, may not understand fully the history of the country and may not recognize their identity. Where we are today does not come out of the blues from some where but rather as a result of hard work of the past generation of leaders. There is a lot of education process that the public must be engaged and issues misunderstood to be addressed.

Apart from that the messages to the different target groups need to be well crafted and well thought out.  Public relations practitioners now have to address the audience who are more affluent and educated who are aware of their rights. The government public relations machinery therefore cannot operate on the basis of approaches or strategies carried out in the past which is already obsolete. Instead, they need to embrace the new technology, use more of the new media, and the officers or the practitioners too must embark on more aggressive strategies to penetrate audience who are equally aggressive and demanding. The media too ought to be balanced in their reporting and assessment.

There are now far bigger challenges for the government public relations to deal with the current issues which are being manipulated by so many elements which are opposed to what the government is doing.

Public attitudes and behaviors towards government public relations must be changed. The public should be made to understand that they should not think whatever that comes from government officials are of propaganda nature or simply mouthpiece of the government. Instead, the people must be convinced that these are real efforts to explain the benefits the public would gain following implementation of social and economic transformation policies to bring about progress and development. The rest would be left to the people to decide.

Public relations efforts therefore must be interpreted and implemented wisely with credibility in mind.

An editorial comment titled "Of shallow likes and links" in New Sunday Times (22 April 2012) is somewhat interesting as it raised concerns that the internet generation is indulging in too much inanity. Inanity simply refers to something stupid, silly, or meaningless.

It says "Going by what appears to be popular on online social networking sites and the pattern of inane Internet sensations, it is almost tempting to give in to the idea that society is rapidly becoming mindless."

What the editorial is trying to highlight is that it appears the younger generation is now focusing more on the mundane things and gossips rather than the more serious subjects. Comments on Facebook or Twitter, the editorial says, do not have to be intelligent to garner massive amounts of likes. The simpler the comment the more response it is likely to get.

Deep soul-searching debate on the state of environment, nation, or even education, does not draw big crowds. It asks questions like "Should stories be simplified and presented in bite-sized form to cater to shrinking attention span?"Or should the elders in society resign themselves to just saying, " This is what the internet generation is interested in?"

I agree that there's the need for society to strive to inculcate a culture that values intelligent thought and scholarship particularly among the younger generation, otherwise they will not have the depth to indulge in intelligent debate. That will be a waste, isn't it? They need to be taught to think critically from young! And the Internet should be fully and intelligently used for this purpose!

How would you brace yourselves to ensure that you would be readily employed by the industry upon graduating from the university? Communication and human sciences students of International Islamic University Malaysia (IIUM) were recently reminded that they must develop their potentials during their university days as the employers would prefer to hire graduates with "extra or plus qualities".

The reminder came from two senior communication executives, Mr. Izad Haji Raya of Proton Holdings Berhad and Mr. Nik Effendi Jaafar of Employees Provident Fund in a forum session on April 12, organized by the public relations practicum students of the university.

The practicum event was indeed a window to the internship program, prior to their attachment with the industry, aimed at giving the opportunity for the public relations students to demonstrate their professional skills and to gain practical knowledge.  It was also intended to expose them to current knowledge of the industry through interactive sessions with practitioners from the field.

Students were told that employers would rather go for "the street smart" than the "book smart" per se.  "You might have scored a CGPA of 3.5 or 3.6 but if you cannot prove that you have the "extra or the plus factors" that employers are looking for, you do not stand a good chance to be employed", the speakers said.

As the industry is becoming more competitive, the employers no doubt tend to be choosy and want to hire the best graduates not only in terms of academic performance but also in terms of their ability and skills, and their personality to deliver their work efficiently.  With the increase in the number of graduates entering the job market each year, employers cannot just settle for the mediocre, instead they are determined to look for the good candidates who have the potential to perform well in the market. That was the message driven by the speakers at the forum.

Some 120 students who attended the session listened attentively to the speakers when they were enlightened on the expectations of the industry. The speakers cited examples of the interview process which they conducted where they found students with good CGPA, who logically should not have problems to be hired, but failed to convince the interview panel. They seemed to be lacking in communication and thinking skills and were not able to articulate their minds as to their ability to examine issues or to solve problems.

Students were also told they should not be satisfied to learn just about communication techniques and theories. Instead, they should be well disposed to the content aspects when handling public relations in an organization.

Public relations practitioners need to know the issues that are developing within the organization. Therefore, they must have a good working knowledge about the organization especially in terms of its core business, its involvement with strategic publics and the stakeholders, and where the overall interest of the organization lie, which means they must have a strong background on relevant matters or subjects that influence the survival of the organization.

This also means they must show interest in current affairs and must be prepared to work hard to conduct their own study and research about topics related or of interest to the organization.

Apart from the two senior speakers from the industry, students also had the opportunity to learn from their seniors during the sharing moment session held in the afternoon. Ahmad Nazreen Shah from Petronas and Mohamad Rizzuan Abdul Razak from New Straits Times Press who have been in the industry for two years, had enlightened the students with a number of tips on what to expect upon graduation.

They highlighted the importance of having the right attitudes, the secret of managing bosses, the need for a conducive working environment, and to serve the organization with dedication. They also told the session about the challenges they had to go through in their first six months in their job. They mentioned the need to prove themselves of their ability to adapt and survive in the working environment which is far different from student days.

I thought the two sessions were very significant where the students were actively engaged in the discussion.

Another session by Puan Sherifah Muznizah Syed Mustafa from Carigalihess on interview skills, had also drawn considerable interest, where students were given an insight into some of the tips to enhance their appearance during job interviews which stressed on the significance of preparing resume, creating first impressions, and developing the right mindsets for the job. Puan Sharifah has vast working experience in human resources management having worked several years in multinational companies.

The practicum event was officiated by former rector Prof. Dato' Sri Dr. Syed Arabi Idid who later gave an inspiring speech to motivate the students. Prof. Syed has always showed great interest in public relations activities. The head of Communication Department, Dr. Che Mahzan Ahmad also attended the event and delivered a speech that stressed the importance of applying theories into public relations practice.