Bolehland: Anatomy of how an issue turns into a crisis

Amazing are the things that happen when one is away from internet range.

While Unspun was luxuriating in tourism haven Bali, there was fervent activity in tourism purgatory, Bolehland. It turns out that in response to reporters’ questions about the allegations of an Indonesian TV travel host that the Malaysian Tourism Board had done a sloppy job arranging thieir trip, Malaysian Tourism Minister Tengku Adnan had this to say (for context to this sorry mess see here):

“Bloggers are liars. They use all sort of ways to cheat others. From what I know, out of 10,000 unemployed bloggers, 8,000 are women.

“Bloggers like to spread rumours, they don’t like national unity. Today our country has achievements because we are tolerant and compromising. Otherwise we will have civil war.

“Malays will kill Chinese, Chinese will kill Malays, Indians will kill everybody else.”

He asked people not to believe bloggers and gamble away Malaysia’s future because 50 years of Merdeka (Independence) takes a lot to achieve it.

“We have to show to the people our positive attitude. If the world learns from us, there will be peace and no civil war.”

The remark is so stupid that there is little left for Unspun to say except to award it a shit-for-brains tag. besides, other bloggers more eloquent than Unspun have expressed themselves. Those interested can read Marina Mahathir, Screenshots, Rocky’s Bru, Susan Loone, SK Thew, Nuraina Samad and others swarming over Tengku and his words.

Unspun would like, instead, to post on his area of expertise, which is on crisis and issues management. Unspun had warned earlier that this issue would not go away but will escalate. So far it has taken unforseen twists but the escalation is clear. From Indonesia-based blogs, it was picked up by Malaysian blogs and then on to the mainstream media when Wong Chun Wai wrote about it in his column in The Star.

Until then Tengku Adnan and the Malaysian Tourism Board could have vindicated themselves if they did not live in denial and instead investigated the incident with an open mind, and communicated their findings.In crisis management this is called the prodromal stage, the “before a crisis stage” where things are still salvagable if the individual or organization does not continue to live in denial and become defensive.

So guess what the Tengku did? Lived in denial (MTB cannot be wrong) and became defensive (everyone else is at fault, therefore bloggers, who started this issue in te first place, are liars). The part about women and unemployment cannot be found in any crisis management textbook but must be credited to the Tengku’s own misplaced creativity and obtuseness instead.

So now the hole is getting deeper. What next? The issue will not go away and continue to escalate. The bloggers will go on and on, more newspapers in the region will pick up on the issue. (Update: The bloggers have started digging into every facet of Tengku Adnan’s life too. See Susan Loone  or Dian Parham who pointed to this link) Wong Chun Wai, who had a stake in making this a national issue, will likely have to follow up on it with another commentary. Other Malaysian newspapers will have to follow suit.

The issue’s escalation will mean that the credibility of the Malaysian Government and Pak Lah will take a further beating. One helpful thing to remember for Pak Lah et al, however, is that crises situations also present the protagonists with an opportunity in the midst of adversity. It depends on how skilled one is in navigating through the mess. A good example was how then New York Governor Rudy Giuliani emerged a greater persona from the 9-11 crisis.

The key to doing this is to demonstrate that you are in control of the situation. This can be done, in Pah Lah’s case, by first invstigating if the Sin Chew report on the matter was accurate. If it is he should, in quick succession, apologize to women and bloggers for the misconduct of his Minister, order the Minister to apologize to women and bloggers, replace the Minister or shunt him to a ministry where he will do no harm and ordering a probe into what some Indonesian blogger wits are calling Nilagate so that Malaysia will learn from its mistakes and become even more competitive than its neighbors.

An ability to execute all this will project an image of decisiveness for Pah Lah that he so badly needs. It may also win over many bloggers to his side. Right now most of the bloggers view him dimly and even his predecessor Mahathir (He who destroyed the press and free speech when in power) is doing a much better job wooing the bloggers. And, yes, it may also help bring lots of tourists to a country that is not only beautiful but takes seriously any attempt, even by someone as high an office as a minister, to insult the intelligence of everyone and the dignity of women (and bloggers too).

So Pak Lah, the signs are there and there are lots of crises case histories to learn from. Seize the day or grid yourself for the eventual deluge.