If the Malaysian Information Minister was a client, he would be considered The Client From Hell for a PR hack like Unspun.As this clip from Al Jeezera shows, the Minister committed all the cardinal sins a spokesperson could when confronted with an aggressive, hard-hitting journalist about the Government’s stance on the 40,000 Malaysians who demonstrated against electoral malpractices over the weekend.
He was defensive by blaming Al Jeezera for “supporting” the demonstrators.
He got into an argument with the media. The old adage is that you never argue with someone who buys ink by the barrel. Technology has made ink less important, but you get my point.
He badmouthed others. He kept saying that Malaysia wasn’t like Burma or Pakistan, making sure the Pakistani and Burmese leaders will stick it up to him the next time they have a chance to.
He failed to maintain his cool. The job of the spokesperson is to present a calm, reasonable, plausible and likeable manner so that others may think that the organization he presents is calm, reasonable, plausible and likeable. The impression one got viewing the tape is that neither he nor the government he represents is likeable.
He argued for vested interests instead of the greater good of society. Yeah, like the world cares how good the Malaysian government is when all they see is demonstrators being hosed down by policemen.
When, oh when, will the Malaysian politicians learn that in these days of blogs, You Tube vcasts, podcasts and videocam-handphones, perception is all.
Lose the perception war and you begin to lose your footing in the real world.
Yet the Malaysian Government seems to be so isolated from reality that they think they can bully and rage all their critics into silence. Time for a reality check Badawi.
Disclosure: Unspun is not an opposition supporter primarily because Unspun thinks that there is no viable opposition in Malaysia. Unspun actually thinks it would be worse off if the opposition came into power, but at the same time Unspun understands the frustration fellow Malaysians must feel faced with a government that cannot even manage to communicate and seemingly credibly, decisively and like-ably.
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He is a copy of our information minister under Soeharto – Pak Harmoko …
Do you know what our people “say” about him ? “HARMOKO: HARI-HARI OMONG KOSONG” Hehehehe ..
But later, as a Chairman of MPR/DPR, Pak Harmoko urged his “GURU” to resign in May 1998…
Perhaps Pak Harmoko could do all Malaysians a favour by persuading Zam to resign too?
GURU = Soeharto ..
Dear Readers,
I refer to the comment on “why Malaysian Govt is losing at…”.
The Minister has the right to air his view. And he is not wrong to remind that the concern is actually is misplaced. What electoral malpractises these demonstators are talking about when opposition keeps winning seats in every elections.
If there are electoral malpractises( of course the blame is on the Govt), why UMNO fared quite badly in 1999. Why PAS manages to retain control over Kelantan in 3 consecutive general election.
The truth is that vast majority of Malaysians( of course not portrayed by foreign media) believe that generally the election has been fairly conducted. Of course there are rooms for improvement. But to infer that the election is manipulated is too difficult to be swallowed.
ZAm is doing what a Minister should be doing. Taking the bull by its horn. He is simply defending the democratically elected govt from slander. Simply because opposition loses does not mean that election is manipulated.
Disclosure: Unspun is not an opposition supporter primarily because Unspun thinks that there is no viable opposition in Malaysia. Unspun actually thinks it would be worse off if the opposition came into power, but at the same time Unspun understands the frustration fellow Malaysians must feel faced with a government that cannot even manage to communicate and seemingly credibly, decisively and like-ably.
Well sum up my Friend Unspun!! Ha ha.