FOR a seasoned media editor or a PR practitioner, the corporate communications division at Prasarana Malaysia Bhd needs an immediate overhauling. If necessary, heads must roll although the author is not suggesting that the corporate communications head should be made the fall guy.
What transpired over the past 72 hours since the “train kissing” tragedy which climaxed in the immediate axing of its chairman Datuk Seri Tajuddin Abdul Rahman shall serve as a valuable lesson not only to Prasarana but also all government-linked companies (GLCs) and government-linked investment companies (GLICs) to ensure that their politician-turn-chairman is media-savvy enough to handle a crisis situation.
In a big way, this raises the question of inaptness of politicians – like the Pasir Salak MP – to fill the shoe of a professional chairman which shall be a story for another day.
First thing first, one wonders why the chairman who is a renowned aggressor with an erratic behaviour was allowed to take the microphone during the eventful media conference which happened to be his last at Prasarana.
Shouldn’t the onus lie on the shoulder of the CEO Datin Norlia Noah given the chairman’s portfolio is merely one of a non-executive capacity as clearly spelled out on his dismissal letter dated May 26 which was signed by the honourable Finance Minister Tengku Datuk Seri Zafrul Tengku Abdul Aziz?
Below are the take from iOli Communications Sdn Bhd CEO Yan Lim and assistant honorary secretary for the Institute of PR Malaysia who shared with FocusM her personal post-mortem of what went wrong and how to right the wrong.
***Yan’s take on Tajuddin’s PR mishaps***
First of all, Prasarana should have chosen a more suitable, professional, media trained spokesperson to lead such an important press conference, not someone who would display an utter disdain for human decency.
They should have known from the outset that this chairman is someone who is not a viable spokesperson. I am sure he did not become a rude person overnight.
The communications team should have seen it coming. They should have prepared him with the appropriate talking points with the right intonation of speech. If they did not, that means they did not do their work.
What had he done wrong and should have been avoided at all cost by someone in his capacity:
- Cracking a joke at a serious media conference over a tragedy, no less. By saying the two trains ‘kissed each other’ was inappropriate. It shows how he lacks empathy or was not emotionally affected by what happened, to say the least. That is just very bad for a spokesperson, representing the organisation in question during such tragedy.
- He was somewhat implying a racist remark when he asked a reporter where she was from and when she replied “China”, his response was, “No wonder lah”. If that was not racist, it was downright rude.
- For him to even have the need to mention how “serious” he was of that matter – telling people how he made up his mind to attend the press conference first thing in the morning when he was also scheduled for his vaccine – was downright inappropriate and childish. It was a redundant information. What was he expecting out of the public? Sympathy for him? That he needed to “sacrifice” his other commitment to fulfill his responsibility as the chairman of a GLC?
- He asked a journalist who asked him a question in English on whether or not the journalist understood English, when his answers was not even in perfect English to begin with. That was rude. It does not take a GLC’s spokesperson to know that he should not talk like that. Even a layman would not do that.
What he should have done, on top of the obvious:
- He should have remained calm. Just focused on the subject matter.
- He should have said his apologies on behalf of Prasarana to all the victims, their family and loved ones. And to all Malaysians in a proper and sincere manner.
- He should stick to his talking points, taking in questions, without sharing anything about his personal information, decision – and nonsense.
- He should not have been sarcastic and he should definitely not have cracked any jokes.
- Most of all, he should have been media trained. – May 28, 2021
