PR and the Malaysia Solution

han-nah-welch: It looks like it is time for Nike and Adidas to put on their premium priced running shoes, running gear and a running head band and get active in sorting themselves out!

I am so glad that Green Peace has called out these multi million dollar international corporation. It is time for them to face the mess that they have made and stop sacrificing the environment. With an enormous annual turnover, and obviously not a whole lot in employment fees. It is the time, Nike and Adidas, it is time to finally do right and stop skirting around the issue of dodgy environmentalism!

Firstly, I suggest you educate yourself on the issue. Watch the youtube clip below -

After a year long investigation into the contamination of Chinas waters, Greenpeace discovered, two major textile facilities were responsible for disposing large amounts of hazardous chemicals into the…

e-mcnamara:It is an interesting political question the One Child Policy. But it is an even more interesting PR topic. The Chinese Government has installed such an extreme legality for the entire country and there is little evidence that there has been any effort on their behalf for the opinions of the general public and international community to be controlled or guided. A very interesting topic Liz. 

One Child Policy - A good plan?

The introduction of China’s One Child Policy stalled population growth, but at what cost?

Women all over the country are forced to have abortions, hefty fines are in place if the policy is disregarded and punishments ensue.

Now, with a ridiculous gender ratio, what type of future does China have as a nation?

Watch this documentary above, it outlines some interesting facts about the policy allowing you to make up your own mind - good or bad?

I didn’t know much about the Coal Seam Gas issue, but after reading these posts on fracking I am shocked that this issue is even being debated! I think Australia is becoming greedy, we are already generating billions from the mining boom, leaving our other sectors such as manufacturing to suffer and NOW the Governments want to make more money from gas at the expense of our country’s health!? No wonder people are protesting…

It seems Australia isn’t the only one up in arms about the use of Hydraulic Fracturing in their country. The United States and Canada are currently battling their own governments while in France the process was banned in early 2011 after immense public pressure.

The United States have been…

The real Manne, David Manne. Not a fan of the Malaysia Swap Deal and is currently held responsible for the encounter of its latest setback.

The Australian Government had its first load of ‘boat people’ and planned to deport them to Malaysia. In Malaysia, they would be placed in camps and await processing. The main problem here is that the off shore processing of asylum seekers is deemed illegal if there are not law binding restrictions ensuring the protection and adequate treatment of migrants.

With ancestral history in fleeing persecution, it is apparent that the recent decisions of the Government to send their first 42 asylum seekers to Malaysia to be processed did not sit well with Manne. The next step was to challenge the Gillard Government scheme in the high court, with a highly regarded and pro bono legal team. The team included reputable barristers, people passionate about immigration issues and legal firm Allens Arthur Robinson who operate throughout Australasia and boast a 93% of staff conducting pro bono work.

Over a two day period, Manne and his team awaited the decision from the high court regarding the deportation of asylum seekers. The high court decision ruled that the third party asylum seekers were sent to needed to be legally bound to adhere to ensure the safety of asylum seekers and their protection whilst they are being processed. Unfortunately, for the Government, Malaysia is not bound by these laws, which rendered the planned deportation and off shore processing dishevelled and illegal.

This has thrown the plans of the Gillard Government into turmoil. More importantly, however, the image of the Australian Government both on a national and international scale comes into question. What kind of developed country, boasting ‘the land of the fair go’ would opt to send people of an innocent and desperate status into a situation that places their wellbeing into question?

As stated by Heather Ewart, a journalist for the ABC “the High Court decision is diabolical for Labor, compounding a now entrenched public perception of Government incompetence.” So evidently, the performance of the Government within this situation has left a bad taste in the mouth of the Australian Public.

Government image in question and an unlikely hero…The Government seems to have found itself in a pickle; does it have some work to do? I think so! 

Read more: http://www.smh.com.au/national/meet-the-manne-who-sank-the-malaysia-plan-20110903-1jreo.html#ixzz1X3brPPsO

The tourism slogan ‘To Know Malaysia is to love Malaysia’, doesn’t seem to have had any impact on the decision of the high court stating that the off shore processing and deportation of asylum seekers in Malaysia is illegal. It is the lack of guaranteed protection of asylum seekers and their wellbeing seems to be the main problem.

However, as a Public Relations student, my attention is drawn to the way this makes the Government look both nationally and internationally and what underlying factors have participated in this decision.

Essentially, it is social and cultural issues such as these that influence the public relations planning process. In order to understand this properly I will give you some basics;

The social issues refer to the varying opinions of people about the asylum seeker debate

The cultural issues can range anywhere from the countries asylum seekers have come from, the happens in those countries, and the behaviour of Australia and Malaysia throughout the asylum seeker debate.

A PR planning process refers to the procedure that PR practitioners go through in order to influence a particular outcome – the tactics and strategies that are deliberately implemented to produce particular factors.

So what has gone so wrong with the Government’s plan to process asylum seekers off shore, aside of course, from the obvious factor of it being found to be illegal?

This is not to say that if the Government had enlisted some professional Public Relations consultancy then there would have been no public outcry, all I am saying is that perhaps there are things that they could have done better in order to ensure a smoother progression of events and more successful outcome. Most importantly, it is a good source to review for comparison in the upcoming events and future times when PR and politics cross.

An interesting fact to bear in mind is that intellectualists contribute the use of influencing through PR activities such as lobbying, enhanced communication and public promotion to increase the success of ventures such as this dramatically! Therefore, it is obvious that the Government has underestimated the use that lobbying or even the establishment of two-way communication to some of the human rights groups and those against the Malaysia Solution.

Today’s society is up to date, technology savvy and very technology literate; some of the simplest things to do in order to gauge public opinion include the newspolls which revealed that 78% of respondents think the handling of the ‘Malaysian Situation’ was bad, or Facebook which has numerous groups and pages both for and against the Malaysia Solution with thousands of supporters for both arguments, not the mention the comments of Twitter.

So basically, would promotion, explanation and a focus on communicating with those most obviously disgruntled have helped the Government’s voyage to shipping out those voyaging in? It may not have changed the end result, but Labor and Gillard may have benefited a little more, especially seeing as she is losing to rival Kevin Rudd in the opinion polls for most preferred Prime Minister!

Diaspora and YouTube – Partnership of Success

An internationally renowned intellect, Dr. Khalid Koser has worked extensively in analysis of the best methods of communication. Most recently he was offered a guest blogging spot of Lowy Institute, his views of the current situation between Australia, our current and potential asylum seekers and the proposal for a YouTube campaign have been made evident.

According to Koser (Communicating the Malaysia Deal, 2011, para 1) there are particular factors that contribute to successful communication with refugees, those ticked by the YouTube campaign include;

Information should be published in a variety of languages – the Governments YouTube campaign will be completed in eight languages

 The message communicated should be very clear - the Governments YouTube campaign is visual which enhances comprehension and there is limited chance of confusion with the 4 steps being detailed. Visual aid also accounts for the significant rates of illiteracy within the communities of asylum seekers

The changes that have been made to Government policy should be communicated properly – the use of the internet for the Governments YouTube campaign will be very successful in ensuring rapid communication through promotion such as word of mouth

Diaspora – defined by Braziel (et al, 2003, p. 87) as the movement or migration of individuals away from their homeland. Diaspora will provide many benefits in the promotion and actual communication regarding the Governments attitudes towards asylum seekers. For example, just because people in Afghanistan have limited access to the internet, doesn’t mean that Afghans living in Australia do

However, the boxes that the Governments YouTube campaign does not tick in accordance with the points from Koser are; (Communicating the Malaysia Deal, 2011, para 7)

Asylum seekers identify more effectively with messages that have a balance of negative and positive contents – What the Governments YouTube campaign does not communicate, in addition to the warning and dangers of coming to Australia illegally, are the details of the process for migrating legally. This would improve the receptiveness of the audience and improve its trustworthiness.

YouTube does not offer a short term successful analysis tool – whilst the amount of times that a clip has been viewed can be monitored, there is no way of telling who, where and why is watching the clip, if the message is being received and if the clip is even reaching the intended audience.

From this, we, the viewer have to decide if four out six is enough boxes to be ticked for a successful campaign from the government, or if the Government needs to do some more homework.

For me, I think that the Government has hit the nail on the head. There is no way that they can communicate definitely to all people considering migration to Australia illegally. But, in keeping up with the times and recognising the power of social media in this modern, technology savvy and globalised international community, YouTube seems like a pretty sensible solution. With a low cost project like this, the Government has nothing to lose… Nothing ventured, nothing gained, as the saying goes.

References:

Braziel, J.E., & Mannur, A. (2003). Theorising Diaspora: A Reader. Melbourne, Australia: Blackwell Publishing Ltd.

Kosser, K. (2011). Communicating the Malaysia Idea. In The Interpreter: Lowy Institute for International Policy. Retrieved from http://www.lowyinterpreter.org/post/2011/08/04/Com municating-the-Malaysia-deal.aspx

The recently approved Malaysia Swap Deal has made some interesting exchanges; however, according to some it seems that the exchanges don’t strictly apply to people.

The recent proposal from the Australian Government to launch a viral video depicting the course of events migrant will face as they come to Australia. The video, complete with eight languages shows the four stages of the newly implemented procedure for the process of asylum seekers;

Step 1: Get taken off the boat

Step 2: Go to Christmas Island

Step 3: Get on a plane and go to Malaysia

Step 4: Get off the plane and go to a Malaysian detention centre in Kuala Lumpur

This proposal has ethical issues flying all over the place with speculation that the Australian Government have traded their ethical for the ease of the proposal. For me, it comes down to the fact that ethically, everyone has a right to information that could impact upon their general wellbeing or freedom. Of which arriving on a boat in Australia does both. Because the information is coming from the Government is it more reliable? People indisputably have a right to an insight of what may lay in front of them.

But on the other hand, these people are in desperate a dire situations, surely we have the capacity to help them out. I certainly am aware of some Australians that exclude themselves from the Australian society and take advantage of the generosity of the government.

The public relations issue here is the public image that is being relayed to the international community. There is the humanitarian side, representing the belief that humans should not be subject to this kind of treatment, Australia is a wealthy country with many opportunities and supposed generosity. However, it is unfair for asylum seekers and boat people to be let into a country without being processed; spare a thought for those trying to enter a country the proper way. In addition, if anyone can get in, then everyone will come.

So, what is a country to do when they are faced with a double edged sword and two very complex arguments?

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-asia-pacific-14369249

The ‘Malaysia Swap Deal’, a very complex, complicated and detailed subject, but here are the basics as I understand them.

There are many, many asylum seekers, refugees and immigrants that want to come to Australia. Some don’t want them to, and some do.

In recent times there has been public outcry for a more hardline approach from the Government to the arrival of these people. In response to this the Australian Government has brokered a deal with Malaysia. In exchange for 800 asylum seekers, Australia will receive 4000 genuine and processed refugees.

There are enormous amounts of controversy that surround this topic. The trading and swapping of people like they’re products, the saying yes the some and no to others and the widely varying range of public opinions. However, the most interesting aspect for me is the way that the Governments of both Australia and Malaysia are handling the issue.

The ‘Malaysia Swap Deal’ has drawn the attention of the UN, media and humanitarian groups all around the world. Therefore, the actions of the Australian Government both on the national and international scale are going to interest a large majority of the population, me included.

Stay tuned! 

A third year Public Relations Student.

What recent PR issues have interested me and my thoughts, opinions and perceptions… Enjoy.