By Aznan Mat Piah
IIUM.fm is a unique campus radio run by the IIUMs Department of Communication. It was launched on 26 May 2010 by the university’s Rector then, Professor Dato Seri Dr. Syed Arabi Idid, to provide the platform for communication students, in particular those specialising in the electronic media, to put into practice their broadcasting knowledge and skills.
It is not meant for broadcast to listeners within the university campus per se, but rather to be accessible throughout the world as it is streamed through the Internet. It is not surprising, therefore, that listeners could tune in to the broadcast from any corner of the globe.
The radio broadcast gives good opportunity for students to have the real feeling of being involved in the operation of a broadcasting station where they prepare news, gather information, carry out live interviews and talk shows and organise, prepare and produce programmes for broadcasts under the guidance of their broadcasting lecturer. The contents of the broadcast vary from news and current affairs items, and campus activities to research and academic highlights, and scholastic views on social and religious matters, particularly relating to Islam and its portrayal in society and the media.
Looking back, I am happy to be part of the development of this radio when chosen among other individuals to appear live in a broadcast interview by its deejay, Rashida Kagoli, the electronic media student who hailed from Sudan. The interview was conducted live on 27 January 2011 (5.00 p.m local time).
Knowing that I had long been in the industry before joining the IIUM, Rashida had asked me to share some of my valued experiences with the listeners. Among the questions put to me were why I have decided to join IIUM, what sorts of job or role I was involved in the industry, my impression of the university’s role, my expectations of IIUM graduates, and how I manage my time in between teaching, family and profession, and what my past achievements were and my future contributions will be.
During the 30-minute interview I have tried to reflect on my past experiences, especially in public diplomacy during my early career with the Ministry of Foreign Affairs over a span of 23 years, which took me to serve in foreign countries as well. I also became the Director of External Information at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, a post responsible for managing Malaysias image abroad or in a nutshell, public diplomacy.
Public diplomacy is, in fact, public relations efforts at the international level where the focus is communicating with foreign audiences on policies and official stances of the government or the defence of national policies abroad. It involves managing relations with the media, managing public perception, influencing foreign audiences perception, as well as positioning Malaysia’s image overseas.
My services of some eight years at the Ministry of Information later in my career were spent on managing issues on national politic, economy and social and the public perception of Malaysia. Later, as director of media and corporate communication at the Department of Information, I was responsible for handling relations with the media, issuing of media accreditation for both local and foreign journalists, attending to coverage of national and official functions, attending to official visits, organising international conferences, and managing corporate affairs of the department.
As the director of South-South Information Gateway in the Ministry of Information later for one and the half years before my retirement in May 2007, I was tasked with the responsibility of bridging the information gap between the developing and the developed world in line with UNESCO’s New World Information and Communication Order. This called for an exchange of broadcast materials and print media news not only between developing countries but also between the developing and the developed world. The programmes also included face-to-face communication through organising seminars and workshops on current issues that brought together media and other experts and specialists from different countries.
I tried to enlighten listeners by emphasising my interest to share experience on the field with young people at the university as the reason for joining IIUM after my retirement from the government service. Apart from that, joining an international and an Islamic university would give me the chance to serve the international community and the Muslim ummah as a whole. I reckon that IIUM has a role in positioning future Muslim leaders and to promote the image of Islam globally, and for this I am proud to be associated with this university.
On my expectations of IIUM graduates, I expressed the hope that communication and public relations graduates, in particular, would be able to compete in the international setting with graduates from other distinguished universities both at home and abroad. Therefore, we need to produce quality graduates to meet the requirements of the market and the industry.
Most importantly, IIUM graduates should be seen as unique in the sense that they have the Islamic attributes, to be able to contribute significantly to the world community at large. Hence, I feel that I too have a role to play in this university in advancing the quality of graduates.
Photo by Shawal Ras