ANGKATAN
ZAMAN MANSANG (AZAM) RIDES THE WINDS OF CHANGE WITH CONFIDENCE
Recently, YBhg Datuk Hj Abdul
Aziz Hj Hussain, Deputy State Secretary for Human Resource took over the helm
of Angkatan Zaman Mansang (AZAM) from YBhg Datuk Safri Awang Zaidell, AZAM's
Chairman since it was set up in 1983.
Now in its 15th year of existence,
AZAM's contributions in the field of development communication is well recognised.
As an institution, AZAM has built and extensive data base of information on
communication and development and has been fairly successful in sharing this
information to the public, particularly those in the public sector, the grassroots
and the student population.
YBhg Datuk Hj Abdul Aziz shares
his views on AZAM's evolution as an organisation which was primarily entrusted
with the task of addressing and bridging communication gaps between the government
and the grassroots into an organisation that will be truly relevant in the Information
Age.
RAKAN Sarawak: What would you
consider to be AZAM's strength?
AZAM has fulfilled its role as a
"development communicator" effectively all these years. Those of us who know
and why AZAM was formed will understand that it was primarily created to help
prepare the people for the change brought about by the development process.
The idea for AZAM's formation came from YAB Datuk Patinggi Tan Sri Hj Abdul
Taib Mahmud himself, when he first took office as Sarawak's Chief Minister
in 1983. The Chief Minister believed then, and as always, that the development
process cannot and will not be succesfully carried out unless the people - who
are the main beneficiaries and stakeholders - understand, accept and are fully
supportive of the development programmes.
He was fully committed to bringing
about socio-economic development to Sarawak and he knew that this process will
not only require the people to accept and welcome these development but it will
also lead to significant changes in the peoples' lives and mindset. He gathered
a group of civil servants, media practitioners and academicians to discourse
on how best to prepare the people for all these changes. These discussions led
to the formation of AZAM. The Chief Minister's idea was to have a dynamic organisation
which must be able to take the lead in preparing a social climate that is responsive
and receptive to changes brought about by the goverment's development programmes.
I believe that AZAM has remained
true to this mandate. Under Datuk Safri's guidance and leadership, AZAM has
established and maintained strong links with local community leaders, schools
and their students and of course, with the media sector and the Civil Service.
By organising seminars, dialogues, training programmes targeted at different
audiences, AZAM has effectively disseminated information on the government's
development programmes. We have also built up a substantial amount of information
and data on development issues which now serve as valuable inputs in our development
planning and implementation.
What role do you foresee AZAM
playing as we move into the 21st century?
The times that we are in are, indeed,
special. Our generation is privileged in the sense that we are actually at the
threshold of an event that takes place only in 999 years. When people begins
to realize this, it becomes a positive pull or influence in that it makes them
more predisposed towards change.
We can tap this positive climate
for change to help bring our people into the mainstream of development, not
only in the context of Sarawak or of Malaysia but globally.
A recent Time magazine
write-up on the topic "Our century...and the next one" mentioned
that (and I quote) "among the few things certain about the next century is
that it will be wired, networked and global. Because national borders will be
unable to block the flow of information and innovation, the societies that thrive
will be those that are comfortable with openness and with the free flow of service,
goods and ideas."
I
can't help but agree with that statement. And therein lies the challenge for
AZAM in the next century. We must come up with innovative approaches that will
help develop our soceity's capability to "be comfortable with openness and with
the free flow of services, goods and ideas."
While the goverment, with the help
of the private sector, lay down the infrastructure that will put Sarawak right
in the midst of the wired and networked global village, civic organisations
like AZAM should complement their efforts by helping the people mentally (and
psychologically) prepare for the vast, sweeping changes that are coming their
way. While those in the urban areas are already exposed to these innovations
brought about by Information Technology, our rural folks might still find such
tecnology bewildering and baffling.
AZAM's challenge is for us to come
up with innovative approaches in communication that will help bring our people
in the mainstream of events and development in the 21st century. We must prepare
them and equip them with the knowledge and the means to cope with these bewildering
changes in technology. And we must bring them a step further: we must be able
to educate them on how to sift through these vast array of information and learn
to select, process and apply the most valid information. It has been said, time
and again, that in the Information Era, information is power. However, I believe
that the stress should not be on information alone, but on being able to select,
process and apply the right and most valid information. And this is the kind
of capability that we must help develop in our people.
In this senario, AZAM must then be
able to fulfill the role of a "change communicator". We must be able to "sell
or promote" change through the art of gentle persuasion. Any manner of change
can be seen as potentially disruptive so, we must lead our people as gently
as possible to embrace change and learn to make the most of opportunities presented
by these changes.
In this role, AZAM will not only
communicate ideas or information as development programmes are being implemented.
Instead, it will have to be more proactive and be able to anticipate possible
issues, situation or events, not only locally but globally. We must then have
the capability to monitor, interpret, identify and label socio-economic-political
structures (or events), either actual or emerging, and analyse their potential
impact on public interests.
It has always been an accepted
idea that if one espouses change, then one must be raedy to change onself. To
be an effective communicator for change, what changes would AZAM have to effect
within, as an organisation and among its members?
I thinks that one of things that
we have to be, and do as a group, will be to be more audience-responsive. we
have to be doubly certain that we truly understand our audience' needs and requirements.
We have to apply and practice the "demand-site oriented communication" rather
than the supply-side position. Looking at things then from our audience' point
of view, we can ask and determine what we can respond to, or assist them with,
in terms of their needs or requirements.
This approach in effect will compel
our members to be more creative in our approaches. We must be able to learn
and acquire skills and competence, for instance, in how to symbolically "package"
or present our messages so that they becomes more acttractive to the respective
target audiance. The first crucial step in making our programmes and activities
accepted, supported and eventually, adopted as an intergral part of their lives,
is to catch their attention. The second step will be to facilitate their access
to information pertaining to these programmes. And then, we can move on to the
stage where we can gently persuade or convince them to change their attitudes
or behaviour, which would be translated into their acceptance, support or active
involvement in the development process or programmes.
We have to constantly keep ourselves
updated on the latest communication trends and strategies the world we' re living
in today is truly the brave new world of technology. If at times we may feel
overwhelmed by all these changes that are happening and to which we are subjected
to at such rapid pace of change, how much more when we come face to face with
the realities of 21st century tools and inventions!
This reminds me of what I had read
regarding the first ever managment conference held. It was organised by the
German Post Office in 1882. Only Chief Executive Officers (CEOs) were invited
to attend. The topic was "how not to be afraid of the telephone". Nobody attended
this conference because the CEO's thought then that the telephone was for underlings,
and that they in their position will not ever need a telephone!
AZAM members must guard againts complacency
and must avoid this smug attitude. We must always be ready and willing to learn,
discover and apply new ways of doing things. It is no longer enough to make
the old ways better and more efficient. The times we are in demand that we must
be quick enough to adopt to entirely new ways of doing things.
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