1.

0 Definition of Public Relation The formal practice of what is now commonly referred to as public relations dates to the early 20th century. In the relatively brief period leading up to today, public relations have been defined in many different ways, the definition often evolving alongside public relations changing roles and technological advances. The earliest definitions emphasized press agentry and publicity, while more modern definitions incorporate the concepts of engagement and relationship building. Public relation are defined by Banks (1995) in his book, Multicultural Public Relations: A Social-Interpretive Approach, as the management of formal communication between organizations and their relevant publics to create and maintain communities of interest and action that favour the organization, taking full account of the normal human variation in the systems of meaning by which groups understand and enact their everyday lives. This definition comes close to describe the best practice in public relations which is concerned with mutual understanding between an organization/government and its publics and also stresses the importance of culture and diversity for different communities in different locations. This definition may seem simple but it has a great deal of substance, as it focuses on management, leadership and mutual understanding. Meanwhile, Hutton (1999) in his article for Publics Relations Review, The Definition, Dimensions, and Domain of Public Relations describes public relation as managing strategic relationship. By this, it can be said that the combination of Banks and Huttons definitions and the consideration of diversity management may yield a highly comprehensive public relations definition to prepare for major new challenges in future public relations roles and issues regarding it. In addition, Newsom and Kruckeberg (2004) said public relationship is a leadership and management function that helps achieve organizational objectives, defines philosophy, 1

and facilitate organizational changed. As there is a communication of all relevant internal and external publics to develop positive relationship and to create consistency between organizational goals and societal expectations. As a management function, public relations also encompasses in researching, conducting and evaluating, on a continuing basis, programs of action and communication to achieve the informed public understanding necessary to the success of an organizations aims. These may include marketing; financial; fund raising; employee, community or government relations; and other programs. Instead of that, public relations also involved on planning and implementing the organizations efforts to influence or change public policy. Setting objectives, planning, budgeting, recruiting and training staff, and developing facilities. In short, it is managing the resources needed to perform communication process that builds mutually beneficial relationships between organizations and their publics..

2.0 Introduction Traditionally, three functions have been ascribed to public relations. According to one point of view, public relations serves to control publics, by directing what people think or do in order to satisfy the needs or desires of an institution. According to a second point of view, PRs function is to respond to publics, when it reacting to developments, problem or the initiatives of others. According to the third point of view, the function of public relations is to achieve mutually beneficial relationships among all the public that an institution has, by fostering harmonious interchanges among an institutions various publics. Public relations also covered such essential areas that help to improved ones nation. It is really useful for non-profit or profit organizations, educational institution, business industry, even for government. Since independence, public relations have successfully been practiced by the government to influence general public with regards to the implementation of their public policies. Thus, there is an vast development of public relations in several domain profession such as government relations, public affairs, marketing communication, and corporate social responsibility. Besides, public relation is still being seen as technical functions for public and corporate organizations focusing on editorial publication, publicity and event management. In business environment, public relations management improves rapidly in their strategic and managerial roles in contributing to the internal and external strategy development of public and corporate organizations. It is a true to say that public relations practice is absolutely necessary for government or both public and private sector organizations with regards to Malaysia experience. This is because with the tremendous growth of business and commerce due to liberalization of trade in nowadays atmosphere, global business entities and it is one of the best approaches for Malaysian government to boost its economy climate, and help our citizens to become a civil society.

Hence, it is really needed for a developing country like Malaysia to have a good and well-organized public relations as it indirectly help to improve our nations. We can see that there is a changes and development of public relations in our nations before and after our independence until nowadays. Here, a comparative analysis is been made between our nation, Malaysia and one of the founder of public relations, United States of America. Therefore, we can compare and analyse the achievement and level of public relations in our nations.

3.0 The comparative analysis on the development of Public Relation in Malaysia and United States of America. 3.1 History and development of Public Relation in Malaysia. Information Agency of the Malay States is a governmental agency, was established in 1962, was established in 1962 which perform the function of public relations. Starting on April 1, 1946 this agency was restructed to adapt to the civil administration and the name given at that time was Department of Public Relations (Idid, 2004). At the same time, in September 1945, Department of Information with more expanded duties and responsibilities. This department was placed under Ministry of Information which was established in 1961. Department of Information was established in September 1945 based on monthly report for September 1945 found at National Archieve. Department of Publicity and Printing was

represented by Colonel Dumersque [Director Department of Publicity and Printing, British Military Administration, Singapore] and Major Waller [representative from Department of Publicity and Printing Kuala Lumpur]. The objective of this department is to restore the image of British Government which had been adversely affected by the Japanese. As we know, British Military Administration began on September 5, 1945 until March 31, 1 1946. The BMA was confronted by a state of turmoil after the Japanese occupation in Malaya. A lot people had lost confidence in British and taht time, several nationalist organizations had arisen with the objective of liberating Malaya from the colonization of any foreign power. We can see the development of PR in Malaysia, British introduced to us that PR how to adapt with society. At that time, British administration try to gain confidence in British rule to masses, they communicate with the masses by using the Malay people to encourage local peoples to stay behind of leadership of British. Moreover, they used leaflets, radio broadcast, face-to-face communication through publics & community meetings. In order to fight the rampage of communist, British set a branches for each state. Early of 1950s there was development of communication facilities such as radio, cinema projectors & interpersonal

communication. According to Phelan, Film shows were provided in every mobile unit will be equipped with 16mm projectors. State Publication Relations Officer and staff of the Department were very popular in their respective states because they often give lectures and movie screening (Idid, 2004). Usually, the Units would travel and explorace every nook and cranny of the state to show films at locations that would attract large gatherings, especially in the fields of school. In addition there was establishment of Information Centres in the major cities throughout the country since 1945 to carry out such activities which previously performed by Information Bureaus. The earliest Information Centres was the Information Centre at Java Street Kuala Lumpur which was opened on October 20,1945. Information Centres became places where members of the public came to reas books, listen to the radio and look pictures of the events that being held within and outside the country. These centres served as important channels for the purpose of disseminating information in urban areas. The task of the department during the post independence era has been obtaining the support and participation of the people in ordr to ensure the successful implementation of all governments programmes. In the context of a plural society, the Department has helped in carrying out various campaign to instil harmony and unity between the races or ethnic groups. The emergence of Institute of PR in Malaysia as a professional Body in PR fields helps society clearly understand what is meaning of PR. This organisation was born on 25th March 1965, Founding Members of the Institute adopted the Constitution at a meeting held in the Federal Department of Information premises in Mountbatten Road (now Jalan Tun Perak) of Kuala Lumpur. The first president elected was the then Director General Information, Dato Mohd Sophiee Sheikh Ibrahim and most of the charter members of the Institute were Information Officers from either the Federal or the Selangor State levels. The overriding objective of IPRM is to enhance professionalism among public relations practitioners in Malaysia. To meet this main objective, IPRM organizes various seminars and

trainings for members and non-members. It also supports research and other educational activities in public relations. The specific objectives of the Institute are: To advise, provide information and create opportunities for discussions on all aspects

of public relations activities. To promote the understanding, development and recognition of public relations. To establish and prescribe standards of professional and ethical conduct and ensure

the observance of those standards. To encourage the attainment of professional academic qualification. To nurture, promote and maintain contacts with public relations practitioners. In era of 70s either government and private sectors already known the importance of Public Relations for them and society. The development of PR rapid highly in both sectors, almost all department and agencies set up PR units. However, problems aroused when the post of PR personnel not filled up with trained person (Idid, 2004). So the organizations take an initiatives by hired the private consultancies in order to tackle the society in all aspects. The action of hired the private consultancies take some amount of organizations for their services. It is realy important to made society known about policy in Malaysia that brought by government such as New Economic Policy, the Constitution, Rukun Negara, National Education Policy, Amanah Saham Nasional, the threats and dangers of drug abuse and various government policies. Burson-Marsteller & Eric White Associates is the agency that appear early in private sectors. It was well-known of PR consultancies that show great grew of private sector in 1960s (Idid, 2004). Burson-Marsteller is a global public relations and communications firm headquartered in New York City. Burson-Marsteller operates 67 wholly owned offices and 71 affiliate offices

in

98

countries

across

six

continents. The

company

was

founded

by Harold

Burson and William "Bill" Marsteller in 1953, and, by the early 1980s, had become one of the largest public relations companies in the world. In 1979 it became a subsidiary of Young & Rubicam, which is now owned by WPP Group. The current CEO of Burson-Marsteller is Mark Penn, who joined the company in 2005.Burson-Marsteller provides public relations and advertising services to clients, including multinational corporations and government agencies. Burson-Marsteller is primarily known for its crisis management services and political lobbying. It has won numerous awards from the public relations industry over the years for its work in high profile crisis management, including the late 1990s Asian financial crisis, a 2002 extortion attempt against British company GlaxoSmithKline, and a response described as the "gold standard" for its crisis management of the 1982 Chicago Tylenol poisonings. Other high profile crisis cases include the manufacturers of the Three Mile Island Nuclear Generating Station and Egypt following terrorist attacks on tourists in 1993. At times it has also been the subject of protests and criticism for its use of smearing and doubt campaigns (to undermine concerns aboutpassive smoking for Philip Morris in the 1990s and anti-Google smear campaigning for Facebook in 2011) and its work for regimes facing severe human rights criticisms (Argentina and Indonesia). The firm also specializes in corporate PR, public affairs, technology and healthcare communications and brand marketing. Due to rapid growth of economic in 1980 Esso (at that time called exxon) and Shell among the earliest corporations to0 set up in- house PR dept. During this time, their goals are more towards on gaining acceptance among the community and increasing employee procductivit. In order to compete with globalization , the organization need a department to motivate and unite employees to achieve the organization goals. Year to year, the PR ideologies develop from the side of public opinion such as environment and consumer issues. Consumer needs must be met by organization in order to achive the maximum profitable and low in costing. But, numbers of expertise in PR field was little and slow lead to insufficientcy.

In Malaysia, the Department Information step into the area of Vission 2020 with realization that there is an efforts to intensify the development of the country in planned and well structures in keeping with the national objectives, aspiration and philosophy aimed to make Malaysia a developed nation by the year of 2020. The role of Department is to inculate into the minds of the people the thinking as well as the philosophy behind the Vision 2020. Therefore, the department had modify its strategy to be in line with the current situation where public have higher level of education and exposure and more critical on all government policies and actions. At the same time, the department has faced lots of challenges from the development of technology which currently grow rapidly. Before the invention of internet people connected to each by face-to face, using telegram, by sending a letter, via cell phone and as extra. Nowadays in modern era we can see that all people around the world use social media as their main medium to stay connected to each other. With this development, the role and objectives of the department also has been to foster the emergence of Malaysian nation, well informed and with self-respect, for the purpose of achieving political, economical and stability consistent with the aspiration of Vision 2020 towaqrds becoming a developed country. Public Relation also play a vital role in private company in Malaysia. In PR for NGOs and GLCs, they tailor their activities and services to complement the clientss organization and communication objectives. The service include ; event management, Media relations, Marketing Communication, Community relation, Government relations (Public Affairs) and crisis management. All in all, as we all knew Public Relation in Malaysia presence start from the British colonialism, and masses become more interest with the importance of PR in dealing with daily life. PR is about communicating your message to gain allies, advocates, supporters, as extra in the community and the institution. Public relations is a strategic communication process that builds mutually beneficial relationships between organizations and their publics.

3.2 History and Development of Public Relation in United States of America. A Brief History of Public Relation As been explained by Doug Newsom and Dean Kruckeberg (2004) in their book, The Realities of Public Relation, in the language of the Greeks, it is known as the word of semantikos. Semantikos in its English means is semantics, which can be defined as how to get people to believe things and do things. That is more or less on what is public relation is all about. Back in 50 B.C, Julius Caesar who is one of the prominent rulers of the Rome Empire wrote the first campaign biography which is the Caesars Gallic Wars. In that biography, he publicized his military exploits to convince the Roman people that he would be the best head of state. In 394 A.D, St. Augustine, a professor of rhetoric in Milan, the capitol of the Western Roman Empire had delivered the regular eulogies to the emperor and during that era the role played by St. Augustine is said to be known as minister of propaganda for the imperial court. Thus, St. Augustine was one of the first people in charge of public relations. In the modern world nowadays, it is equivalent to the Presidents press secretary or communication director. In 1776, Thomas Paine, the writer of The Crisis, a pamphlet which convinced the soldiers of Washingtons army to stay and fight at a time when so many were prepared to desert so they could escape the cold and the hardships of a winter campaign. Paine was a master of political propaganda whose writing could get people to do things and believe things. From the example of Thomas Paine, we can observe the true quality of the public relation personnel where their writing is so influential that can make people to take the info without making a long interpretation about the content.

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Public Relation in the United States of America Benjamin Franklin made it a rule to forbear all contradiction to others, and all positive assertions of his own. He would say, "I conceive or "'I apprehend" or "I imagine a thing to be so, or it appear to be so. Franklin pioneered the rules for "personal relations" in an era before mass media had made possible a profession called "public relations." (Newsom & Kruckerberg, 2004). In the middle of the 19th century appeared a man who was to become one of the leading publicists of all time, P. T. Barnum. His accomplishments include the founding of the American Museum and the establishment of the Barnum and Bailey Circus. Barnum was a master of promotion who could fill his enterprises with customers by using sleazy methods of publicity. For example, he announced that his museum would exhibit a 161-year-old woman who had been Washington's nurse. He produced an elderly woman and a fake birth certificate to make his case. William Seward, Lincoln's secretary of state in 1861, gained a large American audience through his understanding of how to use the press. He told his friend Jefferson Davis (they were friends before the war), "I speak to the newspapers they have a large audience and can repeat a thousand times what I want to impress on the public. Public relations became a profession in 1903 as Ivy Lee advised John D. Rockefeller on how to conduct his public relations. Rockefeller is the owner of coal mines and the Pennsylvania Railroad. Miners were on strike and the railroad had silenced the facts when its trains were involved with accidents. Lee advised Rockefeller to visit the coal mines and talk to the miners. Rockefeller spent time listening to the complaints of the miners, improved their conditions, socialize with them, and became a hero to the miners by providing them with benefits and reward as if the miners show their true potential.

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After a railroad accident, Lee invited reporters to inspect the wreck and get the facts. The Pennsylvania Railroad then obtained its first favorable press coverage. Lee professionalized public relations by following these principles: 1. Tell the truth 2. Provide accurate facts 3. The public relations director must have access to top management and must be able to influence decisions Public Relations got some historical events dates back to the Revolutionary War. The strategies and tactics used to expand the ranks of patriots dedicated to the Revolutionary cause and staging of the Boston Tea Party are examples of early public relations (Newsom & Kruckerberg, 2004). President Thomas Jefferson first used the term public relations in 1807. In his Seventh Address to the Congress, he replaced the words state of thought with public relations. Unfortunately, the perception of public relations has not always been positive. In the 1800s, P.T. Barnum became a master publicist by producing article after article for his traveling circus. His public be damned philosophy and the use of exploitative publicity methods, however; have contributed to criticism of the profession. Another significant component to the professions development came from the Creel Committee during World War I. A member of the committee, Edward L. Bernays, later recognized by many to be the father of public relations, was part of a massive verbal and written communications effort to gain support of the war also can be viewed as propaganda. According to Bernays, this was the first time in our history that information was used as a weapon of war. There were other key people and events, which were very influential in promoting the growth of the public relations industry such as:

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Public be informed era, Ivy Lee father of PR WWII the Office of War Information Counseling era Edward Bernays taught the first PR course at NYU in 1923 Bernays wife, Doris Fleischman, was influential in paving the way for women in the industry. Together, they created Edward L. Bernays, Counsel on Public Relations, which became a top agency.

Some of the top PR practitioners in the 20th Century, according to PRWeek, are Harold Burson, Edward Bernays, Arthur Page, Larry Foster and Ivy Lee.

The evolution of Public relation in the United States of America As been described by Newsom and Kruckeberg (2004) in their book, there are five stage of evolution of public relation in the United States of America. First stage of PR in the USA Preliminary (1600 1799), Industrial Colonization and American Revolution Development of PR channel of communication Development of PR tactics such as publicity, promotion and press agentry PR used to sell real estate (50 acres free to anyone who brought a new settler to America) and raise fund in colonies (colleges use brochure, press release, sponsorships) PR use to promote American revolution (heroes, slogans, newsletters, songs, publicity) and Constitution and Bill of Rights.

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Second stage of PR in the USA Communicating/initiating (1800 1899 Civil war, Western expansion & Industrial Revolution Government: first press secretary, PR used in presidential campaign and activist groups Development: Land promoted by making Daniel Boone a legendary figure, Greeley editorial in NY Tribune (Go west, young man and grow up with the country) Entertainment: P.T Barnum, cheated by Washington Irving Education: Yale had PR and alumni office Business: Newspapers became true mass medium with Linotype invention, companies realized that they need to care about the public (the public be damned W.H Vanderbilt), financial report issued, companies creating press departments, department stores Press agent: had talent to make news, exploited freaks for circuses, invented legend for politician, told lies to get attention Publicist: tried to plant story in newspapers but hiding the sources

Third stage of PR in the USA Reacting/Responding (1900 1939: Progressive era, Muckrakers, World War 1, Depression) Publicist as spokesman of an organization/agency Muckrakers: Upton Sinclairs views of meat packing industry in The Jungle Founding of National Consumer Groups Industry had to respond, cannot ignore public and press First PR specialist came from newspaper 14

First publicity firm/bureau founded in Boston in 1900 Publicity valuable for public service organizations like American Red Cross, Marine Corps etc

WW1: British urged U.S to get involved, U.S entered war with massive PR reports, newspaper gave free ad space, college professor were 4 minutes man ( a group of volunteers authorized by the President Woodrow Wilson, to give four-minute speeches on topics given to them by The Committee on Public Information), citizen encouraged to conserved foods

1920s: scientific interest on public opinion, companies wanted to know what public wanted

Depression/New deal: PR suffered, had to convince public that prosperity was around the corner

President used the press: Coolidges photo op, Wilson press conference

Fourth stage of PR in the USA Planning/preventing (1940 1979) World War 2: More sophisticated PR effort, War advertising council for support and funds, use of film of PR by government and Hollywood Maturing of public relation first full school of public relation established in the year of 1947, resulting the PR associations to develop 1950s: booming economy, PR grew rapidly, women entered the field of PR, business encouraged to reinvest in society, TV gives impact on PR growth 1960s and 1970s: more responsibility of PR in corporate structure, time of great crisis and change (Civil rights, nukes, space program, Vietnam war, womens right,

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Watergate), MLK Jr. used PR techniques that produced social change in 1960s, activist used PR Consumerism: advance right and interest of the consumers, business was the enemy Texas Gulf Sulphur Case (1973) required immediate disclosure of info that might affect the market value of stock Mobil sponsored Masterpiece Theatre and launched aggressive ad programs.

Fifth stage of PR in the USA Professionalism (1980 present) Reagan: great communicator, permanent campaign, controlled, photo ops Integrated communication: mergers Global: technology, cultural awareness, need for coordination and consistency AIDS awareness Challenger (an American space shuttle) explosion on January 28, 1986 Development of body of knowledge, code of ethics, PR education Desktop computers: improved look in-house materials World Wide Web: new medium for PR, changed media relations Downsizing created more freelancers, Growth in ethnic PR organizations

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4.0 Practice of Public Relation in Malaysia and United States of America in Nowadays. 4.1 The Practice of Public Relation in Malaysia. Nowadays, Malaysias growing public relations profession is playing a crucial role in support of the countrys move towards a development. Every organization, be it a government, public sector or private company, tertiary institution or a government department do have a public relations. It is no exaggeration to say that it is an important service for everybody who has ideas, products, services or cause to promote. In Malaysia, issues of culture, modernization, westernization, and globalization are both real and typical. Consequently, public relations in Malaysia can play a central role achieving specific objectives at all level in institutions by focusing, reinforcing and communicating effective messages (Zulhamri, 2007). Public relations therefore, is identifies as an excellent and cost effective method and practice of improving the image of an individual, organization or product by using relevant and appropriate media including in-house newsletter or magazine. Public relation does help an organization to survive with a planned public relations program which produce better results and an enhanced reputation or image to by promote and project positive image and minimize the damage if something goes wrong. In Malaysia, practice of communication in public relations has been the best tools for achieving better competitiveness in global environment. As said by Zulhamri (2007). Communication is the care of modern society with includes institutions and establishment. It is crystal clear that communication commence with the beginning of time and has not only remained a critical component of society but constitutes the very fulcrum on which society revolves. It is dynamic because it constantly changing and shifting in response to the total situation. In Malaysia, public relations play a key role in helping business industries create strong relationship with customers. Public relations involve supervising and assessing public attitudes, and maintaining mutual relations and understanding between an organizations and its public. Big private companies such as Proton, Media Prima Berhad, Petronas and TM 17

Berhad as well of political bodies and non-profit organizations (NGOs) realize the importance of this approach. These private companies as well as political bodies and NGOs have adapted and practise public relations approach as tools to improve channels of communication and institute new ways of setting up a two-way flow of information and understanding in areas effectively. It is done by convey the information about their products or services to potential customers. The companies are widely used the advertisements on mass media like television, radio and newspaper. Next, it also been used by political bodies as to attract votes, raise money and craft their public image and legacy. Besides, for non-profit organizations, including schools, hospitals social service agencies use public relations as to boost support of their programs such as awareness programs, fund-raising programs and to increase patronage of their services for example is Pink Ribbon program which is a breast cancer awareness program that organized by Jaya Jusco Stores Bhd, a Malaysian wide shopping retailing chain and supermarkets.

Communication is therefore a vital tool for public relations practice. With regards to this, public relations practice specially among private companies in Malaysia at the present times employs diverse techniques such as opinion polling and focus groups to evaluate public opinion, combined with a variety of high-tech techniques for distributing information on behalf of their clients, including the internet, satellite feeds, broadcast faxes, and databasedriven phone banks (htttp://www.jpa.com.my). Most of the companies in Malaysia have successfully utilizing the service of the various media platform of communication effectively. One of such media which is identifies as a fast moving communication tools, globally accepted and often adapted to public relations use in Malaysia, is the internet. As for government agencies, government department also intensify the development of public relations and modify it their strategy to be in line with the current situation where 18

public have higher level of education and exposure and more critical on all government policies and actions (htttp://www.jpa.com.my). Therefore, public relations in government agencies also use social media as their main medium to stay connected to each other. Social media are media for social interaction, using highly accessible and scalable publishing technique. Social media use web-based technologies to transform and broadcast media monologues into social media dialogues. For instance, each of the Ministry will have its own websites which provides information to the public. In highly global and fast setting environment, most organizations in Malaysia seems to have focused their strategic public relation program on a diverse range of stakeholder groups, ranging from an individual stakeholder to local communities. In differ, for government, their main target is the public communities which are the citizens. As today, dealing with the dynamic business environment, most organizations have also employed multiracial public relation practitioners from different educational backgrounds, cultures and characteristics, as well as from different countries to run the strategic program for their public relations (Banks, 1995). Diversity in race, religions, culture are the uniqueness of Malaysia and requires this approach to articulate a sensitive and multi aspect approach to excellent public relations practised. Malaysia is a multi-ethnic country where multiracial facets can affect organizational strategy development directly and indirectly. Even in communication campaigns, it always been aligned with intercultural harmony. Examples are the celebration of 31 Ogos Hari Merdeka, which is concerned with local culture for al race in our country. It is important to explore the best method of public relations and reduce any complexities in understanding multi-cultural issues among three major ethnic groups, the Malay, the Chinese and Indian, as well as other ethnicities, including expatriates. Zulhamri Abdullah (2007) in his journal emphasized that in global business practice, business and multicultural facets cannot be separated, as understanding different cultures may benefit their organizational strategy

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development. Therefore, managing their business services using a public relations strategy which takes account of multicultural sensitivities is vital for business success. Because of public relations is a crucial part of organizational systems, it is important to every CEO or head of government departments to be at a level of expectation on how public relations can be used to manage stakeholders through the management of cultural diversity whether cultural diversity is seen as a barrier or opportunity to improving their business strategy. It is a great challenge for public relation practitioners in Malaysia to adapt their public relations strategy to the countrys cultural values and norms in order to harmonies the relationship between the organizations and its stakeholders. Team building dialogue sessions and management briefings are several key cultural diversity management tools. In addition, 1 Malaysia campaign that been introduce by our Prime Minister, Dato Seri Najib Tun Razak also is one of the best example of public relations that encourage to have a mutual diversity multi-racial and multi-culture in one large event. As the government convey the messages to the public to have a harmonious and tolerate communities among the citizens and indirectly help our country to become a develop country. In business and industry in Malaysia, public relation professional must play a substantial role in researching, informing and advising top management about cultural issues and understand the dominant religions such as Islam, Christianity and Hinduism that are practiced here. Effective public relations are a process and its essential first step is research. Nowadays, research is also widely used and accepted by public relations professional in Malaysia as an integral part of the planning, program development, and evaluation process. Before a public relations program is undertaken information must be gathered, data collected, and interpretation done (Banks, 1995). Only after the first step is performed, organizations can begin to make policy decisions and map out strategies for effective communication programs.

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Therefore, public relations practice in Malaysia is more sensitive to the local norms and organizational cultures in order to yield a favourable relationship between an organization and its environment. In a multicultural country, understanding diversity management and cultural values may increase the productivity of an organization and the local society, especially in Malaysia among the three main races, Malay, Chinese and Indian.

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4.2 The Practice of Public Relations in United States of America. Public relations is the management function which evaluates public attitudes, identifies the policies and procedure of an individual or an organization with the public interest and plays and executes a program of action to earn public understanding and acceptance (www.PRSA.com). America is the pioneer in public relations practice for commercial purpose and disseminating information throughout the public. J.Grunig (1984) quoted that public relations is the organizations effort to build and manage long-term relationship with its strategic and minimize conflicts between them. Public Relations Society of America or better known as PRSA is the most significant society established in New York City is the world's largest organization for public relations professionals (www.PRSA.com). The organization has more than 21,000 members, including professionals from public relations agencies, corporations, government, health care institutions, military, professional services firms, associations, non-profit organizations, and academia (www.PRSA.com). In addition, PRSA has over a hundred local chapters. These locals chapters are the platform for PR professionals to join and linked themselves to the society. PRSAs more than 100 Chapters are organized into 10 Districts (www.PRSA.com). Districts are important elements in Chapter success and provide a vital link between the local and national organizations. By joining these local chapters, PRSA offer professional and leadership development at a regional and local level that complement national programs. These can include leadership training and other programs that help improve organizational effectiveness. They also cultivate outstanding representatives at the District level who can contribute to the broader community of PRSA. This can include involvement with national committees and initiatives or election to national leadership, thereby strengthening PRSA overall and ensuring a sound and geographically diverse governance structure. (www.PRSA.com).

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The Public Relations Society of America (PRSA) is committed to ethical practices. The level of public trust PRSA members seek, as they serve the public good, means they have taken on a special obligation to operate ethically (www.PRSA.com). The value of member reputation depends upon the ethical conduct of everyone affiliated with the Public Relations Society of America. Each of them sets an example for each other as well as other professionals by their pursuit of excellence with powerful standards of performance, professionalism, and ethical conduct. To be more specific, PRSA establish the code of ethics for PR professional. This code of ethics shows that their high commitment towards performing their work in ethical ways, in other word to be more integrity (www.PRSA.com). Besides, American society shows their seriousness in public relation when they developed a public relations council named The American Public Relations Council and it was a no-profit organization based at San Francisco. The council came into being in 1939. This new society instrument was built to attack and solve several social problems (www.PRSA.com).

In addition, many of their established company does get award from PRSA for good achievement in public relations. IBM and Ketchum get award from PRSA last year. Global public relations firm Ketchum and IBM took home the Best of Silver Anvil Award for the top public relations campaign of 2011. IBM stages largest corporate volunteer event in history, reaching communities in 120 countries, and obviously, this is the act of corporate philanthropy under Corporate Social Responsible (CSR). Recently, IBM took home the 2012 PR Week Campaign of the Year award and Ketchum and IBM received the 2012 Platinum SABRE Award for best campaign of the year and earlier in the year, Ketchum was named PR Agency of the Year by PR Week and also won four PR Week Awards for work on behalf 23

of its clients (www.sacbee.com). Noticeable, the Americans took public relations as the utmost element in company. Their perceive notions about public relations is high and do not labelled public relations only works for media, newspaper or politics. Mount Saint Vincent University in Nova Scotia, Canada is renowned for its excellence in communication and other social sciences course. The Department of Communication Studies at Mount Saint Vincent University currently offers a four-year baccalaureate degree in the professional field of public relations. The Bachelor of Public Relations is respected nationally and it attracts students from across Canada and across the globe. With the support of hundreds of employers across the country, our cooperative education program ensures that our undergraduate students develop the solid professional skills and knowledge required to begin careers in public relations. Clearly, American offer a chance for their students and others country student who interested to study public relations. Besides their university is one of the best universities to study public relations.

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Conclusion The Malaysian public relations industry has been improve over the decade and has a bright future as it shows an impressive development. In the future, the improvement of this industry will largely depend on the core competencies public relation professionals among government, public sector and private sector companies to increase their professionalism and compete to enhance our level of public relations with other countries. As there is some differences in practised of public relations in our countries and United States of America, we can take and learning the comparison which can help our country to develop in public relations. Nevertheless, in comparison, it also show that our country are not too far away from the level of public relation in United States of America as in the 21st century, the way of Malaysian corporation carry out their business also have come particularly to value public opinion and using the two-way communication rather than one-way communication, compared to the last few decades. Globalization has seen the role of public relations in Malaysia today is same important with United States of America. It becomes ever more demanding in various fields such as in government and private sector. However, there is still a need of improvement and development of the practised in public relation in Malaysia compared to United States of America. As in Malaysia, the public relations practitioners should be more sensitive to the diversity of multi-culture and the acceptance and application of public relations must be really understood as public relations already evolved from handling publicity in the production line to being involved in policy making in the dominant coalition within an organization. The changing of role of public relations has become too important for a developing country like Malaysia as to build a favourable relationship between a government, an organization and its public.

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