Recruiting The Public Relations Officer During British Colonial Malaysia

Abstract

This is a study on the growth of public relations in Malaysia based on the advertisements placed in the newspapers during the colonial period. Tracing the historical development serves to make a better understanding about the nature of public relations practice. This paper therefore aims at exploring the development of the public relations profession by studying the advertisements placed in the nationwide newspapers, the Straits Times and the Singapore Free Press & Mercantile Advertiser from 1939 which included the early advertisement that contained the phrase “public relations” to 1956 a year before the independence of the Federation of Malaysia. An analysis of the advertisements was made to fully understand the historical development of public relations in Malaya or then Malaysia. The very first advertisement that was identified was on 31 January 1948, which was placed by the Department of Public Relations of the federal government. The British colonial government had placed another four advertisements in 1949 and 1950. A British mining Co. was the first corporation to hire an information & public relations officer in 1956. The results showed some differences and similarities through the analyses of advertisements in the job specification, which included qualification, duties, and salaries. The results revealed that those who had higher education and experience obtained a higher salary. The results also showed that some advertisers companies/organizations had substituted academic qualifications for working experience) when advertising for their public relations personnel.

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