THE government has recently constituted a committee to refurbish and strengthen external publicity. The externa] information arm of the government, out of touch with today's Information revolution. was clearly dysfunctional and drifting without strategy, objective and purpose. The initiative for restructuring the organisation in content and form is thus welcome. But what is disconcerting is that the committee which has since submitted its report was extremely skewed, composed that it was of predominantly career foreign service officers. There was not a single person in the committee from the Information Service nor was there anybody from professional oFaca-cjeiRic Journalism. Yet. we-have a number of experienced persons who held very senior-level posts in the external publicity wing. It Is not understood why they could not be included in the committee. It is a pity, professionalism is often ignored by institutional tribalism in our bureaucratic culture. Such committee Is bound to suffer from flawed perception and warped thinking and make lopsided recommendations. The change, at best, will be cosmetic and not qualitative.

1 am. however, not suggesting for a moment that our foreign service officers are incompetent. Many of them are extremely talented and outstanding and can be more than favourably compared with those of any country in the world. The track record of their performance is not insignificant. What I am worried about is that they cannot, of necessity, be experts In Information and Communication which today Is a highly specialised and skilled profession. There is a clear dividing line between the two professions. To expect foreign service officers to reinvent external publicity is to expect architectonic perfection from a civil engineer. These are two separate disciplines.

The recent transfer of external publicity wing from the Information Ministry to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs was a welcome step lor reasons of convenience of functional operation. However, external publicity division must be allowed independence to operate in a professional manner free from

interference from the foreign service officers. When the mandarins of Foreign Office sanctimoniously arrogate to themselves the role of information Surus like Walter Lipman.

filbur Schram or Marshall McLuhan, they inevitably end up in cognitive dissonance. PR debacle and disarray. Examples abound. To quote a few instances from recent memory, the press handling of the reported offer of mediation by Bangladesh to India and Pakistan to defuse tension caused by nuclear tests by the two countries was clumsy. When it became known that India had rejected the offer of mediation, the Press reported a flurry of diplomatic activities which conveyed an impresston of crisis management. It came out in the Press that the Indian and Pakistani High Commissioners were "summoned" to the Foreign Office and that Bangladesh High Commissioners from Delhi and Islamabad were called to the headquarters in Dhaka for urgent consultations. There is something called quiet diplomacy and media publicity was not essential. It only exacerbated gossips and rumours.

Again, much of the controversy over the issue of signing of Status of Forces Agreement (SOFA) with the United States was rooted in desultory and conflicting Press leaks and briefings by the Foreign Office. It was given out in the Press that Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina had a positive thinking on the US proposal. Then it was denied. The State Minister for Foreign Affairs was quoted as having said that Bangladesh was going to sign SOFA soon. Then it was denied at the peak of the controversy. Faced with widespread criticism of the US proposal, the government finally backtracked and decided against the proposal. Now there is that fresn speculation over Foreign Minister's statement that the issue Is not over yet and that the government has signed an agreement on Humanitarian Assistance Needs Assessment (HANA). The see-saw. willy-nilly acquiescence to the proposal gave rise to suspicion about a hidden agenda. Such prevarication, conflicting messages and schizophrenic responses only cause credibility loss to the government and

harm the Interest of the country. If anything it speaks of amateurism. incompetence and lack of professionalism.

To ouote another instance, when the controversy over the issue of SOFA was raging, a report in a section of press quoting a foreign office source said that our Ambassador in Washington was called to the US State Department and was told by the US Asstt Secretary of State Carl Inderfurth to sign SOFA, allow Peace Corps operation in Bangladesh and grant lease of gas reserves to US oil companies in the second bidding for gas and oil exploration in Bangladesh. The news must haye been terribly embarrassing to the US government and humiliating for Bangladesh. Such disasters are bound to happen if the Foreign Service officers do not work in tandem with the information Wing of the Ministry and if cress relations are conducted by persons not professionally trained to know and grasp the subtle niceties and nuances of effects of communication. The news about Prime Minister Hasina writing to her counterparts in the Commonwealth seeking support for Faruq Sobhan's candidature for the post of Commonwealth Secretary General in 1999 is no less indiscreet and Inappropriate as it compromises the strategy of our campaign.

1 wish to quote two instances out of many of my personal experiences to show how advice of a press officer can make a difference. Foreign Minister Humayun Rashid Chowdhury became the President of the UN General Assembly session in 1986. It is customary for the heads of government and state to pay courtesy call on the UN Secretary General and the General Assembly President before addressing the General Assembly. Humayun Rashid Chowdhury would often call me to ascertain if I was sending the photographs of his meeting with international high dignitaries to Dhaka for release lo the Press. His position was certainly enviable. I was sending his photos at intervals lest they should give the Impression that he was building his own image for furthering his future political ambitions at home.

President Reagan, as usual.

before addressing the General Assembly called on Humayun Rashid Chowdhury in his chamber. He called me the following morning to make sure that the photograph of his meeting with President Reagan was sent to Dhaka Press. I said that the photo taken by the UN photographer was not a photo opportunity of one ana one meeting between him and President Reagan but was a group photo of a motley crowd of half a dozen foreign service officers with President Reagan flanked by him on one side and his Asstt. Private Secretary, a political appointee, on the other. I said the picture was bad and was neither elevating to him nor honourable to the US President and that it would be improper to send it to Dhaka. With disbelief in his eyes he looked at me to reassure himself that I was serious. 1 said. I was. The matter ended there.

After about three weeks, the 6hoto was published In all haka newspapers. Evidently, some overenthusiastic foreign service officers in the group photo sent it to Dhaka. Later. I le.irnt from an impeccable source in Dhaka that the President expressed his displeasure at the photo. My worst fears came true when after a few months Humayun Rashid Chowdhury was dropped from the cabinet on an apparently trivial ground which is often ignored. I still have lingering doubts if the remote cause of his inglorious exit from the cabinet did not have something to do with his publicity blitz which went haywire during his GA Presidency.

Humayun Rashid Chowdhury was an astute diplomat, suave and flamboyant. As the President of the General Assembly he conducted himself with remarkable ease, gusto and aplomb. It was his persuasive diplomacy which salvaged the floundering negotiations on financial reforms of the UN. Appreciating his contributions in the adoption of the historic resolution on the agenda item well after midnight, the British Ambassador said that the GA President proved once again what Gokhle said, "what Bengal thinks today the whole of India thinks tomorrow."

In 1988 Bangladesh had one of the worst flood disasters. The

Foreign Office in Dhaka sent an urgent cable to our UN mission in New York to extend VIP protocol facilities to a lady who would be soon visiting New York as a special emissary of the President to brief top UN functionaries on the flood situation. Earlier, in 1986 she came to attend the General Assembly as a delegate. She was articulate, smart and accomplished. But as for her credentials to become the special emissary, she was no ace diplomat nor an elder statesman, nor a national celebrity in her own right and neither a person of outstanding social distinction.

Imagine a mid level Consultant to a UN Agency based outside < Bangladesh introducing' herself as an emissary of the President to the UN Secretary General, the Chiefs of UNDP and UNICEF and top notchers of World Bank and IMF. 1 anticipated a public relations disaster and an international scandal. I spoke to my colleagues from the foreign office. They would not open their lips on the subject lest it would be taken as an effort to tamper with the decision at the highest level considered sacrosanct and inviolable. Finally. I requested Ambassador Mohluddin to react. He talked with the President who was persuaded to abandon his proposal. She came all right as a delegate but not as one larger than life. I felt relieved, a potential crisis was averted.

These are not digressions but relevant to discussions of external publicity particularly to underscore the useful role of a Press officer who must perform his duties in the best tradition of professional integrity and judgement and not be intimidated or stonewalled by dreadful arrogance, befuddled pride and smug conceits and naivete of the high and mighty that be.

Today lob of a press officer Is very challenging. Routine efforts by putting out press releases of statements and speeches is obsolete and ineffective today in an age of instant and unrestricted communication through satellite TV. Internet e-mail, mobile phone, and what you name It. Expansion of any number of information outfits will not strengthen external publicity unless there is a professionally competent staff. Policy makers seeking re form and renewal of external

publicity must realise that communication effort is cerebral and not visceral. The strength of a press officer lies in knowledge, skill and valued resources in the brain. An information rag tag outfit bulging with ill assorted political hand picks may not be professionally competent to serve the best interest of the government. Politicisation of Information service is harmful to the government. A career information service officer serves the government faithfully if not the party. There is a distinction between the government and the party. The Job of a press officer is to ensure that the government is successful and not the party in power is, re-elected.

The external publicity division in the ministry should be reorganised based on geographical area desks. Messages will be region, country and culture specific, based on feed-backs from the Missions. I remember I received a large number of records and cassettes of Tagore and Nazrul songs from the External Publicity Division for distribution. External publicity is not about pleasing and cultivating the Bangladeshi community only but to project abroad our political, economic, social and cultural performance. Director General. External Publicity, ordinarily, should be the spokesman in press briefings provided he is professionally competent and taken In to confidence in all decisions. policy initiatives and responses by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs.

Lastly, the name 'external publicity' is an anachronism today and smacks of propaganda and has an undertone of negativity. It should be renamed External Information. The byways of crooked micromanagement of the media is anathema to high speed information super highway today. At the end of the day. the image of a country abroad is a reflection of its domestic and foreign policy performance. The spin doctors. let alone dilettantes, won't do well to remember philosopher Schopenhauer's warning 'if a fool looks into a mirror, you cannot expect an angel to look out'.

The author is a former Press Counsellor, Bangladesh Mission to the UN in New York.