The government urgently needs a public relations campaign to restore the country's image and promote unity among the people, PR experts have warned.
Nimitz Modrakee, CEO of 124 Communications, said the government should avoid reinforcing previous mistakes, and consider the recent incidents as a step in developing democracy in Thailand. It should also set a clear direction for communications for all government offices and agencies to follow, he said, with all messages being concise and delivered directly to anti-government protesters and grass-roots activists.
"In my opinion, the government should act as 'facilitator', not 'controller'. It should not obstruct communications or the flow of information from either side's [pro- and anti-government] media. I think that people have a right to consume information, whichever side they are on. People will make their own judgements as to which information is right or wrong, and as to what they should believe," said Nimitz.
He urged officials not to enter into arguments with groups that are opposed to the government, and to implement reconciliation plans. The focus should be reaching out, he said, especially to grass-roots groups.
Hasan Basar, managing director of Bangkok PR, led the International Reputational Recovery programme implemented by then-Prime Minister Anand Panyarachun after the 1992 Black May crisis. He said there are two things the government has to get right if Thailand must succeed with its public relations efforts.
"First, it must act fast. Now. Immediately. And second, it must do it professionally, and with strong leadership. There is too much at stake to experiment," he said.
Basar said that devising a PR programme and determining what needs to be done is the easy part. The hard part is how it is implemented. On that score, on executional competence, he said, the government has consistently shown that there is a lot of room for improvement in its public relations work.
"Prime Minister Anand got involved personally. He appointed people who knew what they were doing - experts with real experience. He kept the team small. And he empowered them. And, as a result, he succeeded. That's my advice," said Basar.
DC Consultants and Marketing Communications CEO Danai Chanchaochai said there were two parts to the effort to restore the country's image: internal and external.
"Given the unrest and conflict among the people, the first priority of the government should be to promote unity and nationalism among the Thai people. The government should reinforce social responsibility as part of the soul and DNA of all individuals," said Danai.
"In my personal opinion, we [all Thai people] have our own duty in building national unity and our beautiful culture together," he said.
Danai said that when it comes to the external part of the equation, it was the duty of all Thai people to monitor the international media, which he said had reported the situation in a biased and unethical manner, and to express their concerns and disagreements.
"We have seen a new phenomenon in which Thais are raising their concerns and disagreements with [biased] international media through the power of social media, such as twitter and Facebook," he said.