I have never heard 1Malaysia Development Bhd head honcho Arul Kanda Kandasamy speak before, so it was with great expectation that I tuned in to a radio programme he was going to appear on.
More than trying to hear him squirm under intense grilling from the hosts — that was how the station promoted the segment — I wanted to hear from someone within the beleaguered 1MDB.
Nature abhors a vacuum, and when 1MDB is silent, too many people begin talking on its behalf, or against it. Throw politics into the mix, and you have a media circus.
From a communications standpoint, for a company under such intense scrutiny, it is always better to be in control of the messages out there.
Also, a face to the solution needs to be made known. Humans react to a real person, not statements.
Arul — polished, presentable, well-spoken, seemingly qualified — knew what he was talking about. He took great effort to stress that he was not a politician, but a hired gun with considerable experience. The subtext to this is that 1MDB is run by a professional.
1MDB has become a cautionary tale of corporate exuberance, and where everything that can go wrong, did, and more. Its fall from grace because of a complex confluence of events, circumstances and governance is almost complete, but just.
There is also the almost vice-like grip of political intrigue that becomes a rallying point of sorts for friends and foes whose sights are trained on Putrajaya. There is a heady mix of supposition, presumption, speculation and make-believe stirred in with facts and figures for attention-grabbing headlines.
For instance, debts racked up, rather recklessly, one might add, after getting the political spin, were sold as losses — RM42 billion at one time, and now, incidentally reduced to a mere fraction, and seemingly manageable, too, at that.
It is never easy to understand what is happening in 1MDB, where the truth ends and untruth begins; it is too complex for the layman. There are too many moving parts and too many people with interests, political or otherwise, talking. There is a need to simplify things and cut through the clutter.
The key thing to address is whether 1MDB is a case of corporate misadventure, or as many detractors of the present government would like to argue, a case of political connivance.
Arul’s key message that day was that the problems plaguing 1MDB were linked to its business dealings, and anything beyond that, including politics, was not his key concern.
The radio programme saw one of the hosts trying to make a point about what were they thinking in 1MDB then, racking up debts, and wanting Arul to admit to 1MDB’s recklessness, which the latter politely declined.
His description of the company: having been in a car crash in late 2014 and spending the whole of last year in the intensive care unit. This year, it has been moved to the regular ward and will be able to undergo rehabilitation, and perhaps, be out of hospital next year.
This, I believe, is a smart way to describe a complex issue to a largely confused audience. The key message here is that 1MDB raised its hands to past problems, but at the same time, promised that things were being done to rectify them.
Most Malaysians are rather uninformed of the complexities of the goings-on and would rather have the 1MDB issue go away. Some of us also do not want the proverbial pound of flesh. We just do not want it repeated, and want to get it resolved and us to move on.
It was a smart move for Arul to engage with one of 1MDB’s cynical demographics, honour them by making himself available and submit to their interrogations.
Of course, there will be detractors who say he did not do well, did not answer questions and was hiding behind legalistic jargon.
But, any reasonable person would not expect him to lay blame on others or admit to all the allegations against the company.
Now, I have a suspicion that while the radio station must have been thrilled and proud, and rightly so, to get him — it was a scoop and an acknowledgement of its standing — Arul and his people were also glad to get an hour or so of uninterrupted time to address a likely critical audience.
Incidentally, in such an engagement, the prize is the hearts and minds of the people on the fence, the ones who can be swayed this way or that. Those on either side of the fence are generally rather fixed in their opinions and are immovable.
People who are predisposed to negative opinions on 1MDB are unlikely to change their minds after the interview, regardless of how well Arul had done, but the middle ground was for the taking and I believe Arul got some of them.
It is often suggested that people do try to make an effort to understand issues. Now, if much effort is made, then perhaps, the reward will be there.
At the end of the day, I am not sure, between the station and Arul, who came out better, but for sure, 1MDB got more positive spins than it could imagine from the interview.
To be able to get them delivered via a platform that has been critical of 1MDB, unedited and unadulterated, is a public relations job well done.
Zainul Arifin, an award-winning columnist, is currently a strategic communications practitioner