Chartered or forgotten: IPRM must now choose

The Institute of Public Relations Malaysia (IPRM) is at a crossroads. It can either remain a respected but distant name on certificates or step up as the strategic nerve centre that shapes how the next generation of communicators practise, are recognised, and are held to account.

This is not a cosmetic question. As AI rewrites content workflows, new publicity rules reshape regulated professions, and a new generation questions everything from ethics to ESG, Malaysia needs a PR institute that is bold, outward-facing and future-ready, not just ceremonial. At 63, IPRM is proud of its history, but it still has no building of its own and is barely visible in the national conversation. That is no longer tenable.

From club to chartered guardian

Formed in 1962, IPRM has been the national professional body for PR for more than six decades. It helped set early standards, champion ethics, and even played a role in the formation of FAPRO, a legacy that still matters as the Institute engages more actively with the global communications community. But a strong past is not the same as a compelling future.

Today, the bar is rising. In law, for example, new publicity rules expand lawyers’ freedom to communicate while imposing a higher duty to be factual, verifiable and responsible. Similar principle-based regimes will inevitably touch high-impact communicators next, especially those shaping public opinion on healthcare, finance, politics and environmental issues.

IPRM has a narrow window to position itself as the natural counterpart: the body that can tell policymakers, “If you want ethical, competent communications in this country, we are ready to set the bar, accredit practitioners and enforce norms.”

Chartered status is part of that answer, but it must be more than a title. It has to come with teeth.

Accreditation that actually bites

IPRM’s accreditation programme already recognises practitioners with relevant education, experience and a track record of ethical practice. On paper, an accredited PR professional signals broad knowledge, sound judgement and commitment to a code.

The next step is to make accreditation matter beyond a line on LinkedIn:

Tie accreditation to practice in sensitive sectors, listed companies, GLCs, and regulated industries through soft regulation: Bursa guidelines, government procurement standards, and agency RFPs that prefer or require accredited leads on major mandates.

Introduce tiered accreditation (Associate, Member, Senior, Fellow) linked to continuous professional development, publications, teaching and contributions to the body of knowledge, not just years served.

Publish a transparent register of accredited practitioners and consultants so boards, CEOs and government agencies can see who has been professionally vetted.

In an era of misinformation and weaponised narratives, boards and regulators will increasingly ask: “Who is advising us? Are they accountable to any professional code?” IPRM can answer that question, but only if accreditation is designed to bite, not merely bless.

Education: from classroom to career runway

On education, the Institute has made smart moves. It has strengthened ties with universities and communications faculties, expanded its student association (IPRMSA) network, and signed an MoU with the Malaysian Association of Communication Educators (MACE) to align curricula with industry expectations. It has also introduced a national PR & Comms Excellence Award for top students in IPRMSA-affiliated universities, with the first cohort to be honoured in 2026, a clear signal that the pipeline matters.

The challenge now is to go beyond awards and chapters into a full talent runway:

Co-design industry-relevant modules on crisis communication, AI-assisted work, digital listening, ESG storytelling and data-driven measurement, with clear learning outcomes endorsed by IPRM.

Require supervised industry hours (apprenticeships, newsroom stints, NGO campaigns) for student members seeking fast-track accreditation later.

Embed ethics and law in every core module, not as a one-off elective, mirroring the way modern publicity rules are principle-based and always “on”.

In short, IPRM must move from being a polite guest at convocation ceremonies to being a co-architect of Malaysia’s PR curriculum and a co-owner of graduate outcomes.

Regulation and new laws: don’t wait to be regulated.

One uncomfortable question looms: should PR practice in Malaysia be formally regulated by law or left to the market?

If communications continue to shape elections, financial markets, health behaviour and social cohesion, it is unlikely that the profession will remain invisible to policymakers. We are already seeing more structured rules for lobbying and political communications in other jurisdictions and fresh principle-based rules for lawyer publicity at home. If IPRM sits back, someone else will design the rules.

The Institute can either wait to be regulated by others or lead the conversation. Its options include:

Proposing a voluntary “Public Communications Practice Code” for adoption by ministries, regulators, media owners and agencies, anchored on transparency, truthfulness, fair comment and non-discrimination.

Positioning Chartered status and accreditation as a de facto licence for high-stakes work, creating a self-regulatory regime that regulators can recognise rather than recreate.

Convening a national taskforce with legal, media, tech and civil society representatives to map out how AI, political advertising and influencer marketing should be governed in Malaysia.

Boldness here means being willing to say, “We welcome higher standards and clearer guardrails – and we are ready to help write them.”

Serving the next generation: beyond networking and name tags

Generation Z and emerging Gen Alpha will not join a professional body just for titles and hotel ballroom dinners. They expect value, voice and visibility.

IPRM’s expansion of student chapters and its upcoming excellence awards are a strong start. To remain relevant, the institute will need to redesign its offer around what young practitioners actually need:

Mentoring at scale, with structured programmes that match students and young executives with accredited mentors across corporate, agency, NGO and government tracks.

Micro-credentialing – stackable, IPRM-branded badges in crisis simulation, stakeholder mapping, AI tools, PR measurement and ESG reporting, which can be earned quickly and recognised by employers.

Real-world stages – putting young members on main-room panels, in research projects and thought-leadership work, rather than confining them to token “youth” segments.

Young communicators want an institute that opens doors, not just a logo they pay for. That means investing in digital platforms, hybrid training, and a social media presence that feels like a learning community, not a notice board.

Staying strategic in an AI and ESG world

AI and ESG are not buzzwords for the next generation; they are the water they swim in. A training calendar focused mainly on traditional media relations and press releases will feel obsolete very quickly.

IPRM’s future relevance will depend on its ability to:

Make AI literacy mandatory for accreditation renewals: using tools responsibly, understanding bias, verifying facts and protecting confidentiality.

Mainstream ESG communications – not as “CSR 2.0” but as a discipline rooted in regulation, data, stakeholder expectations and the real risks of greenwashing.

Push for better measurement standards, helping members move away from vanity metrics towards board-ready scorecards that link communication to risk, returns and reputation.

The Institute has already shown it can look outward; its role in FAPRO’s formation and its current engagement with global communication platforms prove that when it chooses to act, it can punch above its weight. Now it must bring that same ambition home.

A bolder mandate

This is a real hard look at IPRM: an organisation rightly proud of its history but not fully acclaimed by its contemporaries and still struggling for visibility at 63. It has no building to call its own, and in a noisy, disrupted media landscape it risks becoming a quiet footnote.

Yet the choice is still wide open.

If IPRM embraces Chartered status, tightens and elevates accreditation, co-builds education with universities, leads on ethical rules for publicity, AI and ESG, and genuinely mentors the next generation, it can become what Malaysia now needs: a guardian of standards, a trusted adviser to regulators and boards, and a launchpad for young communicators who want to do this work the right way.

If it does not, others will fill the space: commercial trainers, ad hoc associations, and foreign bodies whose frameworks do not reflect local realities. In that scenario, IPRM becomes part of the past tense of Malaysian PR, remembered for what it was, not looked to for what it does.

Chartered or forgotten: that is the future IPRM must now choose.

*The writer is principal consultant of Stratcomm Consult, www.stratcommconsult.com is an award winning public relations and strategic communications practitioner with over 30 years of experience serving government, GLCs and corporations in Malaysia and abroad.

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المصدر: New Straits Times