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‘Paid’ award will tarnish recipient’s own image

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KUALA LUMPUR: The growing number of award programmes where the organisers are demanding payments from those who are supposedly nominated for prizes, is getting ridiculous and will damage the industry in the long run.

Brandlaureate president Dr KK Johan said those who willingly accept and receive any dubious award, would also eventually tarnish their own image and reputation as a whole.

“It will kill your own brand. Your image will be tarnished, your

reputation and your business will be gone. You will lose the trust that you have built over the years. It is not worth it,” he told Bernama in response to the recent news report that some organisers were demanding payments from nominees in order to get an award.

As such, he advised any quarters to consider these three things before accepting a nomination for an award; the organiser, the leadership behind the presenter and the track record of the past recipients and achievements.

He said they should go the extra mile to find out about the whole operation including the staff, office and top management of the organisers in order to find all the pieces of information needed should they want to accept the award.

“That, to me is wisdom. Don’t be so gullible and vulnerable. You are responsible for your own action,” said the expert with 15 years of experience in recognising achievement in branding among individuals and companies.

Meanwhile, social activist Tan Sri Lee Lam Thye said the trend where organisers of certain award programme asking for payment should stop as it would affect the integrity of both the organisers and recipients.

He said the public may question the purpose of giving out such awards, which are normally allocated for those who have made significant contributions to certain fields or to the community and the nation.

“At the same time, the integrity of the recipients who receive such an award is also at stake since they are willing to pay in order to get the recognition. This can also be deemed as bribery.

“As an award recipient in the past, I will never support such a trend as it makes a mockery

of the whole process of acknowledging someone’s contributions. It will also affect our effort to combat corruption and create a community with high integrity,” he said.

Independent researcher and policy management consultant Dr Faridzwan Abdul Ghafar, on the other hand, said it was high time for a new administration under Pakatan Harapan to recognise a special and registered body for the purpose and to create a database of awards.

“This issue should be tackled for fear that it will encourage scamming activities in the name of award or recognition. It’s the same case with the conferment of state awards and medals. In this case, it involves the corporate sector which will affect the business community and industry players,” he said. – Bernama

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