MY creative industry launches petition to remove FINAS chairman and CEO

Malaysian creative and film industry players have petitioned for the removal of the chairman Zakaria Abdul Hamid and CEO Ahmad Idham bin Ahmad Nadzri from their positions at the National Film Development Corporation Malaysia (FINAS).

The petition said that the creative and film industry feels "marginalised by Zakaria and Ahmad Idham, who should be thinking of ways to help the industry continue to work to benefit the economy and country. "We feel more depressed when the chairman and CEO of FINAS made statements indicating that we are not contributing to the country's economy on their social media posts which only displayed their shallow thoughts that they do not deserve to hold important positions," the petition added.

Launched by Art Revolt, the petition is directed at Prime Minister Muhyiddin Yassin and Minister of Communications and Multimedia Saifuddin Abdullah. It had 3,685 signatures out of 5,000 at the time of writing.

"As of today, our patience is off-limit and it is high time to stop from following the instructions of the chairman and CEO of Finas who appear to be of no roles as long as they are holding their positions," the petition added. According to the petition, the creative and film industry players "will continue to rise up against the injustice on [its] work" until a union has been established to defend and build the future ecosystem, which it said will be the catalyst for the industry.

The petition follows a recent appeal to the government by the Malaysian Film Producers Association (PFM) and Malaysian Artistes Association (Seniman) to allow filming activities to be carried out immediately with the appropriate standard operating procedures (SOPs) amidst the Movement Control Order (MCO).

According to Bernama, PFM's president president Panchacharam Nalliah said the banning of filming activities has resulted in film and TV companies suffering "huge losses". Nalliah added that this has impacted contracts and payments between production companies and TV stations since several programmes could not be completed. Meanwhile, Seniman's secretary-general Mohd Hafiz Mohd Nafiah said most industry practitioners are freelancers or work on a project basis. Hence, the implementation of the MCO, which banned filming activities, deprived them of an income, Bernama said.

In January this year, FINAS reminded production companies on two occasions - 12 January and 20 January - that filming activities are not allowed in MCO areas. That said, SOPs to allow studio and outside filming were discussed at the National Security Council yesterday and this was first announced by Communications and Multimedia minister Saifuddin Abdullah on Sunday. Bernama reported that the proposed SOPs were expected to "be immediately improved" to ensure the survival of those in the arts industry.

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