Datuk Seri Rais Yatim, Minister of Culture, Arts and Heritage, announced that the Cabinet has agreed on a ruling that 70 per cent of a TV ad must be locally-produced — lower than the 80 per cent of the original 1980s’ ruling.
Datuk Vincent Lee, president of the Malaysian 4As, said the policy would be “positive rather than punitive”. There will be incentives to shoot in Malaysia, such as tax relief, rather than penalties for ads shot abroad, he said.
Rais said the move was necessary as 80 per cent of ads on Malaysian TV are made overseas. As a result, local production has fallen from a RM200 million (US$58 million) to RM19 million a year industry. “Malaysia has lost a source of revenue and skills and people have missed out on jobs.”
He added that ads featuring Caucasians do not reflect the true face of Malaysia and lead to “cultural problems”.
Jennifer Chan, group chief executive of BBDO and head of creative excellence at the 4As, said: “Malaysia has been doing well creatively, but we won’t win awards if all we do is adapt overseas work.”
A panel under the National Film Corporation Act will work with the Ministries of Information and Energy, Water and Communication to monitor the situation. The group has not yet decided how MIM will be enforced. When MIM was first introduced in the 1980s, it was ignored and became obsolete.
