Taking the bull by the horns in creative, multimedia sector
Published on: Tuesday, September 30, 2014
KUALA LUMPUR: When the Multimedia Super Corridor (MSC) was initiated some 16 years ago, its aim was to leapfrog Malaysia into the forefront of the information age by harnessing the talents of innovative people and companies.The objective was to turn Malaysia into a multimedia hub against the backdrop of a knowledge-based economy with new ways of working and living within 20 years. Whether Malaysia is on the cusp of realising its real potential depends on whom one speaks to. Have Malaysians been able to accentuate and translate their rich cultural diversity, a point often stressed by Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Tun Razak, to advantage?
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Over the last few years, there has been greater focus by the government on the creative industry. In 2010, for example, export of creative content only amounted to RM200 million but this rose to RM565 million in 2013. The recent KL Converge 2014 opened up new vistas on the industry for it revealed what has been achieved and what is in store in the years to come in film-making, music, mobile applications, broadband communications and harnessing the Internet for productive use.KL Converge 2014, the multi-platform exhibition and forum, was organised by the Malaysian Communications and Multimedia Commission (MCMC) and the National Film Development Corporation (Finas), two entities under the Ministry of Communications and Multimedia (KKMM) to make visitors to see, touch, feel and hear the "Internet of things". At the end of KL Converge 2014, the Minister of Communications and Multimedia, Datuk Seri Ahmad Shabery Cheek described it as a great success in that it opened up vast opportunities for Malaysians to leverage in the advancements of the digital content and creative industry. While the contribution of the industry to Malaysia's gross domestic product is still small at present, its potential for the future is tremendous if the right answers are found.
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As such, Ahmad Shabery stressed when he launched the "Road to Global Cinema" initiative by Finas that Malaysians needed to expand their horizons and not just focus on the local market.In the last few years, some Malaysian films have made a strong impact in markets like Singapore, Hong Kong and Taiwan. And Finas Chairman, Datuk Md Afendi Hamdan, is optimistic that the establishment of Pinewood Studios in Johor would provide a catalytic effect for the production of local films for the export market.
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How can Malaysian movie directors make greater impact abroad? Roger Christian, the creator of the lightsaber in the Star Wars movies, said they needed to focus on films that reflected their passion and sincerity to gain international acclaim and it was not totally about meeting market demand.And local producers should also not make comparisons with Hollywood as there were vast differences in terms of resources and budgets, he said.Meanwhile, the government's pro-active stance has also encouraged Prime Focus, a company known for its special effects in the Transformers movies, to look for collaboration with industry players in Malaysia. "Malaysia has the infrastructure and the government is really focusing on promoting this (creative) segment, said its CEO, Namit Maholtra. As for mobile applications (apps), another lucrative area which is taking the Internet world by storm, the outlook among Malaysian app developers is healthy, an indication that Malaysians have taken the bull by the horns in this area.Marcos Lara, a technopreneur and product designer from the Silicon Valley, said that Malaysians have their talents and strengths in this field.Hiew Chee Choong, an analytical consultant with Kesatria, a Google Analytics partner, said most of the games developed locally were targeted at overseas markets. Su Ann Lim, a leader at Google Malaysia Partnership, revealed that 60 million apps were downloaded in Malaysia each month while 59 per cent of users downloaded game apps and 80 per cent of the mobile time was spent on apps in August this year.Stay up-to-date by following Daily Express’s Telegram channel.
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