#Showbiz: 'Emulate South Korea in developing creative industry'

KUALA LUMPUR: Malaysians must recognise that the creative industry has great potential to boost the national economy, and it is not "just another economic sector".

Veteran actor and producer Datuk Rosyam Nor said that the government should increase its support for the creative industry, and emulate South Korea which now produces world class creative content.

"Our creative industry is capable of becoming a driving force of the national economy," said Rosyam in a Berita Harian report today.

He said this in a forum on the success of director Syamsul Yusof's blockbuster film Mat Kilau: Kebangkitan Pahlawan yesterday.

The forum was held at Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia (UKM) in Bangi, and was also attended by Syamsul and Universiti Pertahanan Nasional Malaysia (UPNM) defence studies and management faculty lecturer Prof Emeritus Datuk Dr Wan Hashim Wan Teh, and moderator Sayed Munawar Sayed Mustar.

Rosyam said: "South Korea began as a poor country just after the Korean War in the 1950s but it worked hard to become a First World nation in every sense, including its creative industry.

"This is living proof that the creative industry can become a country's major earner and put it on the world map."

Rosyam added that the success of Mat Kilau at the box office proved that Malaysia's creative industry could garner close to RM100 million, and become a major contributor to the national economy.

Wan Hashim said that the government ought to return entertainment duties to Malaysian film producers, to make them more proactive and creative in their work.

"Returning 25 per cent of entertainment duties to producers will be a major incentive for them to aim higher and become world class," he said.

Syamsul said that payments to producers by various broadcasters should be improved, as they had remained stagnant since the 1980s.

"If we want our producers to come up with better dramas on TV, they should be paid better. If they have better pay, they will be able to do more research and come up with stories that are non-formulaic," said Syamsul, adding that South Korea was a superb Asian role model especially in film.

"South Korea's film industry wasn't that famous 20 years ago, but it has grown by leaps and bounds to become of Hollywood standards. Filmmakers there have worked hard to give their industry a great leap forward, and they have been supported by the government too."