PUTRAJAYA, Feb 19 — A total of 73.13 per cent of companies involved in film and drama production are unaware of the requirement to obtain a public entertainment license before employing child and young actors, according to the Department of Statistics Malaysia (DOSM).

Chief Statistician Datuk Seri Dr Mohd Uzir Mahidin said that the study on the employment of child and young actors in films and dramas in Peninsular Malaysia also revealed that 52.9 per cent of the companies had never applied for a Public Entertainment License for Children and Young Persons, and 47.1 per cent were unsure about the application process for such a licence.

"The study shows that the three highest age groups for the employment of child and young actors in films or dramas in Peninsular Malaysia are those aged between 15 years and 17 years 11 months (32.7 per cent); followed by the age group of 13 years 11 months to 14 years 11 months (32.4 per cent); and five years 11 months to 12 years 11 months (24.7 per cent).”

He said this at the launch of the Report on the Study for Employment of Child and Young Person Actors in Film and Drama in Peninsular Malaysia 2023 and the Report on the Study of Malaysian Diaspora in Brunei Darussalam, here today.

Mohd Uzir said a total of 361 companies that employ child and young actors in film and dramas were involved in answering the questionnaire for the study.

He said 27 representatives from each ministry, department, agency, academics, employers’ associations, trade unions, television producers, production companies, film directors and producers and former child actors who have acted in films and dramas have participated in the focus group discussion and interview sessions.

The study, conducted from Feb 8 to Dec 31 last year, was policy-oriented research aimed at providing a basic profile, identifying issues and proposing appropriate recommendations to parties involved.

Mohd Uzir said to overcome the licensing issue, 63.4 per cent of the companies agreed that labour education programmes need to be improved to ensure that the parties involved have the awareness and knowledge to comply with the relevant labour laws.

In terms of payment, he said the study showed that 83.7 per cent of individuals who receive payment on behalf of child and young actors are their parents or guardians.

"In particular, mothers are the highest number of individuals receiving payment on behalf of these child and young actors which is 50.4 per cent followed by fathers at 18.8 per cent and guardians at 14.4 per cent,” he said.

Mohd Uzir said the findings also show that 72.6 per cent of companies do not provide payslips or wage payment statements to child and young actors, while as many as 77.3 per cent of companies stated that payment was made according to the number of episodes, scenes acted, dubbing recordings.

Furthermore, he said the study also found that 97.8 per cent of companies do not make Employees Provident Fund (EPF) contributions to child and young actors and 59.3 per cent of companies do not even plan to do so in the future.

"The five main reasons for companies not making contributions are because the companies realised that there is a need to contribute to the EPF but they feel the actor’s age is still young (46 per cent).

Other reasons given were that the companies were not informed about the need to contribute to the EPF (26 per cent); the companies were not aware of the need to contribute to the EPF (8.6 per cent); the child and young actors were temporary and non-permanent actors (8.3 per cent); and financial constraints of the company (4.2 per cent).

Mohd Uzir said the results of the study have also suggested six strategies which focus on 20 initiatives and 20 specific action plans for the respective parties involved in the employment of child and young actors in films and dramas.

The proposed strategies are Strengthening the Level of Compliance and Enforcement of the Employment of Child and Young Person Actors; Extending Social Protection Programme to Child and Young Person Actors; Empowering the Role of Parents/Guardians/Individuals Appointed by Parents or Guardians in Managing Child and Young Person Actors; Determination of Representatives to Represent Child and Young Person Actors; Strengthening the Human Capital Development Programme Specific to the Employment of Child and Young Person Actors; and Developing an Integrated Database of Child and Young Person Actors. — Bernama