KOTA KINABALU, Oct 30 — The creative industry stakeholders and players in the country should be more active and aggressive in generating income following the allocation of RM288 million specially for the industry in Budget 2022, Deputy Communications and Multimedia Minister Datuk Zahidi Zainul Abidin said.

The creative industry was the sector that was most badly hit last year and many artistes were affected, therefore the industry needs to bounce back and begin its recovery.

He said to realise that aspiration, creative industry stakeholders and players have to reorganise their plans through associations, and be more innovative in presenting various performances and programmes capable of attracting a wider audience.

“In Kelantan, we have seen innovations in Mak Yong performances by youth and their shows at Istana Budaya have been sold out affairs. Also if youth were to adapt the Boria performance in Penang, it is capable of attracting tourists to our country.

“Horror movies with ghosts in Thailand, South Korea are so famous that they are embraced overseas, but ghost movies in Malaysia are comedies...we need to conduct a review to see how we can have products from our creative industry to compete well overseas,” he said at an event with the Sabah Information Department here tonight which was also attended by Sabah Information Department director Nadzerah Abdullah.

Meanwhile, Zahidi said he hoped all agency employees under the Communications and Multimedia Ministry would embrace the spirit of togetherness and strive to ensure that the Malaysian Family was not left behind in the national digitization wave.

He said that they should never fail in their duty to deliver information to Malaysians as this would create a lack of understanding of current issues and government policies among the public.

“The success in delivering information like the Covid-19 vaccine can help us achieve a vaccination rate of over 90 per cent and reopen our economic sectors, which will boost our economy for the well-being of all Malaysians,” he added. — Bernama