With the right approach, Malaysia's creative industry could make vital contributions to the high-growth sectors and industries such as education, science and innovation, said Finance Minister Tengku Datuk Seri Zafrul Aziz today.

He said the creative, arts and cultural industry players should no longer see themselves in isolation as this is the time when disciplines and the value of businesses are being integrated into digital and other technological means.


"Consider this for a moment... how influential global tech giants like Google, Apple and Amazon would be if they do not have this creative economy content on their platforms?

"The creative economy has in fact become the competitive edge and growth of so many high-growth companies around the world," he said in his keynote address at the Creative Economy 2021 Forum, in conjunction with Budget 2021.

Tengku Zafrul said the Covid-19 pandemic had an adverse impact on the creative industry, resulting in cash flow constraints due to income losses or deferred projects, and the industry needs rapid support in rebooting creative activities.

The Malaysian creative industry accounted for 1.9% of gross domestic product in 2015, and has an enormous potential to grow and contribute significantly to Malaysia’s economy in the long term, the minister said.

"The challenge for all parties concerned, including the government, is how we can capitalise on this foundation, and the measures that we must put in place so that the creative economy can become a substantial and sustainable contributor to the nation," he said.

For starters, Tengku Zafrul said there is a need to dispel the illusion that the various economic sectors exist separately, and to point to the fact that the creative economy has a synergistic relationship with the wider Malaysian economy.

"A clear example of such a relationship can be seen in South Korea where the success of its film and music industries helped boost the global sales of its beauty and electronic products, and promoted their tourism industry to the world," he noted.

To ensure the industry's immediate survival during the Covid-19 pandemic, the government had allocated RM225 million for the arts, culture, entertainment and event industries under PENJANA (Short-term Economic Recovery Plan), he said.

This includes RM100 million in soft loans and RM30 million in grants for the creative, events and exhibitions industries under MyCreative Ventures, as well as RM10 million under CENDANA (Cultural Economy Development Agency).

Tengku Zafrul noted that there has been a shift in countries such as Indonesia, Thailand and South Korea which have successfully grown and promoted their creative economies.

"The creative economy is also an opportunity for us to promote our Malaysian arts, culture and heritage on the world stage.

"This time, we add our own success story by creating a sustainable, resilient and thriving creative economy that will help to promote Malaysia internationally," he added, while stressing the need to do more to empower talents across the entire creative economy.

The one-day Creative Economy 2021 Forum was organised by MyCreative Ventures Sdn Bhd.

The forum was part one of a two-part event that has been designed as a forward-looking platform that encourages sharing and canvassing of ideas and brings together all stakeholders, relevant ministries, the private sector, as well as, creative, arts and cultural activists and practitioners.

（Bernama October 06, 2020）