PETALING JAYA: The National Film Development Corporation (FINAS) needs a large-scale restructuring to ensure smooth governance at the agency, Communications and Multimedia Minister Gobind Singh Deo said yesterday.
He said the change was important, especially in terms of the channelling of government funds. “I see a lot of problems in the way these funds are channelled. There is a need for us to review the whole process of channelling the funds. So, I think what we need is a complete reform and the resetting of all the procedures here so that we can see the channelled funds used to the maximum.
“I understand that there are many new talents that want to venture into the field of films and they need assistance but we need a system that ensures that the funds released are used for the right purpose, that there is no leakage and that not just certain quarters are empowered to channel the funds,” he said.
Gobind Singh spoke to reporters after a working visit to the FINAS Headquarters in Jalan Utara here and following a briefing on the agency. He explained the review of the process of channelling funds involved two stages, namely the channelling of government funds to FINAS and the funds channelled by FINAS to the applicants.
The ministry would invite all the stakeholders, such as the film producers associations and fund applicants, to a meeting in two or three weeks to get their suggestions on how to improve the channelling of the funds, he added. According to Gobind Singh, he might also consider the possibility of applying the management model of film institutions in other countries in the channelling of funds to the film producers.
He added besides FINAS, several other agencies were also in need of restructuring, including the Malaysian Communications and Multimedia Commission (MCMC), the Malaysian Digital Economy Corporation (MDEC) and MYNIC Berhad.
“As for other departments, I have already looked into them; there are no major problems and only slight changes are necessary,” he said. Gobind Singh also confirmed that several individuals from FINAS had been called up to have their statements recorded by the Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission (MACC) over disputed channelling of funds for 2017. -Bernama
