Datuk Norman Abdul Halim, president and CEO of KRU Group of Companies has a different solution in regards to recent news which Finas calls for law to regulate contents on Netflix and VOD.

On Nov 16, Bernama reported that National Film Development Corporation Malaysia (Finas) CEO Ahmad Idham Ahmad Nadzri saying that the authorities should consider introducing a law to regulate the contents on digital platforms. The article mentioned that Finas had brought up the issue during a meeting with Film Censorship Board (LPF).

"In the era of global distribution of content, any form of censorship is no longer relevant," Norman said.Idham was quoted in the article: “The development of our children’s minds is still at risk if we only control the contents of local media platforms while the online contents of international programmes are accessible to all.

“This contradicts Finas’ direction in producing contents laden with good values.”

However Norman doesn’t fully agree with Finas’ stand.

He told The Star: “In the era of global distribution of content, any form of censorship is no longer relevant.

“Even censorship by LPF for cinema releases in Malaysia should be reviewed and transformed into rating system whereby viewers are fully aware of what they are about to watch. This applies to Netflix and any other OTT players too.

“As long as subscribers are aware on what they are about to watch, they can make informed decisions to consume the content or otherwise.

“What Finas can do is to support the local content industry by creating tax incentives to attract investors to increase the budget of Malaysian-made content so that we will be able to compete with the world’s best.”

In a report in The Star yesterday (Nov 17), Ahmad Idham clarified that he had only proposed for a collaboration between Finas and National Council of Women's Organisations to organise a forum or seminar to debate the issue in the context to strengthen digital content in the future.

He said on Twitter: "I said I took note of complaints raised by parents in the cyber era who asked about uncensored content.”