Business

Friday July 10, 2009

Connecting using digital content

Friday Reflections - A Weekly Column by B.K. Sidhu


We have huge resources for the global audience

THE explicit video clip of a 13-year-old girl being molested and raped by boys known to her in Kota Kinabalu is very telling of what a device like the mobile phone can do.

If this clip reaches YouTube, apart from the shame that the family will have to cope with, it would also not be the kind of content policy makers would like to see representing Malaysia.

That is the ugly side of content in a borderless world.

But for now, Malaysian content faces the usual frustrations and shortcomings and too much noble talk about taking it beyond the country’s shores.

The time for talk is over, we have lost enough time talking.

The local content industry should be moving faster already, and let’s not even talk about the failed e-Village.

If we want to internationalise our content, there are many ready sources. It’s about whether we are ready to walk the extra mile and harvest our rich heritage and culture and bring it to an international audience and at the same time nurture local content creators.

How many of those in the content business would propose to the BBC or other organisations to have a series on the British in Malaya or even digitalise P. Ramlee’s movies for the international audience.

And let’s not forget the huge resources of content we have at Dewan Bahasa dan Pustaka that can be translated and aggregated for a global audience.

That is the kind of content which will do us good and we should not be shy to learn.

We need not look further than our own businessman, T. Ananda Krishnan, who after buying the Shaw Brothers library, digitalised the movies and now they are screened all over the world.

When my comment – “Malaysia needs to think big in content creation” appeared last week, I received several messages from people who feel a revamp of the content industry is necessary.

Here are some suggestions on what should be done to lift Malaysian content:

1. There is a need to set up an entity, akin to a company, that handles the A to Z on content, from advice to the Government, policies, creation, aggregation, packaging and marketing.

2. The entity should be managed by an independent board with a savvy CEO who has content in his veins and certainly not a political appointee. The CEO should have KPIs and the body should chart the blueprint of the content ship. Let’s do away with fragmented policies and decision making processes that involve so many ministries now.

3. Universities, schools and learning centres should be the nucleus for content creation and opportunities and funding be provided to nurture future innovators.

4. There should be more organisations like MAVCAP (Malaysia Venture Capital Management Bhd) to fund content creators.

5. Benchmarking is key and international experts be sought as advisers.

Let’s look towards having several Datuk Siti Nurhalizas instead of just one by lifting the boundaries we have created in the content industry. For that, a mindset shift is key and affiliations with international bodies necessary.

These are suggestions but if you have any feedback, please e-mail bksidhu@thestar.com.my. Let us have 1agenda on content for 1Malaysia.

  • Deputy new editor B.K. SIDHU feels that Datin Seri Tiara Jacquelina’s Puteri Gunong Ledang: The Musical, if translated into English, can be good enough for New York’s Broadway and London’s West End.

    • E-mail this story
    • Print this story