Business

Friday July 3, 2009

Malaysia needs to think big in local content creation

Friday Reflections - A weekly column by B.K. Sidhu


It needs to review some policies if it is serious about developing the industry

THIS week, the new Information, Communications and Culture Minister Datuk Seri Dr Rais Yatim stressed the need to further develop local content.

The need is even greater now that Malaysia is building a high-speed broadband (HSBB) network that is supposed to have mega capacity and super speed to carry any content.

But without attractive local content, the HSBB will be choked again as surfers leave the country for the much-sought-after content in the West.

When the Multimedia Super Corridor (MSC) was developed over a decade ago, there were several initiatives on content development.

A lot of people will argue if we say we do not have local content.

Indeed, there is a lot of local content but what seems to be missing is the “wow!” factor, or at least something appealing, and that is why we are still in the early stages of the game while our western partners have moved so far ahead.

The question to ask then is why is the ship of local content sailing in the dark if we had over a decade of lead-time?

In the past, either too much leeway was given or the content developer had too many fine lines on their contracts to contend with, thus stifling their growth.

Equal opportunity to funding was also an issue.

And even when grants and loan facilities were given out, the check and balance and key performance indicators (KPIs) were not in place in most cases.

In content innovation, recognition is just the first step while packaging and marketing are vital, or else something created will just sit on the shelves and collect dust.

Google, among the many global companies, has an interesting strategy in content aggregation.

It has since 2005 launched an annual programme where it awards stipends to hundreds of students who successfully complete a requested free software/open-source coding project over a three-month period.

Google has mentors to guide the students and these students create and find their own communities.

If Malaysia is serious about further developing its content industry and get greater international interest, then it needs to review some of its policies on content development.

Benchmarking against international standards is vital while content development should be made with a population of 80 million to 100 million in mind, instead of 25 million.

Government handouts are useful but a tedious process discourages innovators, so a review of how funds can be made available is necessary.

Content creation should be a fun thing and not something bureaucratic and Malaysian has the brain power to do it.

Therefore, can someone please switch on the lights so that the local content ship can get a clear direction of where it is headed?

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