Malaysians were left baffled after the government on Thursday appeared to walk back an earlier announcement that all video producers – including media agencies and users of social media platforms such as TikTok and Facebook – must obtain official licences.
Communications and multimedia minister Saifuddin Abdullah clarified the government did not intend to use the existing Film Act to stifle personal freedoms, after observers and experts questioned whether the administration – with its political longevity uncertain – was deliberately clamping down on free speech.
In a statement, Saifuddin said his comments had been to explain the 1981 law, and the administration did not intend to use it to stifle personal freedoms on social media. “The phenomenon did not exist when the law was enacted,” he said.
The minister’s initial remarks in parliament followed a row between Qatar-based broadcaster Al Jazeera and Prime Minister Muhyiddin Yassin’s government over a July 3 documentary on migrant workers.
The communications minister told lawmakers all film producers required a licence and certification letter from the National Film Development Corporation (FINAS), “regardless of whether they are mainstream media or personal media that publish their film on social media or traditional channels”.
Under Malaysian law, a licence to shoot feature films, short films, short-subject films, trailers, documentaries or commercials requires applicants to have a registered company and 50,000 ringgit (US$11,700) in paid capital.
This move – which was greeted with widespread derision from Malaysians – came after Al Jazeera rebuffed claims that it required a licence to produce content, following government pushback against a documentary it released on migrant workers in Malaysia under the Covid-19 lockdown.