FINAS AND THE MORE THAN RM 1 BILLION ALLOCATION IT HAD GOT FROM THE GOVERNMENT SINCE IT WAS ESTABLISHED IN 1981…
TO PROMOTE ‘NOSTALGIA’ OF
PAST GLORIES OF THE OLD MALAYAN CINEMA THEN BASED IN SINGAPORE
The most recognizable failure
of Finas as the national film agency which is entrusted to develop it, is its
failure to recreate it in a new form and shape, more suited to the demands of
the times and to raise and develop new talents from the university graduates
and those with specific talent and qualification in film.
In other words, it has failed
to enlist the right persons with the right qualification to help it to find
which method and values to highlight and use them to recreate the film industry
to raise it from the feet of the Old Malayan Cinema that had fallen, in so an
inglorious state.
Because the Old Malayan
Cinema was raised and developed by wealthy Shanghai
investors who had the temerity to create it, and when the political scenario of
Singapore and Malaya changed
after the Second World War and before Malaya gained its independence from Britain and consequently with the formation of Malaysia
Its transfer to Malaysia with the establishment of Merdeka
Studios in Hulu Kelang, Selangor did not manage to sustain its earlier claim to
fame; with those who were engaged in the film activity not being able to cope
with the changing times, with the ambush of foreign films from Hollywood ,
Hong Kong , India
and even Indonesia
Worse, Finas was never
subjected to any form of research and study by the authorities; and worst, it
was never an interesting subject for members of parliament to debate on simply
because they are all not trained in film to know what they can talk about.
And the media too have been
coy to deal with the subject as any attempt at studying the state of the
industry and Finas was met with disdain from the editors who all suffer from
their lacking in the understanding on what constitutes as healthy polemics
involving filmmaking as an art or industry, and investment by the government
that involves a huge sum of money.
* * * * * * *
The National Film Development
Corporation of Malaysia
In the past Finas celebrated
it’s establishment every year without fail on 26 July, by having a dinner
function at five-star hotels but it was seldom full or lively. What was there
for Finas to organize such a function when it was an agency that survived only
due to government funding?
It would have been more
appropriate if it has become an income-generating agency that all Malaysians
could be proud of that has seen achievements by the country’s filmmakers. But
this is not the case.
And till now, one can easily estimate that the government has spent RM1 billion or more on this agency.
Unfortunately, because there
are no qualified filmmakers and analysts in Malaysia
I also write this with a
heavy heart. What the government had wanted to achieve when they allowed the
bill to be passed by parliament which saw Finas being formed, has not been met
with any measure of success, anyway one looks at it.
How many more billions of
ringgit does Finas expect the government to give them before something happens?
I do not foresee this to happen
in the future unless something drastic is done to ensure that something happens.
And what has Finas failed to
achieve thus far?
Finas has failed to redevelop the film industry so that it could appear to be some sort of Cinema, The New Malaysian Cinema, whose real purpose is to promote New Malaysian Identity and the New Malaysian Unity, through this medium.
But because there is no one
in Finas is qualified in film, and the public does not care, what has been
happening with the allocation given to them, is for Finas to use the allocation
and clout it has as an official government agency to simply prolong the
influence of the Old Malayan Cinema that had died in 1967 when it was based in
Singapore.
In other words, the huge
allocation that Finas was given since 1981 was purely to promote NOSTALGIA –
from P Ramlee to Jins Shamsuddin.
There was no basis for Finas
to get on the ride of the achievements of the Old Malayan Cinema then whose
films that the two studios, Shaw Brothers’ Malay Film Productions based in
Jalan Ampas and Cathay-Keris Film Productions, at East Coast Road Singapore
Finas should have caused the
creation of the New Malaysian Cinema so that a new group of Malaysian
filmmakers mostly trained abroad could spearhead its progress and chart its
course.
Ironically, if they managed
to do just a bit of this, surely, the old generation of filmmakers from the Old
Malayan Cinema era could also benefit greatly.
In the end, the old
generation of filmmakers did not benefit much from the existence of Finas; and
the young generation failed to do their part, because Finas’ plans did not
include them and their potentials.
By right Malaysia could have
a more vibrant film industry known as the New Malaysian Cinema that produces
films for local and also foreign audiences, which is compatible with the new
heights that the country had managed to put itself on in the world arena and
dealing with films that reflect the foreign policy initiatives that the leaders
have shown temerity to embrace and support wholeheartedly.
* * * * * * *
And why has the opposition
not being able to look at this issue and bring it to the fore and have a meal
on it?
The problem is that there is no one in the opposition despite them trying to champion a cause of openness, human rights and what else, they still has failed to even bring this matter for any public discourse, much less in parliament for debate and to seek any possible outcome from it, and in the process managed to gain some brownie points that could serve them in whatever cause they claim to have.
It is also not easy for the
government officials to take this matter up as none of them are qualified
either.
In the end the industry had
stagnated. And despite the many films that are produced every year, but they do
not add up to help create any modicum of what many Malaysians want to call The
New Malaysian Cinema.
So what has the more than one
billion ringgit that the Malaysian government spent on Finas done? Nothing
spectacular indeed. And thirty-six years have passed since the formation of
Finas in 1981, and the film industry is still where it was then, today.
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