Ministry to expedite setting up of national body on music industry

Minister Datuk Saifuddin Abdullah said, the national body, among others, will be responsible for administering matters related to music, including song production and so on.

"These efforts to set up a national body related to music are being mobilised by the Creative Industry Task Force which is jointly chaired by me and Datuk Seri Nancy Shukri (Tourism, Arts and Culture Minister). For films there is the National Film Development Corporation (Finas) which can define what is a film, and what is not a film and so on.

"For music we have a copyright act (Copyright Act 1987) for regulation purposes and so on but there is no responsible body to manage the administrative side of music production. Compared to some countries like South Korea, there is a national body that takes into account all that, that is what we want to do and the Creative Industry Task Force, among others, will look at the model in South Korea," he said.

He told this reporters, after a meeting with the State Human Development, Dakwah and Information Committee chairman Mohd Nor Hamzah, at Wisma Darul Iman, here, today.

Also present at the meeting were State Tourism, Culture and Information Technology Committee chairman Ariffin Deraman, and several heads of relevant state agencies and departments.

He said besides that, the ministry would also increase efforts to highlight the nasyid music component to a higher level, as it could also be extended to other aspects such as dakwah, education, halal products, muslimah clothing and so on.

"People view nasyid as part of music, but it has a wide world of its own," he said.

Meanwhile, Saifuddin said today's meeting also touched on efforts to increase optimal internet access coverage, especially 4G in the East Coast area including Terengganu.

"On the East Coast, including Terengganu, we need to focus more, for example 4G coverage in Terengganu is only about 87.7 per cent, 3G 95.5 per cent, 2G 97.8 per cent. What we want to discuss and fine-tune is how we want to optimise 4G coverage. That involves the construction of new towers and so on," he said.

He said Terengganu which currently has 685 telecommunication towers requires another 400 telecommunication towers to optimise internet coverage in the state, including at tourist centres and resort islands.