PEMULIH: 35,000 jobs to be made available in arts, creative industry - Saifuddin

Communications and Multimedia Minister Datuk Saifuddin Abdullah said the country's arts and creative industry players will benefit from PEMULIH through departments and agencies under the ministry such as Radio Televisyen Malaysia (RTM), Malaysian National News Agency (Bernama) and the Cultural Economy Development Agency (CENDANA).

"The initiative targets more than 8,000 beneficiaries from various fields including singers, musicians, actors, scriptwriters, songwriters, theater activists, those in performing arts, publishing companies and production and technical crew behind the scenes.

"This allocation will also be used to continue programmes under the Malaysian Creative Industry Stimulus Package (PRISMA) implemented last February," he said during a virtual session to announce the recipients of the Digital Content Fund (DKD) today.

Saifuddin said departments and agencies involved would implement 14 key initiatives in the form of financing facilities, capacity building, market access and promotion as well as productions on television and radio.

Besides this, Saifuddin said 11,460 workers with production companies receiving DKD would receive contributions under the Social Security Organisation's (Socso) Self-Employment Social Security Scheme via the production workforce contribution initiative.

He said the ministry was directly involved in the implementation of two of PEMULIH's three main focuses, namely pursuing the people's well-being agenda and supporting businesses by focusing on Internet connectivity, digital entrepreneurship, creative industry sustainability and mental health.

He said telecommunication service providers had also agreed to once again extend the free 1 gigabyte daily data from Aug 1 to Dec 31, which is estimated to be worth RM500 million with 44 million registered users benefitting.

Through the Entrepreneur Digitalisation Empowerment Programme (PUPUK), the government is targeting at least 800,000 entrepreneurs to adopt digitalisation and become actively involved in the digital economy.

"The ministry through the Shop Malaysia Online and Go-eCommerce Onboarding campaigns together with industry players and e-commerce platforms is targeting benefits for more than 300,000 micro-traders and Small and Medium Enterprises from various groups with an allocation of RM200 million," he said.

In line with the development of the Industrial Revolution 4.0 (4IR) in agriculture, Saifuddin said the Digital Agriculture Technology (Digital AgTech) programme in collaboration with the Malaysian Digital Economy Corporation (MDEC) and Farmers' Organisation will train 250 farmers, especially in rural areas, to switch to digital economic platforms to increase business revenue and online sales for more lucrative income.

Saifuddin said with the uncertain situation amidst the COVID-19 pandemic, the government was aware of the need for psychosocial support and in this regard, RTM has a special mental health slot in its Selamat Pagi Malaysia programme every day.

He also hoped that the allocation of RM15 million to non-governmental organisations as the government's strategic partner to address social issues such as mental health, homelessness and other social problems at the community level would be fully utilised for the well-being of the people.

"I am confident that the National Recovery Plan implemented in stages and supported by PEMULIH to protect the survival of the people and the sustainability of the various industries affected by the COVID-19 pandemic can bring us out of this situation.

"At the same time, we also need to take advantage of the opportunities and facilities provided especially in digitilisation, e-commerce and the creative industries to further improve the skills of the digital economy as well as enrich local production works," he said.