Creative Industry Should Help Develop Strong Character - DPM

CYBERJAYA (Malaysia), July 10 (Bernama) -- The contribution of the creative industry should be evaluated not only from the economic standpoint, but also on how it could help young people develop strong character and identity, said Muhyiddin Yassin (second from left). The deputy prime minister said it should also be able to introduce local culture and brand globally, especially in tourism and foreign investment. He cited South Korea as the best example as it had exported movies, television programmes and music all over the world to the extent that it influenced the younger generation to learn the Korean language to enable them to understand the creative works. On the local film industry, he said it recorded a commendable growth of 47 per cent from 2009 to 2011 due to a concerted effort from the public and private sectors. The creative industry is also recognised as one of the main contributors to the National Economic Transformation Programme, he said when opening the Kumpulan Syarikat KRU's corporate social responsibility (CSR) programme here on Tuesday. He said incentives provided by the government would not be enough to churn out high impact productions without an orderly human capital development encompassing creative, confident, ambitious and highly discipline talents. Muhyiddin commended KRU Studios and KRU Academy's initiatives in contributing to the growth of the creative industry in an effort to produce skilled and talented manpower who could adept to the state-of-the-art technology and expertise. Kumpulan Syarikat KRU executive president Norman Abdul Halim (right) said under the CSR programme 28 secondary school students would be getting a RM10,000 scholarship, 10 SPM (a public examination) holders from arts schools would be pursuing courses worth RM10,000 each at the KRU Academy, a talent search vying for the KRY Creative Award and the KRU Career Day in September and October. (US$1=RM3.13) Present also at presenting a token of appreciation to the deputy prime minister were KRU Academy chairman Dr Nazaruddin Abdul Jalil (centre), Yusri Abdul Halim (second from right) and Edry Abdul Halim (right). (photoBERNAMA) MALAYSIA