M'sia: Social Media Use Should Be In Tune With People's Way Of Life In Region

SINGAPORE, May 26 (Bernama) -- Malaysia Friday stressed to Asean countries the importance of social media use to be in line with the needs, values and way of life of people in this region. Information, Communications and Culture Minister Rais Yatim conveyed Malaysia's views on this matter on the last day of the 5th Meeting of Asean Ministers Responsible for Culture and Arts (AMCA), here. "This is to give a positive impact and not giving rise to negative elements which can be destructive. "The other Asean member countries agreed with our views," Rais said when met by Malaysian journalists, here. He said during the participating Asean ministers' courtesy call on Singapore Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong, Lee proposed that the region adapt to the developments in information communication technology (ICT). "Prime Minister Lee suggested that the Asean community move fast and adapt to the latest developments in ICT, and that Singapore is prepared to come up with programmes towards this end." Rais also said that the AMCA meeting accepted Malaysia's proposal to carry out a training programme in cinematography for people from Asean countries. "China, as a dialogue partner of AMCA, wants this to be major programme of Asean. "China is also prepared to be a special partner of Asean in carrying out cultural programmes, with the republic willing to provide funding and other forms of cooperation to make the programmes a success," he added. Besides China, the other AMCA dialogue partners are Korea and Japan. The next AMCA meeting will be held in Vietnam in 2014. -- BERNAMA