TO keep in tune with industry needs, guidelines for concerts by foreign artistes and filming by foreign film crews in Malaysia will be updated by the end of this year.
The guidelines will be published after they are finalised by a committee in the Central Agency for Application for Filming and Performance by Foreign Artistes (Puspal) under the Communi-cations and Multimedia Ministry.
“The new guidelines will take into consideration all aspects of sensitivities involving the people of Malaysia.
“We have been working on them since 2019 to make them more relevant to current industry’s needs and keep up to date with the present situation and trends,” ministry secretary- general Datuk Seri Mohammad Mentek tells Sunday Star.
Under current Puspal guidelines, foreign artistes are subject to a code of ethics including how they dress and behave on stage. Examples include male artistes being prohibited from taking off their clothes while performing or wearing clothes with vulgar words or symbols.
Female artistes are not allowed to wear clothes that are too tight, with high silts or that are see-through and display underwear, among others.
Performers also cannot display actions or speech that may cause discomfort among the audience including throwing objects at the crowd and provocative acts like kissing another person.
A full copy of the current guidelines can be accessed at bit.ly/puspal_guide.
To further assist the industry, Mohammad says the ministry and Puspal have also engaged with the industry to gather input on how to help them as well as promote Malaysia to the world as a destination of choice for concert organisers.
He says that Puspal is also working on developing a new application system for filming by foreign crew and performances by foreign artistes.
“Such a system will be able to handle the application process from the beginning of the planning stage until the end,” he explains.
He says the system is expected to be up and running by the end of next year.
“Apart from that, we are also helping to promote Malaysia as an attractive location for filming and live shows by foreign acts by producing an application guidebook to be distributed worldwide,” Mohammad says of the ministry’s initiatives.
Here in Malaysia, the live events business is recovering from a complete shutdown caused by Covid-19 pandemic-triggered lockdowns with many concert applications being sent in to the ministry.
“Based on the number of applications that we have received so far, we have seen a huge increase in applications under the concert category.
“Almost every weekend there are performances scheduled all over the Klang Valley,” Mohammad adds.
Recently, concerts featuring international stars came under the spotlight after there were calls by PAS Youth to cancel all such foreign performances, as it claimed such events promote “hedonism”.
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