KUALA LUMPUR: National Film Development Corporation (Finas) chairman Datuk Seri Azalina Othman Said will be letting go her chairmanship post following her new appointment as the Minister in the Prime Minister’s Office during the recent Cabinet reshuffle last Tuesday.
When met yesterday at a Raya open house event organised by Finas in Chef Ismail’s Rebung Restaurant, the Pengerang MP said that she was grateful for being given the new post in the PM’s Office but hoped that whatever ideas and changes that were put in place during her brief tenure in Finas would bear some fruit.
“I’m confident that the current Finas administration is capable and well equipped to take on the responsibility and challenges of solving the issues related to the local creative industry.
“I’m not worried at all and I sincerely hope that the creative industry will be increasingly made up of more local content from now onwards,” said Azalina, who was made Finas chairman last June.
Azalina said: “Perhaps the changes we are hoping for with Finas will take place starting with the upcoming Malaysian Film Festival and the Malaysian Expo that will be held in September.”
As for her successor at Finas, Azalina said that the individual selected should be the best candidate suited to be the driving force of change for the better within the film body.
“For me, I think it will be best that the post is given to an Umno leader in order for it to be in line with the vision of the BN government,” said Azalina, who is an Umno Supreme Council Member and head of the Pengerang Umno Division.
“After all, the reality of it is that the majority of players in the creative industry are the Malays,” she said.