While I do agree that viewers in Malaysia have the right to choose whatever programmes they want to watch on Astro, this may not necessarily be due to an inborn preference. Taste is acquired and developed over the years through the interplay of the various elements and factors with the kind support of our media.

Surely we have not forgotten that in the early years of the cinema and TV, most Malaysians of all races preferred to watch Malay films produced locally, and listened to traditional Malay music. Many Malaysian Chinese and Indians became good at dondang sayang, joget lambak and pantun.

But this taste, especially among non-Malays, changed because of the change in emphasis by the media which, knowingly or unknowingly, began promoting foreign programmes, especially those from the US, Hong Kong and India.

So people began to shift their focus from local to foreign programmes even if American TV serials did receive as many viewers as local dramas. Today, any Malay TV drama gets at least two million viewers, compared with American serials that manage, at the most, 200,000 mainly in the Klang Valley and urban areas.

But look at the massive publicity American programmes get from our media. For one article on local film, TV drama or music, scores are published on foreign ones. There are even special locally published entertainment magazines that concentrate on the promotion of foreign programmes, especially American ones. One TV station does not even use Bahasa Melayu for its public announcements!

Chinese and Indian publications too only promote such foreign programmes. No Chinese newspaper or magazine has ever published interviews with non-Chinese film-makers, singers or composers from Malaysia, or write-ups on local film and music. Even the Malaysian Film Festival, which can be considered a national event, has never been covered.

Producers of Malay films and TV dramas have consciously included non-Malay characters in their productions to show the spirit of muhibah, but there has been no similar show of fraternity from non-Malay producers of local Chinese or Indian programmes. All the policemen and judges in local Chinese dramas are Chinese, yet RTM has allowed this to be aired!

I know because I have been in the film industry since 1982 upon my return after completing film studies in the US. I have yet to see any reporter from the non-Malay and non-English press at local press conferences. Ironically, these Chinese and Indian publications provide wide coverage on the Hong Kong and Golden Horse (Taiwan) Film Festivals.

I suspect that our non-Malay TV and film viewers have been programmed to accept only certain programmes because of chauvinistic and linguistic reasons. Therefore, the issue is basically of wrong media emphasis, more than preference per se.

If this is true, then something must be done to address the core problem. The end results do not show anything significant. The debate can only provide many supporters of freedom of choice with ammunition to say that they must have the right to view anything they like.

Quotes like "Astro viewers are mature enough to decide which programme to choose" and "freedom of choice" will be repeated again and again as if there were no other sociological or psychological factors involved. The main problem will never be solved if this issue is handled in this manner.

Therefore, as suggested by Prime Minister Mahathir Mohammed and Minister of Information Khalil Yaakub, a research into the issue has to be conducted before a firm decision can be made to settle the matter; the issue needs to be investigated not just on the personal level but patriotic and nationalistic levels as well.

Interestingly, those who support "freedom of choice" are those from the earlier generation. Younger Chinese, Indians and even Malays must surely feel differently, because they have grown up in another system of education with a different cultural and social emphasis from their elder siblings, parents or grandparents.

I am certain their views on foreign programmes on Astro are not representative of the real feelings of the majority of Malays, Chinese and Indians in Malaysia. Why must we spend hundreds of millions of ringgit to support the development of the film and music industries in the US, Hong Kong and India, when we can do something to promote our own?

And for that matter, why must we spend hundreds of millions of ringgit to set up TV and radio stations and public magazines and newspapers, only to turn them into centres for the promotion of foreign culture?

I do not think this is ingenious! To me, this looks more like an expression of our inability to compete, in the spirit of "Malaysia Boleh". What's the point of promoting such a boleh spirit if we can only boleh how to serve other people's interests and not our own?

Also consider this: the Chinese population in Hong Kong is a mere five million compared to the Malaysia's six million Chinese. Yet Hong Kong Chinese are able to come up with hundreds of feature films and thousands of television serials and record albums and produce interesting films, TV and music personalities.

The most important and recognised Chinese in the world in the field of entertainment are from Hong Kong. Where are the Malaysian Chinese?

Why can't our Chinese brethren do the same and produce feature films and TV serials that portray their unique Malaysian identity and culture and be well known worldwide?

How long will Malaysian Chinese take to realise their own folly in appreciating too much Hong Kong material, to the detriment of their own unique Malaysian identity? Will they become less Chinese if they do not appreciate Hong Kong and Taiwan programmes?

As a qualified filmmaker, I do not agree with many people who say that Hong Kong productions are superior to Malaysian ones. What they have all forgotten is that the Hong Kong film, TV and music industries have been around for a long time. If Malaysian Chinese start to move from now, I am certain in the near future we will be able to see interesting home-bred Malaysian Chinese films.

The Chinese in Singapore who have a smaller population have started to produce their own films over the last few years. The quality may not be as good as Hong Kong or Taiwan but these movies are very Singaporean!

This is something which Hong Kong and Taiwan films cannot offer to Singaporean viewers. Or are we saying that Malaysian Chinese do not have talented people to create such films and music?

I am sure this is the best way to look at this issue and solve it, rather than blaming those with other views and dismissing them as katak di bawah tempurung (narrow minded).

Am I a katak (frog) too? I do not watch foreign programmes on TV or listen to foreign music anymore, except those of non-English origin, such as Middle Eastern, African and South American music.

Can we say that those who subscribe to Astro and have access to all the 40 television channels that the station has to offer can consider themselves to be men of the world? Are they well informed of the happenings around the world just because they have access to such a facility?

I have not yet found a loyal Astro viewer who can claim to be fully aware of the many interesting things happening in the Southeast Asian region, much less the world. Most of the time, they can only gape at what is happening in Hong Kong, India or the US, and these three countries do not make up the world, for heaven's sake.

The problem with Astro as far as I can see is that they do not make any attempt to introduce more interesting channels to show programmes from outside of these three countries. It would be fun if we could see films from Iran, Egypt, Libya, Pakistan, Bangladesh, South America, Africa and so on.

But, this is just wishful thinking. Astro will not consider such a proposal interesting. Prove me wrong and I will subscribe to Astro.

I find it totally strange for the Malaysian media to actively promote and publicise foreign programmes, especially those from the US, Hong Kong and India. It is as though our media has a direct interest in the success of such programmes. Have the US, Hong Kong or Indian governments ever sent a note of thanks to our media owners for helping to promote their films in Malaysia?

If there was a television station somewhere in the US which broadcasts Malaysian programmes on a regular basis, thus helping promote Malaysia and its culture, I am sure the owner of the television would given a datukship.

The Malaysian government must therefore take up this matter and do something:

1) There needs to be some media regulation so that publicity of foreign programmes is lessened and abolished in due course.

2) The media must be encouraged or forced to start promoting local productions more aggressively.

3) Entertainment taxes on foreign programmes and shows must be increased.

4) Laws and regulations must be introduced so that the local film industry must make it a point to show our multiracial society and culture; in this way the people of all races will accept our films as their own.

5) Non-national schools must show greater emphasis on culture so that the students who study in Chinese and Indian medium schools will not live in a cultural and social void.

If this can be done, I am sure we will be able to correct the major sociological, psychological and cultural flaws that have been allowed to happen; as a result of our indifferent media emphasis, Malaysian viewers have acquired a taste that is not commensurate with their level of social and cultural awareness.

In the final analysis, the great linguistic, cultural, sociological and psychological divide that separates Malaysians from the different racial backgrounds must be narrowed.

MANSOR PUTEH is a film maker and critic.