Al Jazeera insists no Finas licence needed for '101 East' show
The management of international news agency Al Jazeera insisted today that its weekly '101 East' current affairs show did not require a licence from the National Film Development Corporation (Finas) before being produced.
"Al Jazeera asserts that, according to Malaysia's National Film Development Corporation’s own definition, the 101 East weekly current affairs show does not fall into the category of film requiring a licence," said Al-Jazeera's public relations team on Twitter.
The team also shared a message from...
The management of international news agency Al Jazeera insisted today that its weekly '101 East' current affairs show did not require a licence from the National Film Development Corporation (Finas) before being produced.
"Al Jazeera asserts that, according to Malaysia's National Film Development Corporation’s own definition, the 101 East weekly current affairs show does not fall into the category of film requiring a licence," said Al-Jazeera's public relations team on Twitter.
The team also shared a message from Al Jazeera English managing director Giles Trendle who spoke out against attempts by Malaysian authorities to find out whether its controversial episode titled "Locked Up in Malaysia's Lockdown" was licensed by Finas before being produced.
“Unable to contest the integrity of our journalism, we believe the authorities are now attempting this new gambit of claiming we did not have a proper licence," said Giles.
"We do not believe this is a credible line of argument. In fact, we believe it is contradicted by the very own published guidelines of the relevant authority," he added.
Finas on Monday stated that its preliminary investigations found that Al Jazeera did not have the necessary licence to film the documentary which has attracted heavy criticism.
The statement came a day after Communications and Multimedia Minister Saifuddin Abdullah said his ministry would check if the documentary was licensed by Finas before being produced.
Several experts previously told Malaysiakini that enforcement of Section 22(1) of the Finas Act 1981 on licensing requirements could have wide-ranging implications due to its broad definition of film.
The subsequent subsection states that a licence can be denied without any reason given and a violation may result in a maximum two years imprisonment, a maximum RM50,000 fine, or both.
Earlier this month, Al-Jazeera had released the 25-minute documentary which denounced the treatment of undocumented migrants when Malaysia took steps to tackle the Covid-19 outbreak in the country.
The police also confirmed they would call several relevant authorities to verify matters in terms of approval and permission given in the production of the documentary.
Report this comment
Are you sure you want to delete this comment?
This action cannot be undone.