Ipoh to KL
Yesterday I took a drive to Kuala Lumpur from Ipoh. Its a 2 and a half hour journey and about 200km. As I hit the traffic when I arrive, I am quicly reminded why I prefer the less congested and less populated Ipoh City. One has to travel by road from Ipoh to KL as the airport in Ipoh is not utilised at the moment for commercial flights. I have been told there is a new train service, will need to check it out at some point.
I arrived at the PWTC at about 3.00pm to attend the launch of an accreditation programme by the Artiste Association of Malaysia (Karyawan) & the Ministry of Heritage Youth & Culture (Puspal). I have been kindly asked to be one of the lecturers for this programme. The event started with the arrival of the minister from Puspal accompanied by traditional malay dancers and kompang players.
He then gave his speech outlining the number of permits that had been approved to hotels and entertainment outlets for the use of foreign artistes. The current ruling has a 50% (local) 50% (foreign) balance required to get a permit approved. They are changing the ruling to 70 30 and then to 100 local when the accredition programme is complete.
The minister highlighted that once the accreditation programme had given out enough qualifications for Malaysia artistes he would take action against hotels who still did not use local artistes. I find this statement to be highly questionable. Firstly the use of foreign artistes generates millions in taxes and permit fees which runs an entire division of Puspal. Secondly if they do not approve a permit the foreign artiste cannot be brought in. Thirdly he did not show any understanding of the benefits of the exchange of talent. Fourth venues that use a combination of foreign and local artistes have seen a great increase in revenue which in turn creates more fringe jobs and more taxes.
Traditional Malay Dancers at the Launch of the Event
I am fully in support of using more local talent, thats what Jazz & Bits is doing, nurturing new talent to be used in these entertainment outlets. However the transition has to be natural via the market forces. It is rather complex and questionable to do it via an accreditation programme. However I will do my best to contribute to the course and hopefully it will make some change. I will update this blog regularly on this matter if and when this programme takes off.
Hi there, thanks for this post. I have been wanting to start my own talent agency and with all the new rulings from PUSPAL or KPKK, I would just like to get a clearer picture on this issue.
A friend of mine recently told me that the latest notice by PUSPAL is that with effect from July 1 ‘09, foreign talents are allowed to perform 4 days in a week and the subsequent 3 days are to be taken up by local talents. Is this really the case? With most hotels now reducing their entertainment budgets, how can we afford to provide them with both foreign and local musicians? And with these tight budgets, would local musicians even want to work in hotels? Through my observation, there are many other factors which contribute to the preference of hiring foreign musicians i.e. customers preference, better working attitude, more friendly, better performances in English.
What are your suggestions on tackling these issues? I agree that this transition must be done gradually. Together with that, are we sure if the market is ready for 100% local talent in all establishments?