Take action against cyber pirates, government urged

KUALA LUMPUR, Dec 17  -- The government is asked to take stern action against cyber piracy activities that are rampant plagiarising local works and uploading or publishing them illegally through various digital platforms such as android box, Telegram, YouTube and Facebook social sites.

Malaysian Film Producers Association deputy president Burhanuddin Md Razi said the activities of cyber pirates were now seen as quite worrying and he feared film producers would not be interested in producing works after this due to the losses suffered.

"If this continues, the film industry will die because it cannot generate profit from investment in film-making and eventually film producers do not want to make films anymore. So, it will involve thousands of creative works producers, not just actors," he said.

Burhanuddin, who is also Les' Copaque Production Sdn Bhd managing director, said this when he was a guest on the ‘Ruang Bicara’ programme aired by Bernama TV with the title: Malaysia Animation Films 2020: Achievements and Challenges, aired tonight.

Burhanuddin said the Malaysian National Film Development Corporation (Finas) should also organise strategies with all relevant government agencies to address this problem and further ensure the survival of the country's film industry.

Asked about the development of the film Upin & Ipin: Keris Siamang Tunggal which is the latest 'victim' of piracy, he said  Les' Copaque Production Sdn Bhd had identified several individuals and would take action to drag them to court as a lesson to others.

On behalf of Les' Copaque, he also expressed his appreciation to the loyal fans of Upin & Ipin who were responsible and did not download and share film works illegally.

-- BERNAMA