KOTA KINABALU: A Sabahan entertainer, Abu Bakar Ellah, better known as ‘Ampal’, for the character he portrayed in his telefilms, said Astro should seriously embark on airing at least up to 90 per cent of products from Sabah and Sarawak since it is the only avenue for local talents to be showcased on television.
He also suggested for further discussion to be initiated to ensure the role of TV1 programmes aired by Astro meant specifically for Sabah and Sarawak to bring about impact and greater understanding of the people in both states in the context of nation building.
“It is extremely disappointing and frustrating when production companies from the peninsula are getting the bulk of the contracts, despite us having submitted our proposals.
“Our counterparts from the peninsula had even asked us of the geography of Sabah, which suggests their lack of knowledge and understanding.
“TV1 remains the only channel initiated by the federal government in collaboration with the two state governments to bring about Sabah and Sarawak films and the entertainment industry to another plenary level despite the limitation of space provided to us,” Ampal said at the Film Industry Practitioners dialogue with its strategic partners from Sabah yesterday.
Present at the event were officers from the various agencies represented by the Home Ministry, Ministry of Domestic Trade, Cooperative and Consumerism, the Malaysian Communications And Multimedia Commission and Astro Film Censorship Board.
Ampal highlighted that producing telefilms in Sabah has become tough especially by the rampant invasion of pirated products and limited monitoring of the situation due to personnel constraint.