MINISTER CALLS FOR CREATION OF ASEAN MEDIA NETWORK

VIENTIANE, Nov 5 (Bernama) -- Malaysia's Information Communication and
Culture Minister Dr Rais Yatim has urged Asean member nations to create an Asean
news and information network.

He said the creation of such a facility by the Asean member countries was
crucial in enhancing the dissemination of news and information on the Asean
countries in efforts towards achieving the objective of creating the Asean
Community 2015.

"All this while, we (Asean) have only been paying lip service on the need
for Asean to intensify cooperation in the fields of information and the media,
but there is no mechanism for it," he told national broadcasting house, RTM, and
Malaysian National News Agency (Bernama) on the sidelines of the 10th Conference
of Asean Ministers Responsible for Information (AMRI) at the capital city of the
Democratic People's Republic of Laos, here Thursday.

Rais said the network was one of the two fundamental issues raised by
Malaysia at the conference as it was crucial in the effort to achieve the Asean
Community.

The other matter raised by Malaysia was the need for the member nations to
enhance cooperation in providing appropriate content services to fill up the
communication and information channels of the member nations, he said.

Asean member countries, he said, must think together on ways to develop
their own content industry that would reflect the cultures and values of the
member nations.

"The Asean community is currently too dependent on the western content
whether in the form of films and animation or others.

"Why don't we create Asean's own content industry in cooperation with the
Asean+3 allies namely China, South Korea and Japan?" he said.

Rais said that all the while, these allies had been receiving from Asean and
there was much opportunity for them to contribute in cooperating to spread
Asean's creative industry.

He hoped that China, Japan and South Korea, who would be attending the
inaugural meeting of AMRI+3 Friday, could allocate funds in their respective
countries for the purpose of cooperating with Asean in developing the creative
industry.

Rais said the matter would be extended to the Asean Secretariat.

Malaysia was now on the right track to develop the creative industry when
Prime Minister Najib Razak, in his national budget recently, allocated RM200
million (US$58.4 million) besides another RM100 million (US$29.2 million) to the
Malaysian Communications and Multimedia Commission (MCMC) for the purpose, he
said.

The minister said he would raise the matter at the Cabinet to find ways how
Malaysia could play its role in cooperating to widen the Asean creative content.

The host, Laos demonstrated a similar stand when its Deputy Prime Minister
Thongloune Sisoulith, in his speech at the opening of the conference, stressed
the need for a network to disseminate Asean news and information.

Rais also emphasised on the need to elevate the alternative media, which had
now become part of the Asean youth culture, by the Asean governments as one of
the media channels that could be utilised by the government.

"We should not ignore the alternative media. It is now the choice of the
young generation and we should use it as our information channel," he said.

The AMRI biennial conference is responsible in ensuring smooth cooperation
in disseminating information on Asean projects and activities within the ambit
of the three pillars of the Asean cooperation framework namely socio-culture,
economy and political security.

Malaysia was chosen to host the 11th Conference of AMRI in 2011.
-- BERNAMA