Indian artistes put off hunger strike until April 14

Confusion and commotion broke out at a gathering of local Indian artistes who had planned to go on a hunger strike spearheaded by the Malaysian Indian Creative Content Action Force (MICCAF) in Brickfields, Kuala Lumpur, yesterday.

More than 100 local Indian artistes and their supporters gathered at the Naga’s Restaurant in support of the planned hunger strike to protest the lack of local content in TV stations and job opportunities.

At a press conference, MICCAF spokesperson NS Krishna put forth the coalition’s demands to have Channel 201 of Astro (Vaanavil) be made up of 100 percent local content by the end of 2013, and to have a Channel 202 (Vellithirai) to telecast more local telemovies on the prime time slot.

MICCAF also called for the resignation of Astro’s head of Indian programming, Rajamani Chellamuthu, holding him responsible for the lack of Malaysian-made programmes in the pay television service.

During the press conference, local director-playwright ST Bala was also calling for the resignation of Rajamani when local telemovie director Maras Ravi stormed in and shouted at Bala for making such claims.

A commotion then broke out and people around joined in the fray. Some members of MICCAF led Maras out of the hall to avoid any altercation and MICCAF’s spokesperson vowed to press charges against Maras.

Many local artists still jobless

Krishna claimed that almost 300 Indians enter the entertainment field every year but many were left heartbroken for not being able to secure employment with the television stations and production houses.

“Out of this 300, five will find work in TV stations, three will become journalists and the others will end up in customer service or insurance companies,” claimed Krishna.

Producer and fellow spokesperson Jasmin Abdul Wahab echoed Krishna’s sentiments, citing her fellow artistes and filmmakers having to drive taxis or singing in pubs to earn a living due to the lack of support from TV stations and media companies.

According to MICCAF, Astro spends about RM300 million to develop local content out of which only RM1.5 million is spent on Indian content and on in-house programme development.

Jasmin also claimed that the in-house programmes were of substandard quality and do not provide a platform for local artists and filmmakers to showcase their talents.

The president of the People’s Progressive Party, M Kayveas (right), who was also present at the press conference, commended the group for bringing up the plight of Indian artists and pledged to talk to the prime minister on MICCAF’s demands.
He also urged Deputy Minister of Information, Communication and Culture Maglin Dennis D'Cruz to spearhead a discussion with Astro and other Malaysian TV stations.

Kayveas also requested MICCAF and its supporters to call off the hunger strike and set Apr 14, the Tamil new year, as the deadline for the relevant authorities to respond to their requests.

“You can continue your hunger strike at the PPP office, I will work with the authorities to give you the ground and permit,” said Kayveas.

MICCAF member Shanjey Kumar Perumal then agreed to call off the hunger strike until Apr 15.

“In a worse case scenario, we’ll commence the protest on the 15th at the PPP office or in front of the PM's office,” he said.

MICCAF, he added, will begin talks on ways to increase local content with Media Prima Berhad on Apr 12, and vowed to have a dialogue with Astro before the deadline.


Source : http://www.malaysiakini.com/news/193817

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