Aflix-Finas clarify meeting after 'censor Neflix call'

An upcoming local streaming content provider has clarified speculations surrounding its meeting with National Film Development Corporation (Finas) CEO Ahmad Idham Ahmad Nadzri.

Contrary to claims of attempts to lobby for special favours, Aflix TV executive officer Azman Shah Shaharuddin said the meeting in September was held to formally inform Finas of their launch plans scheduled for next year.

"Aflix TV had only gone to visit Finas and it was intended for us to introduce our platform that provides ethical entertainment content," Azman Shah told Malaysiakini today.

"Our visit was only to promote Aflix TV platform to Finas, and they also shared our concerns over the issue of piracy that we are struggling to address," he said.

Speculations were raised over the meeting following Ahmad Idham's reported call over the weekend for the government to censor international streaming content provider Netflix.

Responding to critics, Ahmad Idham took to Twitter and explained that he was merely suggesting a collaboration between Finas and the National Council of Women's Organisation to organise a forum or seminar to address the explicit content in the context of strengthening digital content in the future.

He also conceded that Finas has no power to censor digital content.

Critics, however, continued to question his clarification as Aflix's Facebook post on their September meeting with Ahmad Idham, who is also an actor and director, went viral earlier today.

In the Sept 30 post, Aflix had thanked Finas for agreeing to work together towards promoting it as Malaysia's first ethical entertainment platform.

Ahmad Idham refused to further comment when contacted by Malaysiakini today.

Azman Shah, meanwhile, said their meeting had discussed possible ventures involving archive owned by Finas which are unavailable from other providers.

"Finas has a large archive of contents, such as documentaries on the formation of Malaysia. These old contents are difficult to find through other sources," he said. - Mkini