KUALA LUMPUR: The Malaysian Television Producers Association (PTVM) will not agree with the National Film Development Corporation (Finas) if the government body decides to blacklist the producer in a recent case where an actor, director and assistant director were caught by the authorities for drug abuse.
The association's president Datuk Jurey Latiff Rosli said that it was not reasonable for producers to be blamed since every crew member and artiste was required to behave appropriately during the entire filming process as stated in the contract.
"Producers cannot be blamed in this matter. If Finas takes action against this producer, it will be like punishing the victim of the situation.
"To me, every single personnel must be responsible to deliver their best service to their employers who pay their wages. In any work contract there are clauses regarding behaviour and obeying the laws of Malaysia.
"Production companies also don't know who among their work force are consuming illegal drugs. It can't be that every time we hire someone, the person has to take a urine test first.
For Covid-19 swab tests, producers are aware of setting aside a certain budget," he said in a Harian Metro report yesterday.
Jurey added that every production crew member registered to Persatuan Pekerja Profesional Filem Malaysia (Profima) should have a professional work ethic and not mistreat local producers.
"Workers with Profima should be very professional at work and those who have been found to be involved with drugs should be blacklisted by the association.
"PTVM will defend the production company Zamriez Golden Pictures Sdn Bhd. I have already contacted its producer to come up with a letter detailing the whole incident that happened.
"Because there were people creating a problem out of work hours, the producer now has to be burdened and it feels like a 'scam' when Finas announced that it would revoke the special filming authentication certificate (SPP) and financing via the Digital Content Fund (DKD) if there was evidence of negligence in the case that took place.
"We hope this matter can be discussed with Finas to find an appropriate solution since the producer in question is also facing losses due to someone else's wrongdoing," he said.
Previously, Finas chairman Zakaria Abdul Hamid announced in a statement on Facebook that the producer, production crew and actor involved in the issues of drug abuse and the spread of Covid-19 positive cases during filming on location in Perak recently would be blacklisted.
He added that if there was evidence of negligence in adhering to the SOP and of drug use, Finas would also retract its SPP approval.
