The announcement of Budget 2020 in the last quarter of 2019 received generally positive reactions among the public. In line with the Shared Prosperity theme, several initiatives have been announced to boost employment rates among the youth and women in Malaysia, encourage entrepreneurial activity in the small and medium enterprises (SME) sector, as well as more targeted execution of financial aid and subsidies for those in the B40 category. On the business side, the sectors of technology, communication, tourism and property are expected to benefit from tax breaks and allocated stimulus, especially with the move towards the deployment of 5G technology, Visit Malaysia 2020 and the changes in policy for foreign buyers looking for property in the country. Overall, Budget 2020 seems to indicate a more positive outlook for the year ahead, aiming at sustainable long-term growth by investing in social wellness and infrastructure.
In order to fully understand how we can expect to see the year progress, five leaders in the sectors of economy, finance, women development and arts & culture reflect on what’s been set into motion and what more can be done in the coming months.
CREATING A CULTURE
Two powerhouses in Arts and Craft and Performing Arts, respectively, discuss the trickle down and its effect on the budget and the sector as a whole.
SURYANI SENJA ALIAS
Founder and Managing Director of Senijari Heritage and Cult Gallery, Chairwoman of Kraftangan Malaysia and Board Director of Think City
It is too early to truly see changes but I hope this will incentivise the corporate sector to support more art and culture programmes, especially on a longer-term basis. This also signals a positive government attitude towards the importance of art and culture. It is crucial to recognise that art and culture strengthens the bonds of our society, creates a national sense of identity, builds character, collaborative skills and critical thinking in our children, and is not just made for tourism. The sector is an important generator of creative content for Malaysia.
At present, the new budget will not change the way Kraftangan operates except with regards to the tax deduction. There will be a more focused push for private sector funding and co-funding for strategic projects such as strengthening our Craft Museum programming, curatorial and research, as well as creating strategic collaborations with product designers.
As for Cult Gallery, the budget incentivises collaboration with corporations for potentially new and larger-scale art projects, and perhaps the incentives for women entrepreneurs will make me rethink my expansion plans.
I feel that the government should do more strategic and selective policy intervention and strategic funding for our growing creative industry, and art and culture segment. There is a movement in the right direction in the Ministry of Tourism, Arts and Culture (MOTAC) towards creating much needed policies such as the National Craft Policy, as well as the long term move of incorporating arts education into the school curriculum.
The National Craft Institute (Institut Kraf Negara) is now accredited for the vocational stream as well. With over 250 students, we are excited to expand and strengthen the only craft school in this country to ensure the continuity of our craft through building a new generation of young artisans.
By focusing on long-term collaborations this year with designers, architects, filmmakers, interior designers, hotels, airlines and jewellery makers, we will ensure craft continues to evolve. However, to truly ensure that our arts and culture scene thrives and continues to do so, we require a more systematic support and funding to increase public awareness of art and culture, as well as better public arts education.
This can be achieved through providing arts subjects in schools, quality documentation and digitalising of creative content, professional programming at museums, talent development in content writing, curatorial and conservation, industrial design, as well as packaging and cultural branding, just to name a few. At Kraftangan, we will be shifting towards this future of rebranding, documentation and digitalisation, including fundamental documentation of our Adigurus and Tokoh Kraf Negara so as to highlight our master artisans.
I would also love to see comprehensive and focused support in revamping our cultural infrastructure. Our public museums and cultural spaces sorely need freshening up through intelligent and professional re-design to make them more people-friendly, communicative, aesthetically pleasing, green and sustainable with engaging content. I hope our KL Craft Complex will have the opportunity to be part of this revolution in rethinking! We will certainly be proposing this revamp with new, innovative and exciting changes that can put Kuala Lumpur on the cultural destination map, providing we get the right support from the ministry and government.
As for Kraftangan Malaysia, we have close to 6,000 artisans and artisan entrepreneurs registered with us, most of whom are low-income earners from Sabah, Sarawak, Kelantan and Terengganu. Focused support on female artisans, who are the lowest income earners, will be crucial to uplift hardcore poverty and reduce the inequalities in the country, while strengthening our art and culture through supporting craft and our artisans.
The tax deduction for corporate sponsorship of art and culture will likely encourage local players to take more proactive measures to seek funding for creative projects from the corporate sector, and I hope Malaysian corporations will be more incentivised by the tax deduction to support art and culture projects as well.
LOW NGAI YUEN
President of Kakiseni
First, let’s really breakdown the ‘support’. The budget has introduced to us new investments in international theme park projects, which will be given an income tax exemption of 100% of statutory income or the Investment Tax Allowance of 100% to be set off against 70% for five years, companies which support arts and cultural activities will be afforded income tax exemption and there will be an increased tax deduction from MYR700,000 to MYR1 million annually for companies sponsoring arts, cultural and heritage activities.
Those in the industry can also expect a MYR1.1 billion allocated to the Tourism, Arts and Culture Ministry for promoting relevant programmes in conjunction with Visit Malaysia Year 2020 (VMY2020), the allocation of 50% of tourism tax to respective state governments to support their efforts for VMY2020, a portion of the departure levy allocated for tourism infrastructure projects, 50% excise duty exemption given to tour operators for the purchase of qualified new tourism vehicles and, lastly, the Cultural Economy Development Agency (CENDANA) is set to receive an allocation of MYR5 million from the government in support of Malaysian visual art galleries and exhibition organisers in holding art exhibitions.
From the quick overview above on the Budget 2020s allocation to drive tourism, only the second and third points will have direct positive impacts on artists and, perhaps, the last point of CENDANA receiving MYR5 million in government support, if managed well, for tangible benefits to trickle down to artists. As the allocation is made to drive tourism, we need to understand that traditionally, arts and cultural tourism is different from tourism within arts and culture. Therefore, just looking at the budget allocation, it seems that there is a focus on ensuring support in the platform, infrastructure and marketing. While this is appreciated, it’s still a long way before there is a real relationship between tourism and arts and culture.
Encouraging private money flow to support the sustenance of artists work is very welcome but it also needs to come with a good effort to promote this tax availability to companies. Currently, this promotion work is taken on mostly by artists who also double up as producers, which is far from ideal. The best way forward is to also couple this tax benefit with an affirmative action that makes it companies’ own responsibility to use this benefit.
As a contributing industry to tourism, we have begun to sit in various MOTAC committees to understand how to work alongside the tourism machinery better. It is still an uphill battle since most tour agents/companies are still about the revenue and bottom lines, whereas the arts is maintained as an expensive experience. Working for a business model that makes sense to both the productions and the tour agent is not the easiest concept to come up with, which is why not much effort has been put into the solution.
Malaysia is still trying to understand how to create a stronger partnership and dynamism between the cultural scene and looking at the opportunity to monetise it for tourists. But for the industry, time is fast ticking. Having said all that, though, I am glad that some conversations are happening; we just need to place more urgency in making them a priority.
In many countries where this is an advanced and a top-priority agenda, there are funding allocations for artists to try new body of works; CAPEX and OPEX support for theatre spaces and theatre ensemble companies to grow in size; bridge cross country collaborations; marketing and promotion of the arts and culture specific; facilitation of artists’ original works; and protection of works in the heritage, for example.
Budget 2020 focuses on tourism. While it is a good start, more still needs to be done. As for local Malaysians who are not in the industry, we need to work at building an audience out of them. I still remember a paper that we submitted back in 2017, calling for a wider annual tax rebate of MYR500 for individuals who spend on arts and cultural activities; now that will move the needle for sure.
TEXT ELLFIAN RAHIM, NEDA AL-ASEDI & SWAROOPINI UDHAYA NAIR
ILLUSTRATION DEPOSITPHOTOS
