Malaysia’s newly announced restrictions on filming and videography violate press freedom and should be withdrawn, the International Press Institute (IPI), a global network of editors, media executives and leading journalists, said today.

The country’s communications and multimedia minister, Saifuddin Abdullah, announced in parliament yesterday that producers from the mainstream media as well as those posting personal videos on social media will have to apply for a film production licence and film shooting certificate from the National Film Development Corporation. The minister claimed the licenses were required by a 1981 law regulating film production.

“The bizarre licencing requirement imposed on shooting videos for news coverage is a blatant violation of press freedom and the right to information”, IPI Director of Advocacy Ravi R. Prasad said. “The Malaysian government is trying to stifle independent media by enforcing arbitrary restrictions.”

The Foreign Correspondent’s Club of Malaysia has also expressed concern over the new regulation, noting that „material broadcast on news channels have not previously needed any clearance from FINAS, be they for foreign or local news agencies.”

The requirement of a licence comes in wake of the recent Al Jazeera documentary Locked Up in Malaysia’s Lockdown, which highlighted the crackdown on migrant workers during the Covid-19 crackdown.  Soon after it was aired, the Criminal Investigation Department (CID) of the Malaysian police launched an investigation into Al Jazeera and the journalists who produced the documentary. IPI condemned the criminal investigation earlier this month.