Its a rarity to hear a minister apologise in Malaysia, with what can be considered a first the Minister of Communications and Multimedia, Datuk Saifuddin Abdullah has just broken the common convention and apologised to over 200 social media visitors at an event.

This came after the Minister made a startling comment in Parliament not too long ago, during the session Saifuddin had commented that all video content uploaded on any social media platform will need Finas approval. His statement instantly caused chaos and disbelief among the public who use these platforms everyday posting all sorts of videos.

Calling out that the statement was not intentional the minister said “As a minister, I should apologise, because when I replied about the issue in the Dewan Rakyat on July 23, I did so in a very straightforward manner. “Apparently, politicians cannot be straight, when one is straight, he gets hammered.

However, he said the next day, the matter was discussed in the Cabinet, which decided that the public could freely use platforms such as Youtube and Tik Tok to upload content.

“Don’t worry, no action will be taken. That freedom is fully guaranteed,” he said.

Saifuddin made the apology while officiating the Southern Zone Youtube and Community Cinema Skills Worskshop at the Iskandar Malaysia Studios here, today.

Ever since he made that comment saying it was mandatory for producers, including on new media such as Youtube, to apply for a Film Production Licence and Filming Authentication Certificate, for distributing films via any channel, the ratings for the Minister must have dropped drastically. He was doing so well with the handling of 5G, MCMC and pushing the telco’s to buck up, that one comment on July 23 painted Saifuddin in a different light.

Hope the apology holds and no approval process comes in ever!