KUALA LUMPUR: The Malaysian Artistes Association (Seniman) views the success of Tabung Kasih@HAWANA as a model worth emulating to safeguard the welfare of local artistes and arts industry practitioners.
Its president, Rozaidi Abdul Jamil, better known as Zed Zaidi, said the HAWANA fund is an inclusive initiative that can provide ongoing benefits to media practitioners.
“The successful establishment of a fund to look after the welfare of media practitioners has inspired Seniman to create a similar fund for local artistes.
“At the moment, we do not yet have a welfare fund, but under the Malaysia Film Association Coalition (Gafema), we are planning to establish a special fund similar to Tabung Kasih@HAWANA to protect the welfare of those in the arts industry,” he said when met at the HAWANA 2025 Carnival at Sunway Putra Mall here today.
Zed Zaidi also sees potential collaboration between Seniman and the National Journalists’ Day (HAWANA) platform through MyCheck Malaysia (Bernama’s fact-checking unit) and the Malaysian Communications and Multimedia Commission to educate artistes on efforts to combat false information.
“This is my first time hearing about MyCheck Malaysia. It has the potential to become one of the platforms for special programmes with celebrities as agents to create awareness for the public,” he said.
He said apart from celebrities, Seniman also comprises influencers who often lack clear guidelines for information sharing.
“Sometimes when they share something, it may be based on facts but gets distorted until it turns into falsehood, which the public may then perceive as fact. This contributes to the spread of fake news and misinformation.
“Therefore, we can combine suitable programmes, including workshops or awareness sessions involving the media to educate the public about the importance of fact-checking,” he said.
The HAWANA 2025 Carnival runs for three days starting today and is part of this year’s HAWANA celebration, themed ‘Journalism in the New Era: Embracing AI, Safeguarding Ethics’.
The highlight of HAWANA 2025 will be the official launch by Prime Minister Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim at the World Trade Centre Kuala Lumpur tomorrow.
Over 1,000 media practitioners, representatives from local journalist associations and media organisations from ASEAN member states have been invited, bringing together media professionals and industry experts to exchange ideas and foster strategic partnerships.
