3 Feb – Is it really necessary to find out whether a local movie is Bumiputera-owned or not before deciding whether to watch it or forgo it? The National Film Development Corporation (FINAS) seems to think so, as it has recently included a "Pemilikan" column in its movie listings that identifies if a certain movie is owned by "Bumiputera" or "Bukan Bumiputera". Understandably, not many movie enthusiasts were pleased with the notion.
Social media has been flooded with comments of people questioning the necessity of having such a status indicator, as it is deemed to be stunting the unification process of the multicultural nation, if even movies had to be broken down by their racial and indigenous status. The column can previously be seen under the 2016 tab that displays the list of movies for this year. However, the 2016 tab has since been removed following the backlash.