Almost 800 Malaysian film producers, directors and actors as well as others have petitioned against the non-renewal of the tenure of National Film Development Corporation Malaysia (Finas) director-general Kamil Othman’s service.

On Facebook, he got more than 1,000 likes asking him to stay on. His tenure came to an end last week. The contract was not renewed by the Communications and Multimedia Ministry.

“The dedication and accolades of Kamil Othman cannot be understated anywhere in Malaysia nor on the global front. With this, we kindly request the Communications and Multimedia Ministry to continue the leadership, efforts and contributions of Kamil as the director-general of Finas,” the petition by the film industry urged.

The petition sais he is much needed to steer Finas as an internationally respected entity that is globally on par with the Korean Film Council, Screen Australia, Film France and the British Film Commission.

“We believe that Kamil Othman is the only person for the position who can competently and clearly realise our industry’s full potential, and the dreams for Malaysian cinema,” the petition stated.

International movie producer Raman Kumar Bachchan expressed deepest appreciation and confidence in the continued leadership of Kamil as director-general of Finas.

“Kamil has assisted, advised and encouraged international producers to effectively use Malaysia as a location to shoot movies. He has also provided good incentives for international film and TV producers.

“The content creation industry and the future of the Malaysian film industry requires technical leadership that can position Malaysian cinema both on a local and global markets.

“The root cause for the glitches in Finas is the short tenure period of one of two years, thus continuity is always thwarted when leadership changes too often. They should extend it to three or four years.”

The petition stated that Kamil helped in the establishment of the Content Malaysia Pitching Centre (CMPC), which has simplified Finas funding application processes.

He started a ‘Technology Unit’ for industry players to keep abreast with the rapid worldwide development of industry-related technologies and to train the next generation of filmmakers.

“The success of this unit has benefited countless Malaysian filmmakers through the CILL programme, Next New Wave and Astro Shortcuts.

“The ‘TanyaFinas’ (Ask Finas) event which takes place one Friday of every month enabled Finas and filmmakers to better understand each other’s roles,” the petition added.

His proactive membership within the Asian Content Business Summit and his recent re-appointment as the vice-president of the Asian Film Commission Network, Korea this October 2016, is seen as a boost to Finas.