He said this was because those drawing up the new SOPs may not be familiar with what is happening on the ground.
Eight creative industry sectors reopened on Sept 9 in a move which Annuar previously said would bring relief to over one million artistes and workers.
At a webinar today, the Film Directors’ Association of Malaysia president Ahmad Ibrahim said some of the film industry’s SOPs were not suited to industry needs and Annuar replied that the creative industry should not “worry too much about SOPs”.
“Sometimes, they are drawn up by people sitting behind tables and in offices and they don’t see how it works in reality,” he said.
“Industry players can give us some feedback. If there are SOPs which do not seem reasonable, let us know. Bring it to me. We can modify the SOPs. They are not rigid.
“The important thing is that the risk of infection is under control when we carry out activities (in the industry).”
The Ketereh MP was speaking at a webinar organised by Bernama Radio titled “With Annuar – Creative Industry: Recovering The Affected”.
Earlier this month, Prime Minister Ismail Sabri Yaakob announced that creative industry players in Phase 1 states who were fully vaccinated would be able to resume activities such as filming, indoor busking and live broadcasting from Sept 9 onwards.
Cinemas were allowed to resume screenings, as well as art exhibitions and live performances in theatres and musicals – all subject to capacity limits.
Ismail said the industry contributed 2%, or RM29 billion, of the country’s gross domestic product in 2019, and he said around 19,000 companies would benefit from the easing of restrictions.
While he lauded the resumption of activities in the sector, which has been among the hardest hit by the Covid-19 pandemic’s lockdown regulations, Annuar stressed that it was crucial that the creative industry think about new ways to invigorate itself.
“I’m not only thinking about reopening the creative industry but how we can improve on it,” he said.
“We have to be better (and) we have to come up with new ideas. We should not go back to the old ways of doing business.
“It can’t be back to business as usual. That’s not good enough.”