The prime minister said the policy was also in line with efforts to make the sector a socio-economic catalyst for the “Keluarga Malaysia” (Malaysian Family) concept.

The policy outlined directions to be taken for the country to become a “developed nation of cultured people” that would be based on the five principles of Keluarga Malaysia – inclusivity, togetherness, sense of pride, openness, and wholeness, he said  when launching Daken 2021 via a video recording at Panggung Sari Kompleks Kraf, in Jalan Conlay here. Also present was tourism, arts and culture minister Nancy Shukri.

The prime minister said Daken had seven cores – highly valued culture, community harmony, preservation and conservation of cultural heritage, cultural development and expansion, cultural empowerment, generation of cultural economy, and cultural excellence.

Ismail said at each core, there was consistent human capital development that included formal arts, culture and heritage education as well as the application of non-formal education as an effort to produce successors to existing arts, culture and heritage activists.

He said Daken would also ensure that cultural sustainability continued to be guaranteed and was a continuation of the previous National Culture Policy (DKK 1971) in shaping national culture and achieving a united nation.

“This policy (DKK 1971) was used as a guide in shaping and maintaining the identity of Malaysia, which has a multiracial society. As a result, over the past 50 years, various achievements in arts, culture and heritage have been recorded,” he said.

Ismail added that the sector had great potential to generate the economy in the past, for example in 2019 when it recorded an income of RM585 million compared with RM542 million in 2017.

“The numbers are already showing convincing recovery as soon as the country entered the Covid-19 endemic phase. As a result, the government has set a revenue target for this sector at RM1 billion by 2025,” he said.

The government through the tourism, arts and culture ministry would also continue to diversify efforts to increase the competitiveness, visibility and image of the country’s arts, culture and heritage sector as a core towards balanced development, he said.

Ismail then called for all Malaysians to work together to make the policy a success, thus restoring the reputation of “Malaysia Truly Asia”.