He said the ministry would not hesitate to take action if there were television stations that violated the guidelines set.
Annuar said he had asked the parties involved in a controversial video clip from a forthcoming drama to provide a written explanation about the content.
If the explanation was not deemed satisfactory, the drama would not be allowed to be aired, he said, Bernama reported.
The video clip, posted on social media, brought a rebuke from the religious affairs minister Idris Ahmad on Friday for steamy scenes between actors Zul Ariffin and Siti Hariesa. The clip was reported to be a promotional video for the television series Perempuan Itu.
Idris said he would be contacting those involved to resolve the matter, while broadcaster TV3 said yesterday the scenes in the clip were not suitable for broadcasting and had neither been discussed nor approved by the station.
Annuar reminded television stations of the need to practice censorship of unsuitable content.
“Under the current regulation, the government gives television stations the authority to censor content, where they are required to control it themselves.
“If we find that the television station does not follow certain guidelines, especially touching on issues related to religion, culture, customs and so on, then I will review the facility (censorship authority), and we may revoke it,” he told reporters here after a constituency event.
Annuar said broadcasting licences provided on a trust basis by the government should not be taken lightly by television companies.
“For me, scenes that are not in line with the culture of the Malays and Muslims, and that offend the Malays and Muslims should not even reach a stage where the ministry needs to step in and reprimand, because we need to understand for ourselves, the boundaries of scenes that are inappropriate,” he said.
Meanwhile, deputy religious affairs minister Ahmad Marzuk Shaary said his office planned to meet with the communications and multimedia ministry to discuss guidelines to ensure that such content would no longer be aired in the future.