Artistes Association of Malaysia (Seniman) president Rozaidi Abdul Jamil said there was currently no specific Act to safeguard the welfare of artistes, despite repeated calls to enact a law.

“We do not have an Act that protects (artistes) from a legal standpoint. This is a problem for the industry and artistes when it comes to content prices,” Rozaidi told FMT.

He said the artistes were regularly shortchanged when their content was purchased by television stations, and having such a law would help prevent them from being exploited.

Rozaidi, better known as Zed Zaidi, said his association will continue to fight for the rights of those in the creative industry to ensure they enjoy benefits such as Social Security Organisation (Socso) coverage and EPF contributions.

He said while the government approved a Socso scheme for artistes in 2016, allowing them to make contributions themselves with Seniman acting as an agent, it needed to be extended to make it mandatory for producers to contribute to the artistes’ accounts.