He said pension is among the key issues that need to be discussed by stakeholders, adding that a thorough discussion is important to ensure the sustainability of the country’s creative industry.

“This will ensure that talents in the creative industry, be it singers, actors, directors or even crew members, have adequate social security protection,” he said during an event here.

According to Fahmi, the idea to form a partnership with Socso came after a previous discussion with the agency concluded that many in the creative industry do not enjoy social security.

In May, Artistes Association of Malaysia (Seniman) president Rozaidi Abdul Jamil called for legislation to better protect artistes in the creative industry from being exploited and subjected to low prices for their content.

Rozaidi told FMT that there was currently no specific law to safeguard the welfare of artistes, despite repeated calls to enact one.

He said while the government approved a Socso scheme for artistes in 2016 which allows them to make contributions, it needs to be extended to make it mandatory for producers to contribute to artistes’ accounts.