September 03, 2021, 07:29 PM
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Malaysians have flocked online to bombard their government with messages calling for the reopening of cinemas in the country.
This was after Malaysian theatre operator "Golden Screen Cinemas" (GSC) posted a widely-circulated tweet on Sep. 2, which prompted locals frustrated with limited entertainment options to speak out.
Please allow us to open for fully vaccinated moviegoers 🥺 Please let us #ReopenCinemas! #HelloWeCan @AnnuarMusa @Khairykj @MKNJPM
— GSC 🎂 (@GSCinemas) September 2, 2021
GSC tagged several ministers in their tweet, including Minister of Communications and Multimedia Annuar Musa, Minister of Health Khairy Jamaluddin, and the National Security Council (MKN), the council in charge of implementing Covid-19 restrictions.
Malaysians online weighed in and expressed their eagerness to return to movie theatres for "Spiderman" and "Shang-Chi", after months of missing out on popular movies like "Black Widow" and "Free Guy".
Minister acknowledges tweet
With Malaysia's vaccination rate surpassing 48 per cent, many sectors have been allowed to reopen, including tourism sectors for states that are less affected by the pandemic, Malay Mail reported.
GSC's appeal appeared to be in response to Annuar's tweet on Sep. 1, in which he asked for Malaysians to express their "hopes and suggestions" for his ministry.
Annuar described that his first week on the job would be "full of briefings by departments and agencies", and he that he was looking forward to making progress with the ministry.
In his subsequent tweet on Sep. 3, the minister acknowledged GSC's tweet, and said that he is aware of the situation of cinemas in Malaysia.
Ya, saya sedar keadaan pawagam-pawagam di Malaysia dan saya sudah bawa isu ini ke MKN bersama isu-isu lain berkenaan industri kreatif. InsyaAllah kerajaan akan mengumumkan sesuatu tidak lama lagi. https://t.co/aytp8XQEyO
— Annuar Musa (@AnnuarMusa) September 3, 2021
"I will bring the issue to the MKN alongside other issues faced by the creative industry. Hopefully the government will announce something soon," he added.
With Covid-19 running wild in Malaysia, cinemas have operated sporadically over the past year, and have been ordered to close on multiple occasions, with the most recent closure in May, reported Malaysiakini.
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