A Review of Policy on Creative Industry for Sustainable Nation: A Malaysian Perspective

The Malaysian Dasar Industri Kreatif Negara (DIKN), or the Malaysian National Creative Industry Policies, was launched in 2010 and created a list of creative offerings broken down into three sectors: Creative Multimedia, Creative Cultural Arts, and Creative Cultural Heritage. Each of these sectors has its behaviors, problems and mechanisms and requires a tailored approach to its promotion. The policy’s main objective is to promote creativity, ensuring both economic and social benefits sustainably. It has now been ten years since DIKN was launched. Although it has generally shown a positive effect, the vibrancy of the creative economy is still less than satisfactory compared to other Asian countries such as Indonesia and Thailand. Until now, no comprehensive study has been conducted on the effectiveness and impact of DIKN on the country. Therefore, this article discusses the existing problems and compares the policies of different countries regarding the development of the creative industries sector. To achieve the study’s objectives, a three-stage approach was adopted, including a comparative analysis and synthesis of the literature on creative industries concepts and policies, a quantitative survey of 134 creative industries stakeholders in Malaysia on their views on the DIKN, and a generalization of the overall findings. Findings from this study show that there are big spaces for improvements in the current policy in line with new trends and technological advancements. The results of this study will be able to highlight the weaknesses of existing policies in Malaysia and suggest improvements in the scope of the field, as well as propose a strategic framework for the development of Malaysia’s creative industries sector.