PUTRAJAYA, Sept 6 — Hailing it as the "last component” of Malaysia’s transformation journey, Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Razak today launched the Cultural Economy Development Agency (Cendana) aimed at promoting local arts and culture.

He also announced a RM20-million infusion for the agency that is also tasked with developing Malaysia’s "cultural economy” as well as its arts scene.

"If you want to build a civilisation, then the core of that civilisation is in the form of the arts and culture. That is the soul of the nation, of the civilisation and without that soul, what do you get?

"You get high rise skyscrapers, you get physical infrastructure, but you don’t have the soul and we want the soul,” he said during the launch.

Najib, who is also finance minister, explained that since Cendana was envisioned to be the cornerstone of Malaysia’s arts and culture scene, it may be led by those from the industry rather than politicians or government officials.

Cendana was set up by the government via MyCreative Ventures, an initiative announced in Budget 2017.

The agency is headed by chief executive officer Izan Satrina Mohd Sallehuddin, with luminaries from the arts, culture, and literary industries filling its executive advisory committee.

"The establishment of Cendana demonstrates exciting times ahead for the arts in Malaysia. One of the most critical step that Cendana will undertake is to assess where we are as an industry, and then articulate a plan on where we want to be,” Izan said in her statement issued to the press.