PETALING JAYA, Oct 2 — Prolific lyricist and scriptwriter Habsah Hassan has resigned from her post as the chairman of Music Authors Copyright Protection Bhd (MACP) with immediate effect after heading the outfit for 18 years.

The 69-year-old Singaporean-born, ‘Kak Chah’ as she is more affectionately known, said she made the decision to quit after her own admission that she no longer enjoyed the support of the board of directors of the royalty-collection organisation.

According to sources, she tendered her resignation yesterday evening, after announcing her decision via Utusan Online news portal.

She was reported to have said that her decision also stemmed from calls for her to step down after a severe dip in royalty collections for songwriters, lyricists, and publishers this year.

"To members of MACP, I take responsibility and step down. I apologise for the failure in the distribution of royalties which is not as good as before.”

The body which was formed in 1989 and boasts a membership of some 4,000, was absorbed into a new outfit, Music Rights Malaysia Berhad (MRM) on  December 8, 2016 which became the sole licensing body to handle multi-rights licensing and serve as a music royalty collecting agent – along with other agencies in Public Performance Malaysia (PPM) Sdn Bhd, Recording Performers Malaysia (RPM) and Performers Rights & Interest Society of Malaysia (PRISM) Berhad.

The restructuring has been branded a failure with royalty collections taking a hit with collections less than half of the amount collected in previous years that hit a high of about RM50 million.

Despite the apology, Habsah insisted the failure was "not something we wanted.

"MACP has performed its duties every year and this is the first time this has happened.

"However, some have voiced out their dissatisfaction, including on social media, hurling insults, sarcasm and personal attacks at me, that left me unable to perform my duties.”

According to industry insiders, all four royalty-collection agencies and MRM as the parent body will undergo a full audit of their operations after the intervention of the Domestic, Trade and Consumer Affairs Ministry based on complaints.

It was also revealed that the minister, Datuk Saifuddin Nasution, has met with all parties involved, and a task force has been set up to reevaluate the positions of RPM and PRISM which both have overlapping duties in representation and collection of royalties for recording performers.