PETALING JAYA, Aug 15 — Filmmaker Datin Paduka Shuhaimi Baba denied today that her latest movie “Tanda Putera” was promoting a pro-Malay agenda or featured a character based on DAP lawmaker Lim Kit Siang in a negative light in scenes depicting the May 13, 1969 race riots, as suggested by some Umno blogs to the chagrin of Pakatan Rakyat (PR) leaders.
The award-winning director’s controversial retelling of the administrations of Malaysia’s first two prime ministers amid the bloody May 13, 1969 race riots has been heavily criticised by some PR politicians for its allegedly historically inaccurate depictions.
“This is not a movie to raise dissent. It is one to bring people together. It is just a movie about two great men. If they are from Umno, that’s just history. If they are also Malay, it is also our history.
“We are filmmakers, not an organ to produce propaganda,” Shuhaimi said in a news conference today.
Several film critics have accused the RM4.8 million movie — fully funded by the National Film Development Corporation (Finas) and the Multimedia Development Corporation (Mdec) — of demonising early leftist movements and of being more about hero worship than a proper tribute to the country’s second prime minister, the late Tun Abdul Razak Hussein, who was also father to the current PM, Datuk Seri Najib Razak.
The trailer for the movie is reported to show scenes of Chinese groups marching through the streets of Kuala Lumpur after the success of the opposition parties in municipal elections carrying the Labour Party flag and other banners bearing anti-Malay slogans.
The banners written in Chinese characters depicted slogans that translated into “Malays go back to the village”, “Malays go die” and “Take revenge”.
There also have been unverified reports that the film also shows Lim, the DAP parliamentary leader, desecrating a Malaysian flag — which the filmmaker has denied.
“There have been allegations that the character of a prominent DAP leader has been featured in this film. We would like to reiterate that there is no such character in ‘Tanda Putera.’
“Those pictures were sent and shared by people and are widely available online. But that scene is not in the movie,” Shuhaimi said.
“Since the release of the film’s 90-second trailer, many baffling, false and baseless accusations have been made about the film on the internet by those who have obviously not seen the film and are not the usual patrons of local films,” she added.
The director said much research had gone into ensuring her film was historically accurate.
“There are a lot of books that you can read. We referred to books by Cheah Boon Kheng, the NOC report and a lot of other publications,” she said, referring to the National Operations Council that was set up at the time to deal with the fallout from the race riots and headed by Abdul Razak.
She said the movie’s research team had also interviewed former Inspector-General of Police Tun Hanif Omar as well as consultants representing both Abdul Razak’s and Tun Dr Ismail Abdul Rahman’s families. Dr Ismail was the then home minister.
Pesona Pictures executive director Aida Fitri Buyong told reporters the production house was willing to screen “Tanda Putera” for PR leaders but not for its content to be re-evaluated.
“We urge all parties interested to take up the cost for a private screening, but not for (the purpose of) a re-evaluation.
“We already have the certificate from the Film Censorship Board allowing us to show the film with a PG-13 rating,” she said.
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