MALAYSIA/SINGAPORE: BANNED FILM Singaporeans travel to neighbouring Malaysia to watch film banned in Singapore

Record ID: 565589

  • Title: MALAYSIA/SINGAPORE: BANNED FILM Singaporeans travel to neighbouring Malaysia to watch film banned in Singapore
  • Date: 21st September 2014
  • Summary: SINGAPORE (SEPTEMBER 20, 2014)(REUTERS) MEDIA STATEMENT BY MEDIA DEVELOPMENT AUTHORITY OF SINGAPORE ON COMPUTER MONITOR VARIOUS STATEMENT STATING THAT THE FILM HAS UNDERMINED SINGAPORE'S NATIONAL SECURITY
  • Embargoed: 6th October 2014 13:00
  • Keywords:
  • Location: Malaysia, Singapore
  • City:
  • Country: Singapore Malaysia
  • Topics: General
  • Reuters ID: LVA829CMY4JYCJYPTQNIXTB1GRRX
  • Story Text: Singaporeans travelled to neighboring Johor Bahru, in Malaysia, on Friday (September 19) for the screening of a Singapore made documentary, on political exiles, banned by the city state's government.
    "To Singapore, with love" was shown at the Freedom Film Fest 2014 organised in the Malaysian city of Johor Bahru which borders Singapore.
    The ban highlights the wealthy city-state's uneasiness over public debate on politics.
    Singapore has poured money into nurturing its arts and creative industries in recent years, but it discourages dissent while steering public opinion, mostly through state-linked media, as furious debates on topics from immigration to gay rights play out on social media.
    "I think it is very disappointing that they would ban the film, I think we are, Singaporeans are mature enough to judge for themselves what's the story you know," said an unidentified festival goer from Singapore as he was queuing to see the documentary.
    The movie has attracted about 400 viewers to the Freedom Film Fest on Friday; most of them Singaporeans.
    Organizers had to make up more space to accommodate viewers, some of whom sat on the floor during the projection.
    The festival, which was established in 2003, plays in different areas in Malaysia such as Penang, Kuching, Sarawak and Johor Bahru, is a platform for social films says festival director, Anna Har.
    Among the 37 selected movies, "To Singapore, with love" was chosen to be screened at the festival before the MDA (Media Development Authority) decided to ban the movie from being shown in Singapore, Har said.
    "I think today a lot of Singaporeans here and they are young, they are not old and they've come to see a film about Singapore and Singapore's past, maybe a piece of Singapore's past that has been forgotten, so I think that's really good," said Har adding she was hoping people would understand that the Singapore Documentary was not the only important film in the festival.
    The 70-minute film, directed by Tan Pin Pin, features interviews with nine Singaporeans who left the city-state between the 1960s and 1980s to escape possible prosecution by British colonial authorities and later, by the Singapore government, the film's website says. (www.tosingaporewithlove.com)
    The film has been screened in several countries and has won awards at a few film festivals.
    The MDA described as "distorted and untruthful" the exiles' accounts of how they left Singapore and have since stayed away. It said some of those interviewed whitewashed their histories by omitting criminal offences for which they are still liable to face prosecution. (bit.ly/1AAGABg)
    "The contents of the film undermine national security because legitimate actions of the security agencies to protect the national security and stability of Singapore are presented in a distorted way as acts that victimised innocent individuals," the agency said in a statement.
    After the screening, festival goers participated at a question and answer session with film director Tan Pin Pin.
    Tan, who declined to be interview on camera, told Reuters she was overwhelmed by the response her film has generated.
    Others felt angry they had to travel to another country to see the movie.
    "I feel it is an affront, I feel rather aggrieved that I have to come all the way to JB (Johor Bahru) to watch this movie. I don't see why this movie should be barred I don't see why this movie is a matter of national security. I've known some of these people in long years ago, these are peaceful, peace loving, democracy loving, justice loving people who were hounded out of Singapore and they are being denied their birth right," said Patrick Low, a festival goer from Singapore, after the projection of the film.
    "It for me summed up a lot of what we've lost in our history narratives, historical narratives. Things that I've heard, that we all hear in anecdotes and through friends, friends parents but we don't really have concrete evidence of, perhaps we have a few books published here and there and we find out through that but never has it been put so cohesively together and I think that was what I appreciated about the film," said Raksha Mahtani, a researcher from Singapore, after seeing the film.
    Some Singaporeans have grown irritated by the government's approach to policing the media.
    A group of 39 members of the arts community signed a statement urging the regulator to reconsider its ban, saying Tan's film explored a rarely discussed aspect of Singapore's history.
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