Reasons Sepet Did Not Make It In Malaysia
Tonight, I got back from playing squash and I chanced upon a blog that is supposedly of the director of the acclaimed Malaysian movie, SEPET; Yasmin Ahmad. In one of her entries, she ranted about that recent film being banned in Malaysia. Imagine, a film made in Malaysia being banned here in our homeland. Reacting to the entry she made, I posted a short comment. Here goes:
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I'm not surprised that the Malaysia Censorship Board IS so shallow-minded, and probably to many points, absurd, and inconsistent in their screening policy.
I was absolutely embarrassed when my fellow Singaporean friends asked me about Sepet and I could just tell them I'd not seen it. And it was only recently when I watched it that I realised that this is in fact one beautiful, commendable film and it is so well-received there that everyone thought, "This comes as a surprise from a country such as Malaysia". How would you respond to that remark?
I'm terribly sorry that our film industry is so stunted by these regulations that fend off any sign of creativity. And this, is a proof that the people in the board must be from some stunted upbringing that they failed to realise the artistic value of a film. Yet they could accept those mundane love-hate movies that only appeal to a particular level of the society. Hence the failure of our country's cinematic development.
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Reasons Sepet did not make it to the golden screens in Malaysia. (Get ready to laugh!)
1. The Malay girl (lead actress) did not make any attempt to convert her Chinese boyfriend (into Islam).
2. The scene where Adibah, Ida and Amani were lovingly combing each other's hair by the staircase, was encouraging Malay women to go back to their bad old habit of picking each other's lice!
"At the end of it all, they said that we shouldn't blame them for the cuts, because they represented the rakyat (which means citizens). And that they had shown our film to some members of "the rakyat", and their verdict was to ban Sepet." - Yasmin Ahmad.