love conquers all

Updated 11:55:00 PM

As if to further confirm my observation that there will be wannabes who will take the opportunity to shout "Malaysia Boleh", comes this feed from the Malaysian National News Agency Bernama.

Of course, they must also mention FINAS (Perbadanan Kemajuan Filem Nasional Malaysia) whenever they can, despite the difficulties that independent film makers face trying to obtain so-called financial assistant from the National Film Development Corporation.

Original Post

If it takes a film maker to truly unite Malaysia, I wouldn't mind. Judging from the popularity and success of her latest offering, I believe that Malaysians are beginning the transition point from mere tolerance to pure acceptance.

So what is it that makes SePeT such an engaging watch? The movie's tag line could not have been more corny:

One Malay Girl, One Chinese Boy, One Unforgettable Love Story.

And yet, this film has withstood all criticism, all hardships, all odds. Now the results speak for themselves. This is the trulyUnited Malaysia that people wish existed today. Many viewers have described it as a very Malaysian movie. For the first time, the cinema portrayed an accurate description of the lives of ordinary Malaysians in ordinary situations. Viewers see themselves in the characters of the film.

So what gives?

The Censorship Board of Malaysia (official site here, not working at time of publishing this post) almost banned SePeT on the pretext of 9 "unsuitable" scenes that were eventually removed from the version shown in Malaysia. What's ironic is that our friendly Southern neighbour (read: Singapore) had watched the full, uncut movie on their shores in 2004, months before the Malaysian premiere in February 2005 (as the movie was being deliberated by the Censorship Board). It would have been a shame if a truly Malaysian film was banned from being screened in Malaysia due to some of the following reasons (directly lifted from Yasmin's blog):

• One of them [member of Censorship board] asked why, in my story, did the Malay girl not make any attempt to convert her Chinese boyfriend.
• Another one suggested that 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". And that they had shown our film to some members of "the rakyat", and their verdict was to ban "Sepet".

This is of course not the first time the Malaysian Censorship Board has received criticism from the public, who really just want to watch their favourite movies without some "representative" tell them what's "moral" and what's not. Just Google it. Take for example the fiasco with the initial banning of the comedy Bruce Almighty (where the notion of a mere mortal playing God was deemed a mockery), the comic book adaptation of DareDevil (where the "Devil-sounding name" was deemed worshipping the Devil, or worshipping a criminal vigilante fighting crime wearing tight leather costumes), the unfathomable censors of certain "passionate" kissing scenes (which turn out to be no more than a romantic gesture), the rather ghastly uncoordinated bleeping of "four-letter words" that don't really sync with the soundtrack, thus negating a whole chunk of useful dialogue and permitting the said "four-letter word" to be audible in full Dolby Surround glory.

Well, is the Censorship Board outliving its usefulness? This paper reports that the uncut VCD is now available for sale (someone's blog mentioned it too), ultimately negating the "verdict" of the board.

Moreover, after the initial struggles of the film maker to get her thoughts through without being "deplored" by the unimaginative and backward Censorship Board, the film is doing exceptionally well, bagging an estimated half a million ringgit so far in ticket sales in Malaysia alone.

Thus, it is seen as quite hypocritical of the Malaysian authorities. After having lambasted SePeT - for not displaying the "proper" way a Malay girl should behave, and the incredulous notion of promoting lice picking (when it was merely a hair combing scene), the "immoral" indecent exposure of an actor's underwear, the "unislamic" behaviour of not attempting to convert an infidel - the media is now quick to jump on the bandwagon to take the praise for SePeT being a Malaysian film. It reeks of "Malaysia Boleh" syndrome.

This whole fiasco has shown that the government is not serious in promoting unity, due to the initial criticism and lambasting for a truly Malaysian film. However, once it has gained international fame by winning several prestigious awards, Malaysia is quick to claim "ownership" of the success.

The silver lining that emerged from the issue is that Malaysians have found a common melting pot of cultures. The amalgamation of races, religions and cultural diversity have found their home in SePeT, and I truly believe that the new generation of youth will be more accepting of the myriads of cultures and lifestyles that encompass all Malaysians. Let SePeT be the benchmark.