and don't say I am not patriotic for not contributing to my own country! I just got back from the mamak nearby, had a roti canai cicah gula and air kosong (because I don't drink teh tarik. But that's not the point) During the lepak session, a friend told me that Amir Muhammad's docu-film, Lelaki Komunis Terakhir has been banned for any release anywhere in Malaysia by the Ministry of Home Affairs although the public screening dated May 18 at major cinemas has been advertised KL-wide, if not nationwide. I don't read much of Berita Harian and other Malay/Chinese/Tamil newspapers and I don't know that this one bloody newspaper has been publishing a series of articles campaigning the banning of Lelaki Komunis Terakhir. So, I went to my grandparents' place, which is just in the nearby neighbourhood because my grandfather subscribes to all newspapers although I don't know if he reads all. I know that some of you, after reading those articles, would might just not care what's happening but I went dropping the f-bombs all over until my atuk came up to this room and thought I was insane. Thank god no ceramah session was held. The articles featured opinions of the writer and partially of other people, politicians, academics, filmmakers such as the chief Puteri UMNO, filmmaker members of FINAS, Prof Khoo Khay Kim and so on. What not can be more Malay? The misleading unfair racist judgmental accusations among others quoting :

Tidak adakah wira Melayu yang boleh Amir angkat menerusi filem dokumentari...

Memang kita tidak lagi menonton cerita Lelaki Komunis Terakhir, tetapi soalnya kenapa subjek itu dipilih? Ini mengundang sensitiviti masyarakat...

Kita dalam dunia filem tahu, filem sebegitu akan dipaparkan dengan babak yang bermain secara psikologi dengan visual dan garapan tersirat. Ini boleh merosakkan pemikiran generasi muda...

Sebenarnya, apa pun alasan diberi, soalnya apa sangat cerita yang mahu menunjukkan kisah komunis dan mahu menghargai mereka yang menjadi komunis?

Eh, I just feel like quoting the whole other articles. Haha semuanya! Sila google sendiri for the website yang sudah lapuk atau tak perlu. Kan tak kisah? Those articles are misleading and judgmentall and racist and extremely unfair because, those people who commented on the documentary have yet to watch the film. How can they say it as spreading the ideology of communism and glorifying terrorist group when they have not watch the film themselves or at least, the writer, if he/she sincere and responsible enough, would quote reviews from those who has watched the film. Maybe it was the title of the documentary, Lelaki Komunis Terakhir or The Last Communist that make those people reveal their immaturity of judging people (and in this case, a film) by the name. Maybe because the Malay title sounds like Erma Fatima's Perempuan Melayu Terakhir which tributing all the Malay-ness of a Malay woman made them think the documentary is would be a tribute to Chin Peng. We are all aware of the sensitivities of the public but somehow it's the matter of how are we approaching to one sensitive issue. We cannot live in negligencee not discussing anything at all about such sensitive issues such as the Malay special rights, religious freedom, etc. We always talk of how multi-cultural we are having radio channels in different languages, having different restaurants serving different kinds of food in a street, having all bahasa-bahasa ibunda freely to be used. The reality is, almost nobody listens to all radio channels of different languages, almost nobody dine at all different restaurants on the same street and it's so uncommon of us to be able to speak the other languages of other local ethnics. Nangis. Eh, merepek pula. From the documentary blog, it's learnt that the Ministry of Home Affairs disallow the screening of the Lelaki Komunis Terakhir is because of "the people had protested." Does an unfair one sided judgmentt published on ONE newspaper on an issue count as a public opinion? Yes, you all, it's the ministry of the same government which claimed the decision to scrap the scenic brdge project as "what the people want" without having the people's opinions equally put in account properly via opinion poll. For your information, it was the same newspaper which provoked the issue of Yasmin Ahmad's Sepet and Gubra as being "pencemar budaya Melayu" and that followed by another talkshow aired on RTM on a Sunday night few weeks ago accusing Yasmin Ahmad's portrayal of Malaysian idealism with the same judgements. I don't cry of how badly our film industry is worsening because nobody of my crony make money from that "industry" but how ridiculous are our people making judgmental reviews on other people and worst of all, on the other our people and to what they do. IMHO, there is no need to ban a documentary that might teach me what school history textbook didn't. Even though there are very few people already pointed out their objection against to anything presented in the film that to them is harmful, it's individual choice to what we want to watch, what we want to read and what we want to see. Does watching porn illegal anyway? Does Chin Peng - My Side of Story was banned? Well, maybe the Berita Harian writer doesn't read. Ahh! It's so unfortunate for all of us to have such a bad newspaper and that sort of leaders and as a result, the people are living in negligence with only having sentionalized news on newspaper as daily consumption. Nangis lagi! Penat aku plan May Madness. Well, ridiculousness does happen in Malaysia. Eh shouldn't it be Malay-punya-sia? Don't cry for me, Malaysia!