Penang Watch

Films with negative elements have been censored -so said the minister in charge Tan Chai Ho. Unfortunately there is no mention of what are the `negative elements'! Are they violence? Can't be-there are pleny of gores and blood in the average films. Sex-there are clear suggestions of these human activities from the P Ramlee days. Or `unislamic' ? There are plenty of smoking, gambling, mini-skirts etc which are all banned in Islam, but shown in the state owned and private TVs. If these are not the elements mentioned -what are they? If we look at the films banned -including   local makes, they are mainly banned/censred on political grounds. So the perception that the censorship board is trying to impose their views on the viewers is pretty established!

November 05, 2007 15:43 PM       

Only Films Without Negative Elements Approved For Screening

KUALA LUMPUR, Nov 5 (Bernama) -- Films containing negative elements in terms of ideology, politics, religion, social culture, customs and norms will not be allowed to be screened in the country, said Deputy Home Minister Datuk Tan Chai Ho.

"The Film Censorship Board (LPF) is always careful and most of the imported films are censored before they are approved for public screening," he said when replying to Datuk Ismail Abdul Muttalib (BN-Maran) during the question-and-answer session in the Dewan Rakyat here Monday.

He said LPF had rejected many films found to contain negative elements in the past.

Replying to the original question from Datuk Rosli Mat Hasan (BN-Dungun), Tan said the LPF approved 80,317 film titles from 2002 till June 2007 for screening in Malaysia.

-- BERNAMA