Well, it looks like Malaysians may not be able to show others in Malaysia videos/DVDs/etc without first submitting it to the Malaysian government to get the Film Censorship Board's approval....
and the case of Lena Hendry's is but the beginning...Remember that this BAD law can be used for everything - all vdo productions including family VDOs, all forms of documentaries and VDO clips (including, I believe all that is already publicly available on the internet), political ceramahs/talks, other non-political ceramah/talks, etc...
Know that usually this law has been used only with regard films screened in the cinemas...wonder whether it is also used to 'pre-approve' all our TV programmes/documentaries/ etc that we see on ASTRO...and RTM...
WOULD THIS NOW NOT LEAD TO A FURTHER EROSION OF DEMOCRATIC SPACE IN MALAYSIA?
I believe that we all have to stand up and oppose this new attempt of this UMNO-led BN government to even further erode our freedom of expression, opinions and views...
Malaysia
Komas activist in court for illegal screening of documentary
BY RITA JONG
A human rights activist was charged at the magistrate's court in Kuala
Lumpur today with the screening of a documentary, which was not cleared
by the Film Censorship Board, on the alleged atrocities by the Sri
Lankan army during the country's civil war.
Lena Hendry, 28, a Komas programme coordinator, claimed trial to
screening the film "No Fire Zone: The Killing Fields of Sri Lanka" at
the Kuala Lumpur and Selangor Chinese Assembly Hall, Jalan Maharajalela,
at 9pm on July 3, 2013.
She was charged under the Film Censorship Act 2002 and is liable to a
maximum fine of RM30,000 or three years jail, upon conviction.
Magistrate Ashraf Rezal Abdul Manan granted her bail of RM1,000 in one surety and fixed October 21 for mention.
DPP Muhammed Husaini Rusli prosecuted while New Sin Yew, Andrew Khoo and Joshua Tay represented Hendry.
Hendry was arrested with two other coordinators, Anna Har and Arul
Prakash, during a raid by the Home Ministry at the screening of the
documentary on July 8, with Hendry the first to be produced in court.
The documentary is said to cover the war crimes committed by the Sri Lankan government during the civil war in 2009.
Utusan Malaysia, in its report on the raid, had referred to the three
Komas staff as being "suspected supporters of the Liberation Tigers of
Tamil Elam (LTTE) militants".
Komas is a movement for the Popular Communications for Human Rights in Malaysia. - September 19, 2013.- Malaysian Insider, 19/9/2013, Komas activist in court for illegal screening of documentary
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