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  • MDA Allows Local Tertiary Institutions To Show Film on Exiled Chinese Communists

    MDA Allows Local Tertiary Institutions To Show Film on Exiled Chinese Communists

    tan pin pin

    SINGAPORE & JOHOR BARU – The Media Development Authority is giving leeway to institutions of higher learning to show films that are restricted or not allowed, including To Singapore With Love.

    It also said it has accepted a request from the Yale-NUS College to screen the film on Singapore’s political exiles, for classroom teaching and discussion only.

    The 70-minute documentary, by local film-maker Tan Pin Pin, 44, received a “Not Allowed for All Ratings (NAR)” classification from the MDA last Thursday.

    That was because the film’s contents “undermine national security” and distort the legitimate actions of security agencies as acts that victimise innocent individuals, the MDA had said.

    Films classified as NAR are not allowed for public exhibition or distribution.

    In its most recent statement on Friday, MDA said it “recognises that lecturers and students of media or related courses at tertiary institutions may require access to a wider variety of films, including films that are classified R21 or NAR.

    “Some leeway is provided to these institutions to screen films for educational purposes, on condition that these films have either been previously classified by the MDA, or prior approval has been sought from the MDA before the films are acquired.”

    Also on Friday, more than 350 Singaporeans crossed the Causeway to Johor Baru to catch Tan’s film, which was showing as part of an annual Freedom Film Festival.

    The film has already been shown in Petaling Jaya and will go to Kuantan and Penang next.

    In total, more than 410 people attended, with at least 20 on the waitlist. This was almost triple the number of participants that organisers were anticipating.

    Organisers had to book an extra, larger room to accommodate viewers.

    The documentary film includes interviews with nine political exiles who fled Singapore and now live in Britain and Thailand. Most were members or supporters of the Communist Party of Malaya, according to the MDA.

    It has been touring the international film circuit for about a year, and will make its way to the Philippines and London in the next few weeks.

    Source: http://www.straitstimes.com/news/singapore/more-singapore-stories/story/singaporeans-arrive-johor-baru-screening-documentary-sin#9

  • Banned Film Showing Life Story of Chinese Communists Shown in JB

    Banned Film Showing Life Story of Chinese Communists Shown in JB

    TPP

    Government had made it clear that it would allow former members of the Communist Party of Malaya to return if they agreed to be interviewed on their past activities to resolve their cases.

    Source: http://www.todayonline.com/singapore/jb-screening-political-exiles-film-draws-many-sporeans

    JOHOR BARU — More than 400 people — a vast majority came from Singapore, including students, working professionals and retirees — turned up yesterday at a Johor Baru hotel for the screening of a documentary on Singapore political exiles that has been disallowed for public screening in the Republic.

    The film, To Singapore, With Love, directed by film-maker Tan Pin Pin and featuring interviews with Singapore student leaders and activists now living in Thailand, the United Kingdom and Malaysia after having fled the Republic between the 1960s and 1980s, was shown as part of Malaysia’s Freedom Film Festival.

    Organisers said about 350 members of the audience were from Singapore. Among these, about 150 had arrived on four chartered buses.

    Interest in the film increased after the Media Development Authority (MDA) earlier this month classified it as Not Allowed for All Ratings (NAR), saying its contents undermined national security “because the legitimate actions of security agencies to protect the national security and stability of Singapore are presented in a distorted way as acts that victimised innocent individuals”.

    The film was screened in two function rooms in the11@Century Hotel, and several people who turned up for the screening said they had come to learn more about Singapore’s history. Freelance graphic designer Sim Xin Feng, 21, said she wanted to know more about Singapore and why the film was classified as NAR. Student Wong Xinyuan, 20, who is studying liberal arts in Germany, said she had some prior knowledge about the political exiles and “wanted to know what they think”.

    Some relatives of the exiles were also among the audience, said Mr Lim Jialiang, who had organised the bus charters with three friends. Mr Lim, 24, said he had to turn away about 200 people and that he MDA was heartened but not surprised by the response.

    Ms Tan took questions from the audience after the screening and said she had put together the 70-minute documentary — which features, among others, student leader-turned-political exile Tan Wah Piow and Dr Ang Swee Chai, whose husband was the late student activist and lawyer Francis Khoo — from about 15 hours of footage. She said she had posed three questions to the exiles: When and why they left Singapore, and what they had done with themselves since. She reiterated her disappointment with the MDA’s rating and when asked what she had learnt from making the film, said: “I suppose when something moves you, you just have to follow your instincts.”

    The MDA issued the rating last week after the National University of Singapore Museum submitted it for classification, with plans to screen it at an event, along with two other films by Ms Tan. The authority also said the individuals in the film had given distorted and untruthful accounts of how they had come to leave and remain outside Singapore. It added that the