The film Tanda Putera was not made to ‘apple-polish' current Prime Minister Najib Abdul Razak, says its director Shuhaimi Baba.

She told reporters that the movie was instead about the friendship between the second prime minister Abdul Razak Hussein, who is also Najib's father, and his deputy Ismail Abdul Rahman.

"Razak was the prime minister and Ismail was his deputy. Why would I talk about someone who was not there? You have to accept that fact.

NONE "It is not about apple-polishing. I think we have bigger apples to polish if we wanted to but we didn't," Shuhaimi ( left ) explained at a press conference in Kuala Lumpur today.

A short clip from the film was also shown to members of the press, about 60 of whom crowded a conference room in the Eastin Hotel.

The clip, about five minute long, depicted Razak being told by his doctors that his leukaemia was terminal, and he would not have long to live.

Razak then told his deputy to hide this fact from his family and the nation, out of fear that news of his ill health would destabilise the country, then still recovering from the trauma of the May 13 riots.

A visibly distraught Ismail promised to comply, and to look after Razak’s family should he pass away.

When asked whether the release of the film is timed to coincide with the next general election, Shuhaimi denied this.

She said that the movie was sent for approval years ago to the National Film Development Corporation (Finas), and it is only a coincidence that it will be released near a general election, which needs to be called by April next year.

According to the filmmaker, certain political parties have contacted them to re-evaluate the movie. However, she denied this, saying that sneak previews were only shown to focus groups, the media, investors and marketers.                           

“We would like to thank them for their interest... However, these sneak previews are costly and we are unable to accommodate all these requests,” Shuhaimi said.

She was likely referring to Pakatan Rakyat, which had collectively made the request on Aug 7, fearing that the film’s contents may be contentious and racist.

‘Private screening okay, but provide funding’

The film’s executive producer, Aida Fitri Buyong, said that she would not mind providing private screenings of the movie for interested viewers, but they would need to come forward and provide the funding for it.

“We really do urge people who are interested in private screenings for the purpose of education to please come forward.

NONE “However, it is only for private screenings, not re-evaluation. The movie has been made and it is final,” said Aida ( right ), who is also the executive director of Pesona Pictures.

When asked, she said Pesona Pictures, which co-produced the film, would not mind producing movies suggested by the opposition coalition, Pakatan Rakyat, if they were interesting and suited their budget.

When asked if she was going to bow down to pressure to prevent the film from being aired, she said she would defend her right to creative expression.

“As a filmmaker, I stress that this is our creative right and we would not bow to those who want to boycott the film or prevent it from being screened. We will defend our rights,” she said.

She added that the film was the result of the team’s interpretation of historical events, based on intensive research.

Shuhaimi was also asked whether there were fears that the film may be too pro-Malay or anti-Chinese.

“The movie is about our history, it is not meant to demonise anyone. We feel that this film will eventually bring people together,” she replied. 

She also urged Malaysians to stop politicising the film and make their own conclusions only after watching it, rather than judging from its 90-second trailer and hearsay.

“You can have you conclusions, say what you want, once you have watched the film,” she said.

The movie was supposed to be released nationwide on Sept 13, but this has been postponed to Nov 15 by Finas.

“We are happy with this new date because it is during the school holidays and will give optimum time for the films’ release and more time to plan its promotion,” she said.

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