COMMENT The controversy (or discussion) over the ‘The New Village’ and ‘Tanda Putera’ films brings the spotlight back, quite rightly, on why Malaysia will never progress as a nation of creative talent under its current policies or political climate.

I am not here to question, as many others have done, whether or not ‘The New Village’ should be released. I am of the opinion that both films should see the light of the day, although I have reservations about state funding of ‘Tanda Putera’.

Unless you watch a movie in full, you are nobody to judge whether the film glorifies and chastises a certain party- even trailers are not a fair benchmark in this respect.

What this exposes, though, is Malaysia's tendency to summon its moral police on anything and everything that comes out in the form of creativity- with politicians running helter-skelter in an attempt to act as guardians of information or to challenge ideas that reach society at large.