By using Article 152 of the federal constitution to justify the segregation of movies in Festival Filem Malaysia (FFM) awards based on language, the Malaysian Film Producers Association (PFM) had shown its ignorance of the actual meaning of the constitutional provision, argued Selangor DAP.

"PFM used the excuse of upholding the national language in local films as per the constitutional provision to justify its action.

"This excuse shows that PFM does not understand the spirit of the constitution, and indeed is moving towards alienating other (non-Malay) cultures.

"This would include the cultures of Orang Asal and the natives of Sabah and Sarawak," said state DAP exco member Edry Faizal Eddy Yusof in a statement.

He argued that by the same definition as applied by PFM, movies shot totally in the Iban or Kadazan language for example, is not eligible for the best Malaysian film award category as it used less that 70 percent of the national language in its dialouge.

This, he said, would only result in the further marginalisation of those from Sabah and Sarawak who are already been marginalised economically.

Edry Faizal opined that if PFM insist on claiming that upholding the national language is the reason for the segregation, they should read Article 152 in its entirety.

He noted that while 152(1) provides that "the national language shall be the Malay language and shall be in such script as Parliament may by law provide", it is subject to other clauses.

Namely 152(1)(a), whereby "no person shall be prohibited or prevented from using (otherwise than for official purposes), or from teaching or learning, any other language;

And 152(1)(b) which states that "nothing in this clause shall prejudice the right of the federal government or of any state government to preserve and sustain the use and study of the language of any other community in the federation.

"If studied carefully, and not according to what one wants, Article 152, while it upholds the national language, does not deny the usage of other languages. Indirectly acknowledging the diversity that is the face of Malaysia.

"Are our films not a depiction of the Malaysian makeup?" he asked, expressing worry that this may be an attempt to erase Malaysia's diversity for a monochromatic depiction.

He said the move to deny films like 'Jagat' and 'Ola-Bola' from contesting the best Malaysian film category is also a slight to the hard work of Malaysians who produced Malaysian work for the Malaysian audience.

What more they were excluded not because they were not of sufficient quality but just simply because of the language used.

But regardless of what language is used, Edry Faizal said that both films embody the Malaysian social, economic and political landscape more than love stories shot mostly overseas, even though in the national language.

He concluded that we should celebrate and honour Malaysia's diversity and not try to limit what being Malaysian means to just narrow views as espoused by some.

Yesterday, PFM defended the decision to segregate this years annual movie awards FFM into Malay language and non-Malay language categories, quoting the need to uphold the national language in Malaysian films as per constitutional provisions.