On Censorship
Martyn See’s film “Zahari’s 17 Years” prohibited by government
SINGAPORE : The film “Zahari’s 17 Years” - directed, shot and edited by Martyn See - will be prohibited from April 12.
The Ministry of Information, Communications and the Arts said “the film is against public interest.”
It said “the film gives a distorted and misleading portrayal of Said Zahari’s arrest and detention under the Internal Security Act in 1963 and is an attempt to exculpate himself from his past involvement in communist united front activities against the interests of Singapore.”
It added that the Government “will not allow people who had posed a security threat to the country in the past, to exploit the use of films to purvey a false and distorted portrayal of their past actions and detention by the Government.”
The Ministry said this could undermine public confidence in the Government.
The prohibition comes under the Films Act, which means possession and distribution of the film is an offence.
The Ministry said the film was submitted by Martyn See to the Board of Film Censors for classification.
Martyn See’s earlier work “Singapore Rebel” - about Singapore Democratic Party leader Chee Soon Juan - was prohibited as a political film under a different section of the Films Act.
I have only one thing to say : Google Video
S35(2) of the FILMS ACT only prohibits possession and distribution. Perfectly legal to watch it.
Then is Singapore Rebel legal to watch under the “different section” of the Films Act?
Comment by rei_andrew29 — April 13, 2007 @ 5:54 pm
Rebel is banned under S33 of the films act which prohibits the import, making, distributing, possession or exhibition of ‘party political film’. Nothing in the films act prohibits the viewing of
a banned film. Thus watching it online [say from youtube, google video etc] (and not d/ling) is perfectly legal. Otherwise the filmmaker, who would obviously have seen the film cos he made it, would have commited a crime.
Comment by nevinyrral — April 14, 2007 @ 4:50 am