MDA Ban: Why is the Govt afraid to let the people see another side of the story?

The draconian MDA is playing thought police yet again by banning a film. Tan Pin Pin’s masterpiece ‘To Singapore, with Love,” about Singaporean political exiles like Tan Wah Piow, Ho Juan Thai, Ang Swee Chai and her late husband, Francis Khoo. This film was shown in Jan 2014 to an audience of over 1000 people at the prestigious Berlinale festival and it won awards and critical acclaims in Seoul and Dubai. I am sick and tired of MDA playing thought police and being the propaganda arm of the Government by telling people to read (and watch) the right things. In the words of Tan Wah Piow himself, I believe it is time for MDA to ‘Let the People Judge.’

This move by MDA was supported by Yaacob Ibrahim. He said that “Individuals who have chosen to leave Singapore, and refused to account for their past actions, should not enjoy a public platform to mislead the public.”

News of this ban broke out at about 3pm this afternoon via Mainstream Media and it sparked a public outcry online. This public outcry also led to CNA replacing the word ‘ban’ in it’s headlines to ‘not to be shown in public.’

Technically, the MDA classified the flim as “Not Allowed for All Ratings (NAR),” which is simply a nice euphemism for the word ban.

To justify their classification, MDA said that the flim was a threat “to national security and the stability of Singapore” as “a number of these self-professed ‘exiles’ were members of, or had provided support to, the proscribed Communist Party of Malaya (CPM).” This was also seconded by Yaacob, who added that “the truth of the matter was that many of them, by their own admission, were members or supporters of the Communist Party of Malaya which sought to overthrow the legitimate elected governments of Singapore and Malaysia through armed struggle and subversion, and replace them with a communist regime.”

Firstly, some of these exiles were detained without trial under the Internal Security Act (ISA) inOperation Coldstore and Operation Spectrum as they were believed to be Communists and Marxists respectively. One has to remember that these allegations have never been proven as the alleged Communists and Marxist Conspirators who were detained were never even given a trial, let alone a fair one. So, there has been no evidence produced in court that these people were indeed Marxists and Communists. On the other hand, historical research, especially from the declassified British documents have proven these claims to be false and have exposed the ulterior motive of the arrests.

Here is what Dr Pingtjin Thum (PJ Thum), a historian from Oxford had to say about MDA’s allegations:

Secondly, it would be absolutely absurd to even believe that Communism still possess a threat to Singapore when the leaders of the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) and PAP are not only on good terms but are even looking to further develop bilateral relations. In addition to that, PM Lee has also recently said that we must ‘learn from China.’

Thirdly, if the exiles were truly from the Communist Party of Malaya, why was the film being allowed to be screened in various locations around Malaysia? I for one do not see any threats to Malaysia’s security and stability after the screenings, do you?

Now that those allegations are out of the way, let us look at what some international critics have said about the film after watching it,

Expertly crafted, enormously moving” – Film Society, Lincoln Center

“This moved me to tears. Every young Singaporean of my generation should see this, in fact all Singaporeans should see this. It’s a slice of our history that shouldn’t be forgotten, and hopefully properly acknowledged in the near future.” – Anthony Chen

“A very delicate and intimate gaze into the lives of Singaporean political exiles and their families.” – Paolo Bertolin, Venice International Film Festival delegate

“If you feel touched, it may be because of the production’s impressive ability to weave sentiment from small details, food, poetry, songs, and photos.” – Cine21 (Korean cinema magazine)

The film has also won awards in the Dubai International Film Festival, Busan International Flim Festival and other festivals.

At 6pm today, Tan Pin Pin issued a statement expressing her disappointment behind MDA’s actions:

I am very disappointed by the MDA decision to ban it — for myself, and also what it means for Singapore. Like many of my other films, To Singapore, with Love took shape organically. I was making a video about Singapore’s coastline from afar. In the process of researching the idea of being outside, I stumbled upon Escape from the Lion’s Paw (2012), a book of first-person accounts by Singapore political exiles, people who remain outside the country, but not by choice. I decided to interview one of them in Malaysia. I was so moved by her account that I decided to change focus and To Singapore, with Love was born. Like my other films mentioned above, this film is a portrait of Singapore; unlike the others, this film is shot entirely outside the country, in the belief that we can learn something about ourselves by adopting, both literally and figuratively, an external view.

For this film, I travelled to England, Malaysia and Thailand to interview the exiles to find out how they have lived their lives away from Singapore. Some have not been back for more than 50 years. They talk about why they left, but they mostly talk about their lives today and their relationship with Singapore. They show us the new lives they have created for themselves. One shows us around his noodle-making factory, we visit the law firm of another and play with the children of yet another exile. We also attend the funeral of one of them. Finally, we observe a family reunion that takes place in Johor Baru, the twinkling lights of Singapore a short distance away. The focus is on their everyday lives. These exiles all have different ideological positions and are of different ages; some are communists, others are activists from the Christian Left, yet others are socialist politicians or former student activists. But their feelings for Singapore is intense and heartfelt, albeit sometimes ambivalent, even after so long away. Those feelings (more than the circumstances of their exile, or even the historical “truth” that led to such exile) are what my film predominantly focuses on, because I feel that many viewers might relate to those feelings.

I made this film because I myself wanted to better understand Singapore. I wanted to understand how we became who we are by addressing what was banished and unspoken for. Perhaps what remains could be the essence of us today. I was also hoping that the film would open up a national conversation to allow us to understand ourselves as a nation better too.

I am therefore very disappointed that my film is banned. By doing this, MDA is taking away an opportunity for us Singaporeans see it and to have a conversation about it and our past that this film could have started or contributed to. It is vital for us to have that conversation on our own terms, especially on the eve of our 50th birthday. We need to be trusted to be able to find the answers about ourselves, for ourselves.