KUALA LUMPUR – With movies on gangsterism and the occult allowed to air in Malaysian cinemas, the director of the banned film Mentega Terbang has pointed out the absurdity behind the government’s decision to penalise his movie for alleged blasphemy.
In his affidavit filed at the Kuala Lumpur on April 22, 2024, Khairi Anwar Jailani stated that local films with scenes containing crime, violence, drug use and ghosts have elements against the tenets of Islam, but such movies are nevertheless allowed to air.
“Thus, I refute any statements suggesting the film (Mentega Terbang) contains elements that are blasphemous or insulting or satirises the teachings of Islam,” Khairi said in court documents sighted by Scoop.
Additionally, Khairi who is named the first applicant in a judicial review application against the government and Home Ministry, asserted that his film is the opposite of blasphemous because, in the end, the main character remains a Muslim after facing several challenges regarding her faith.
This fact, Khairi said, is admitted by former religious affairs minister Datuk Seri Zulkifli Mohamad Al-Bakri in an article published March 6, 2023, in which he also affirmed the movie’s positive themes promoting family values and racial unity.
In his affidavit, Khairi also slammed the Home Ministry for failing to evaluate the movie in context – whereby several characters in the film, including the protagonist, had defended portrayals of the Islamic faith.
Citing several examples, he pointed out that the main character, Aisyah, performed solat with her parents in several scenes.
Additionally, Aisyah, in one scene, scolded her father when he questioned her if she wanted to leave Islam.
“At the end of the movie, it clearly showed Aisyah visiting a mosque. The same scene also showed Aisyah holding a copy of the Quran,” Khairi said in his affidavit.
Khairi’s affidavit was in response to Home Minister Datuk Seri Saifuddin Nasution’s affidavit as a respondent to the judicial review initiated by the two filmmakers.
Saifuddin, in his affidavit, said Mentega Terbang promoted apostasy and was a threat to public order.
On January 31, the Kuala Lumpur High Court granted Khairi and the film’s producer Tan Meng Kheng leave to review the government’s decision to ban the independent production.
Federal counsel Sallehudin Md Ali – representing the Malaysian government and Home Ministry – had previously told the court that the 2023 decision to ban the film by the ministry is not subject to a judicial review.
Mentega Terbang, which was released in 2021 and shown on streaming platform Viu, only drew attention in February last year after a Facebook user accused it of blasphemy.
Others then condemned it for scenes deemed to contradict Islamic beliefs, such as a scene on Aisyah’s curiosity about eating pork as well as a dialogue on comparisons between religions regarding teachings about the afterlife.
Police investigated the film, Khairi and Tan in response to complaints lodged against the movie.
On January 17, Khairi and Tan pleaded not guilty at the Kuala Lumpur magistrates’ court to a charge under Section 298 of the Penal Code for deliberately wounding religious sentiments.
According to the charge, Khairi had allegedly intentionally offended religious sentiments by saying certain words and displaying objects as the director and scriptwriter of Mentega Terbang.
The filmmakers have also raised two constitutional questions on the charges against them, relating to whether the charge of wounding the religious feelings of others is a violation of constitutional protections on the freedom of speech, liberty and equality.
The Kuala Lumpur High Court is to hear these questions on October 24. – August 3, 2024