The exclusive screening of the dishonest and unbalanced May 13 film, Tanda Putera, to Felda settlers at the Putra World Trade Centre yesterday after asking journalists to leave is a final admission by the Prime Minister, Datuk Seri Najib Razak that he is in desperate straits in facing the unavoidable 13th General Elections and the failures of all his efforts so far to win back support from Malaysian voters – including the spectacularly disastrous initiative spending RM3.5 million to invite Korean K-Pop superstar Psy to the Penang Barisan Nasional Chinese New Yew Open House leaving behind the unforgettable “3 Yes for Psy, 3 Noes for BN” episode.
I am shocked that a Prime Minister who has made “1Malaysia” his signature policy has now repudiated his National Transformation Programme and discredited all his preaching of moderation and ethics at national and international forums by giving official blessings to a film which mischievously and maliciously tried to portray me as responsible for the May 13 riots in 1969.
I have not been given an opportunity to see the film but the history of its publicity is on public record.
Since July last year, I had categorically denied the preposterous claim which had appeared on the official Facebook page of the May 13 movie, Tanda Putra, that I had urinated on the flagpole in front of the then Selangor Mentri Besar’s residence provoking the May 13 riots in 1969.
The facebook had carried a photo portraying me being manhandled, with the caption:
“Lim Kit Siang telah kencing di bawah tiang bendera Selangor yang terpacak di rumah menteri besar Selangor ketika itu, Harun Idris, (Lim Kit Siang had urinated at the foot of the flagpole bearing the Selangor flag at the then Selangor MB’s Harun Idris’ house)”
The photo was posted in the album in the Facebook titled ‘Peristiwa-peristiwa yang dimuatkan di dalam filem ini’ (Events depicted in this movie).
Although the photo and caption have since been removed from the movie’s official page, I have a screenshot of the earlier posting.
A fortnight later, Aida Fitra Buyong, the executive producer of the movie, Tanda Putera, added insult to injury when she alleged that I was being “defensive” over the publication of my photograph on the May 13 film’s official Facebook page perpetrating the lie that I had urinated at the flagpole bearing the Selangor flag at the then Selangor Mentri Besar’s residence, provoking May 13, 1969 riots.
I found this bare-faced and irresponsible attitude by the creators of the May 13 film, unrepentant in their defence of lies and falsehoods and utterly contemptuous of the truth, in particular about the total fiction about the urination at the then Selangor Mentri Besar’s residence provoking May 13, 1969 riots when I was never in Kuala Lumpur on May 11, 12 and 13, 1969, doubly scandalous, outrageous and offensive.
It completely debunked the claim by Tanda Putera’s director Datin Paduka Shuhaimi Baba that the May 13 riot scene, which lasts about 10 minutes of the 115-minute film, was historically accurate.
According to yesterday’s Malaysiakini report, ‘PM wants May 13 film shown to Felda settlers’, those who watched the film said there was “No Kit Siang urination” although “the controversial scene of urination on the flag pole bearing the Selangor flag outside the then Mentri Besar Harun Idris’ residence was in the film but it was done by a group of Chinese youths”.
I find this completely unsatisfactory as the 10,000 UMNO/Barisan Nasional cybertroopers had been flooding the social media since last year with downright lies and dangerous falsehoods that I had caused the May 13 riots in 1969 shouting the most racist slogans and urinating on the flagpole outside the Selangor Mentri Besar’s residence although I had said both in and out of Parliament that I was not in Kuala Lumpur on May 11, 12 and 13, 1969.
Furthermore, isn’t the scene of “a group of Chinese youths” allegedly urinating on the flag pole outside the Selangor Mentri Besar’s residence not only fictitious and a total figment of the imagination, but dangerously racist and criminally incendiary and seditious?
How can a Prime Minister who proclaims an inclusive 1Malaysia policy give his blessing to such a falsehood, which is seditious and criminally incendiary and inflammatory to sow racial hatred and distrust at a very sensitive moment in the nation’s history facing the 13GE?
Najib owes the Malaysian nation a full explanation as to why he has given his official blessing to the May 13 film which portrays such downright lies and dangerous falsehoods as the portrayal of a “group of Chinese youths” urinating on the flagpole outside the Selangor Mentri Besar’s residence?
“I am shocked” – Uuuuh? Huh? SHOCKED!!? Y? Y? Y?
Got no common sense 1 meh? Surely U know dis chap is a racist, just like MMK; he n his cousin hv a kris each n ready 2 bathe them in bloood; DNA can’t change 1 lah
Expect MORE “exposures”, lies n extreme racist statements/adverts in d coming days as we approach GE13
#13 in d year 13, water snake year
GE13 coming n PR in Johor having a gala time, fit 4 TV wrestling matches
I understand that there is already a group among Felda settlers who are opposed to UMNO/BN.
The best thing to do is to get them to put the facts right.
Najib has finally removed his mask & shows his real character – an opportunist who tries to get what he wants by hook or by crooks. He has completely lost his handle. He is blindly casting his bet on the racist venom of Mahathir. His days as Prime Minister are numbered!
Any which direction jib (and umno too) fires the gun, somehow the bullet will still find its way to jib’s own foot. So no worries there.
Closed door screening? Come on jib. Dont you know? In no time copies of what you screened behind closed door will appear in public.
Isn’t there a Film Censorship Board? They OKed the film?
In relation to public at large public release of the film was put off on grounds that some people’s feelings might be hurt and the administration had not wanted “any distractions and potential flashpoints in the run up to the polls”. However this apparently does not apply to FELDA’s settlers to whom the film is of historical significance (feelings appraently will not be hurt but the opposite?)
FELDA voters to UMNO are like the immediate family of the power-that’s-be; they voted for UMNO without exception. The fact that Najib needs to distort history to sway then, or rather to keep them voting the same way only shows that Najib has lost confidence. If FELDA settlers think that money sharing is not the only criterion to vote then UMNO racism has come to nought.
Will wait for MCA to response….
These people will not hesitate to do or say anything if they could get away with it.
Free and professional media is required to protect the best interest of ordinary people in general, minority in particular…..in the current dirty political situation you cannot expect those in power and ‘majority’ to be fair.
This shows that UMNO will do whatever it deems necessary in order to cling on to power, even at the expense of racial harmony. So Najib’s attempts to court the Chinese over the past 10 days, which included attending a CNY gathering hosted by Dong Zong , and an unprecedented face to face meeting with leaders from Dong Zong, considered an extremist group by many in UMNO, has come to naught.
This is another prove, that PM and his team are out dated. He is working on the opposite of the people’s wish, again.
The people desire for the government to work hard, steering Malaysia to become an advanced, developed nation. Our PM must put in real efforts to enrich the people, in order to win their support.
Penang BN has underestimated Penang folks. Now, seems like Medey has underestimated Felda folks.
As Bishop Dr. Paul Tan remarked, “If you shake down the PM’s rhetoric, what have you left – syrupy sentiment and clichés that have little or no connection with realities on the ground.” He couldn’t have put it any better!
It would be a sad day indeed for Malaysians if they still refuse to see the truth about their government.