On Friday several busloads of Singaporeans are expected to make the short journey across the Straits of Johor to Malaysia to watch a documentary they are unable to see in their own country.
The film, To Singapore, With Love, deals with one of the most controversial elements of the island nation’s history – the detention without trial of hundreds of people accused of being communists and being part of a conspiracy. Lots of people fled to places such as Britain and Thailand to avoid arrest. Some returned, many did not.
The Singaporean film-maker, Tan Pin Pin, profiles nine people aged between 60 and 80 who escaped in the 1960s and 1970s. She talks about their lives, their memories, their hopes for the future. She hears about their habit of keeping up with the news back home by reading Singaporean newspapers online.
“This film is shot entirely outside the country, in the belief that we can learn something about ourselves by adopting an external view,” wrote Ms Tan, 45.
Even today the events the film deals with remain controversial. Last week, the government’s Media Development Authority (MDA) refused to grant the film a licence on the grounds it undermined national security. That means it cannot be shown in Singapore. “The individuals in the film have given distorted accounts of how they came to leave Singapore,” said the MDA. Full story...
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The film, To Singapore, With Love, deals with one of the most controversial elements of the island nation’s history – the detention without trial of hundreds of people accused of being communists and being part of a conspiracy. Lots of people fled to places such as Britain and Thailand to avoid arrest. Some returned, many did not.
The Singaporean film-maker, Tan Pin Pin, profiles nine people aged between 60 and 80 who escaped in the 1960s and 1970s. She talks about their lives, their memories, their hopes for the future. She hears about their habit of keeping up with the news back home by reading Singaporean newspapers online.
“This film is shot entirely outside the country, in the belief that we can learn something about ourselves by adopting an external view,” wrote Ms Tan, 45.
Even today the events the film deals with remain controversial. Last week, the government’s Media Development Authority (MDA) refused to grant the film a licence on the grounds it undermined national security. That means it cannot be shown in Singapore. “The individuals in the film have given distorted accounts of how they came to leave Singapore,” said the MDA. Full story...
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