YOURSAY 'I would say the film failing is a well-deserved flop; but I will not, because its entire production has been paid for by Malaysian taxpayers.'

'Sabotaging of Tanda Putera ruins local film industry'

Odin: When you do something with ill intent, what you produce will ultimately fail. You may gain something initially, but in the end your gain would be overwhelmed by your loss.

Call it karma. Call it the balancing act by an unknown force of the universe. Call it whatever. We all know that this so-called film was produced with ill intent.

Quite besides that, the using of flashback - and, worse, the inserting of it far too often into the film and without context - clearly indicates amateurish work. By international standard, anyway. Perhaps such thing is acceptable in the Malaysia film industry.

Using of the device flashback is not recommended in films (as well as in novels), unless you are an exceptionally good filmmaker such as Woody Allen. If you must use the device, it should last mere seconds and use it only once.

Next point. No one would quibble over anomalies such as the existence in the film of items which were non-existent during the related time had the filmmaker not trumpeted the film having been well-researched and was historically accurate.

Which brings us to the next point. If you do not care to ensure that small things are done right, how would we expect you to do the big things well?

There is no reason for the film to fail or to have failed had it been made to educate properly and to entertain. After all, it has the backing of the entire BN government machinery, including its agency Finas (National Film Development Corporation) - and not to mention the existence of some 18 million pendatangs from Indonesia who would watch it.

But a reviewer, one who seems to know her stuff, wrote that the film had been poorly produced; the script was badly written; the acting was bad, save for that by a well-known actress who acted out a small part and was featured for only about one minute; the main female characters never aging; an abundance of unnecessary characters, etc.

I would say the film failing is a well-deserved flop; but I will not, because its entire production has been paid for by Malaysian taxpayers. They don't deserve it.

Tbala: Why does Shuhaimi suddenly have to worry about netizens and their postings on the Internet? She has the whole BN machinery campaigning and promoting her film.

Courtesy of BN, her movie was shown to the Felda folks, possibly to a full-house audience, even before it was released in theatres.

With all that patronage of the BN, why would she have to bother about netizens and their postings, one wonders.

Aries46: Poor Shuhaimi has gone totally off her rocker but still baying for blood. Everyone is to blame for her own blunder.

Any decent film-maker would prefer not to meddle in the country's most hideous memory, May 13, that victims who suffered its torture and injustice have yet to come to terms with. But no, her ego was too over-powering.

She could not resist the temptation of the devil to have her day of glory at the expense of the long-sufferings victims of discrimination and suppression. Against better judgment, she needlessly portrayed the minorities as the aggressors and provokers of May 13 under the pretext of ‘creative licence' merely for material considerations.

She even defied the protests thinking that she had nothing to lose. Little did she realise that trampling on people's sensitivities is a double-edged sword.

Now despite forcing the cinemas and sponsoring the tickets, Malaysians are shying away from her exercise in futility and reputation in tatters.

Disgusted: Shuhaimi, you should have seen it coming. You can fool the rakyat some of the time but not all the time.

When you ventured into this film and decided to twist history to lie to suit your political masters, you should expect such a response from the rakyat who know the real truth and are determined to uphold the truth.

This clearly shows your mentality - you are not interested in the real truth, just the false history created by Umno-BN. Many of the young people who may watch the movie were not even born then.

The real issue here is not on film production technicalities but the lies concocted by you for the sake of Umno.

Young Malayisans are being fed with Umno's version of the May 13 incident putting the blame on the opposition, the Chinese and the communists for the incident when actually it was then Selangor MB Harun Idris and Umno Youth who created the incident, as a way to overthrow then PM Tunku Abdul Rahman.

Jaded: Dear Shuhaimi, instead of complaining about the critics of your film, produce something better. It should either be entertaining or educational. In the case of your film ‘Tanda Putera', it was neither.

Neutral Stance: Do we support local industries? Yes, but to support local industry to slander and incite hatred, no.

Rezom: I am not sure of the history and certainly do not believe anything sponsored by Umno. I am sure more than one party was responsible for May 13, and I am pretty sure it was not started by Chinese people attacking Malays. Even if it that is true, is this a movie you want to show in a country that has minimal artistic freedom?

May 13 was sad event. I was stuck in Batu Road in the car with my uncle while my mum was still out shopping. I was only five years old but my memory of the fear of losing my mum is intact.

Such a movie should have focussed on the sadness, which was on Tunku Abdul Rahman's face when he appeared on TV in the wake of the tragedy.

Shuhaimi an Umno politician, not starving filmmaker

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