Tag Archives: To Singapore With Love

Malaysia’s Home Ministry denied today (Oct 10) that its officers had pressured a human rights non-governmental organisation (NGO) into cancelling a screening of Ms Tan Pin Pin’s To Singapore, With Love, reported The Malay Mail Online. In response to allegations that his ministry had forced the cancellation, Malaysian Deputy Home Minister Wan Junaidi Tuanku Jaafar said that the film was barred from being shown as it was still under review. According to The Malay Mail Online, he stated that it was standard operating procedure for any film in Malaysia, whether commercial or independent.

I have watched To Singapore, With Love and, with all due respect to film-maker Tan Pin Pin, it’s really much ado about nothing (“To JB, for a movie”; last Sunday). The documentary on exiles and their narratives made no attempt to offer a holistic view, let alone a balanced and objective one.

“It was a violent struggle, it lasted for 40 years since 1949. On one side, you had the non-Communist democratic groups, on the other side you had the Communist Party of Malaya and their sympathisers – in the Communist united front. And their job was to say we are democrats and we also want openness and elections and free future for their country but actually it was an armed struggle for power. These are matters of historical record, they are not seriously disputed, although once in a while you will find somebody argue the contrary for the purpose of getting a PhD.”

Who is an exile? What is an exile? Is an exile someone who cannot return to his/her country because he/she will face injustice? Is an exile someone who doesn't want to return because he/she does not want to answer charges levied against him/her? Is an exile someone who has completely no trust in the system and no faith that Singaporeans will stand up for him/her, if the cause is just? Is an exile someone who feels that freedom in a foreign land is better than being jailed at home?

In its most recent statement on Friday, MDA said it "recognises that lecturers and students of media or related courses at tertiary institutions may require access to a wider variety of films, including films that are classified R21 or NAR. "Some leeway is provided to these institutions to screen films for educational purposes, on condition that these films have either been previously classified by the MDA, or prior approval has been sought from the MDA before the films are acquired."

About three busloads of Singaporeans crossed the border to watch the film ‘To Singapore, With Love‘ which has been banned in the island republic. Singapore’s Straits Times reported that the 70-minute film profiles nine political exiles, most members or supporters of the Communist Party of Malaya, who fled Singapore and now live in Britain and Thailand. It also said the majority in the queue were students, but a few working adults took the day off to catch the documentary being screened at the [email protected] hotel in Johor Baru, one of four cities where an annual Freedom Film Festival is being held.

Yale-NUS backtracks on reassurances to show the film. In a Facebook post last night, director of the documentary, Tan Pin Pin clarified that she has not given permission to any institutions to any screenings in Singapore.

Despite a national ban in Singapore, Yale-NUS is pressing ahead with its plans to show a film that has been deemed by the Singaporean government as a threat to the country’s security. The banning of the film quickly raised ire amongst Yale professors, including longtime Yale-NUS critics including English professor Jill Campbell and political science lecturer Jim Sleeper, who characterized the ban as a threat to freedom of expression at a college stamped with Yale’s name. The ban, as well as Lewis’ reassurance about the film’s screening at Yale-NUS, comes on the heels of Yale President Peter Salovey’s full-throated defense of free expression during his freshman address in August.

So who is right and who is wrong? How can this gap in position be bridged? Both sides insist they are right and neither side is willing to back down. The Government is not going to forgive and forget while the exiled are obviously not going to admit any wrongdoing. Now that public attention on this matter is at its strongest, why don't these exiled individuals take the opportunity to reach out to the Government. Rather than tell their side of the story from exile, show Singaporeans your passion to return home and be the one to reach out.