NGOs Want Officer Fluent in Tamil to Censor Movies from India

KUALA LUMPUR, Feb 6 (Bernama) -- Various non-governmental organisations (NGO), mostly representing Indian Muslims, urged the Film Censorship Board (LPF) to include an officer fluent in Tamil and well versed with local religious sensitivities in censoring Tamil movies from India. In a press conference here on Tuesday, they said that such a move was necessary to prevent the incident where the Tamil movie, 'Viswaroopam', which was said to have scenes insulting Islam, was approved for the cinemas but later suspended due to protests from the India Muslim NGOs. Among the NGOs present were Indian Muslim Madrasah Council (MIM), Social And Economic Muslim Council, Islamic Studies Institute and Federal Territories Fathers Association. MIM president Jamal Abdul Hamid said," LPF must be more strict with censoring Tamil movies from India because there have been a lot of violent scenes depicting religious conflicts which are happening over there. It's not suitable for our multi-racial and multi-religious society." He described the movie as portraying Muslims as terrorists and using the Al-Quran for violent purposes. Meanwhile, Consumer Development Board president Abdul Aziz Ismail said," This is not a racial issue but one of religion. So all movies insulting any religion should not be allowed into Malaysia." Viswaroopam, a movie starring Kamal Hassan and also directed by him, was screened nationwide on Jan 24, but suspended the next day by the Home Ministry following complaints claiming it touched on the religious sensitivities of Muslims. -- BERNAMA