FIRST HUMAN RIGHTS FILM FESTIVAL IN SINGAPORE

By Zakaria Abdul Wahab

SINGAPORE, Nov 2 (Bernama) -– For the first time in the city-state, a Singapore
pro-democracy group will hold a film festival dedicated to the promotion of
human rights issues on Nov 14.

But the catch is, the 'Freedom Film Fest Singapore', organised by
Singaporeans For Democracy (SFD), will showcase seven human rights documentaries
from neighbouring Malaysia.

In a statement Tuesday, SFD said it had chosen Malaysian-made films for the
festival as there were none of such films made in the city-state.

It said under the city-state’s Films Act, the production and exhibition of films
which displayed biased references towards any political issue or persons in
Singapore were prohibited.

SFD is an independent non-governmental organisation (NGO) and a legally
registered political association that aims to advocate for civil and political
issues related to democracy.

SFD said the festival was an extension of the Freedom Film Fest (FFF), initiated
by Malaysian NGO Komas Pusat as a means to educate the public on the values of
human rights.

The FFF’s circuit in recent years had included Kuala Lumpur, Penang, Johor and
East Malaysia.

"Due to our shared political and cultural history with Malaysia, SFD has decided
to host the Singapore leg of the festival this year,” it said.

“As the views raised in these films reflect ground sentiments of the Malaysian
public and of its civil society, we feel that Singaporeans would be interested
to get a first-hand look at the issues affecting their neighbours,” added SFD.

The group said the FFF 2010 in Malaysia was supported by the European
Commission, and none of the films shown in its seven-year history had been
censored or banned by the Malaysian Government.
-- BERNAMA