Global Courant
Mentega Terbang, about a teenager who explored religion in the face of her mother’s terminal illness, was banned in September after criticism from conservative Muslim groups.
Two Malaysian filmmakers have appeared in court accused of deliberately ‘hurting the religious sentiments of others’ with their now-banned independent film Mentega Terbang (Butterfly).
Director Khairi Anwar and producer Tan Meng Kheng pleaded not guilty to the charge, which carries a penalty of as much as a year in prison and a possible fine, when they appeared before separate courts in Kuala Lumpur on Wednesday, according to Malaysian online media.
Magistrates Noorelynna Hanim Abd Halim and Aina Azahra Arifin granted the two men conditional bail and imposed a gag order to prevent them from speaking about the case.
Released on streaming channels in 2021, Mentega Terbang is a coming-of-age story about a Malaysian Muslim teenage girl who begins to explore religion and the question of the afterlife as her mother battles a terminal illness.
The government banned the film last September amid complaints from conservative Muslim groups and after the Islamic Affairs Department said some scenes contradicted Islamic teachings in Malaysia.
Phil Robertson, deputy Asia director at Human Rights Watch, said the prosecution was carried out under a “vague and arbitrary law” and urged Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim and his government to order prosecutors to drop the case.
“(Anwar’s government has) fundamentally failed to protect freedom of expression and prosecute criminal cases for political motives,” Robertson said in an emailed comment. “This kind of gross political pandering at the expense of human rights is exactly the kind of thing Anwar accused previous governments of when he was in opposition – but now he has hypocritically changed his tune after taking power, and is using the same censorship. and persecution.”
Anwar came to power promising reforms after a hotly contested election in November 2022.
Robertson urged the government to lift the ban on the film.
Malay Muslims make up just over half of Malaysia’s population, but there are also large communities of ethnic Chinese and Indians, as well as indigenous peoples who practice other religions.
Khairi and Tan have said the decision to ban their film was “irrational” and a violation of their constitutional rights to freedom of expression.
According to Free Malaysia Today, they filed an application last month to launch a legal battle against the government over its decision to ban the film.
