Film Censorship in the Asia-Pacific Region by Saw Tiong Guan

Author:Saw Tiong Guan [Guan, Saw Tiong]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: Social Science, Ethnic Studies, General, Regional Studies
ISBN: 9781135080655
Google: C20pkdIngcUC
Publisher: Routledge
Published: 2013-04-02T05:46:28+00:00

Summary

The fieldwork conducted in Malaysia confirmed the problems and concerns raised by the key issues of the censorship system identified in Chapter 4, while the comparative fieldwork conducted in Hong Kong and Australia strongly suggested that the Malaysian film censorship system should be reformed to promote the artistic vibrancy and commercial viability of the country's film industry. To summarize the foregoing discussions in this chapter, there are eight areas of concern that should be addressed in the Malaysian film censorship system:

1 the suitability, competence and independence of film censors in carrying out their duties as well as the Home Minister's discretionary power to ban films;

2 the Home Minister's power to exempt a film from censorship at his absolute discretion;

3 the omission of provisions in the law and guidelines requiring the artistic merit of a film, as well as the prevailing community standards, to be taken into account in the process of making censorship decisions;

4 the defective Film Censorship Guidelines 1993, application of which has resulted in inconsistent censorship decisions and has impeded film practitioners' freedom of expression;

5 the power of censors to require alteration to be made to films and the nonavailability of a formal channel where every film practitioner may discuss classification categories with the censors;

6 the non-provision of, or the lack of rational, reasons for censorship decisions;

7 the possible abuse of the opportunity to appeal against censorship decisions by members of the public and the lack of an express right to make oral representations at the appeal stage of a censorship process; and

8 the availability and viability of judicial review applications in challenging film censorship decisions.

Over the course of the research, a small number of concerns were also identified in the Hong Kong and Australian systems. These concerns are discussed in Chapter 7.

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