Filmmakers: Let audience decide on The New Village and Tanda Putera

Writer, publisher and filmmaker Amir Muhammad said that banning a film in Malaysia was a matter of political grandstanding.

His own documentaries, the Village People Radio Show and The Last Communist, were banned from local cinemas in 2006 and 2007 respectively.

"It is less to do with the film itself and more of a show of political strength. They want to own narratives so that stories are only told their way," said Amir in a phone interview with The Star Online.

Set against the backdrop of 1950s British rule in Malaya, The New Village depicts a love story between a village girl and a young communist guerrilla, and offers a glimpse into the lives of Chinese citizens during the Malayan emergency.

Also depicted in the film were the Baling Peace Talks and the Peace Accord achieved between former prime minister Tun Dr. Mahathir Mohamad's administration and the Malayan Communist Party in 1989, which allowed communists to lay down their weapons and return to society.