‘Mat Kilau’ director mulls bringing Maharaja Lela to the big screen

Compiled by C. ARUNO and JUNAID IBRAHIM

MAT Kilau: Kebangkitan Pahlawan director Syamsul Yusof said a production budget of RM20mil would be needed to fund the envisioned film project about the Pasir Salak warrior Maharaja Lela.

The film was first proposed in 1993, under the working title Pasir Salak – King of The River, by the late Tan Sri Jins Shamsuddin, Berita Harian reported.

Syamsul said he had a meeting with Jins Shamsuddin’s son to discuss the film and he was requested to proceed with the movie production.

“Jins received some funding but it was not enough, hence the film kept being pushed back.

“The original script and props such as weapons are already available. It’s just a matter of continuing it,” he added.

He said RM20mil in funding was necessary to ensure the movie’s standard would be on par with movies from other countries such as South Korea.

“I believe that the audience, too, wants an epic film with high quality. And all this requires money,” said Syamsul.

Maharaja Lela was the Malay chief who led the team that killed British colonial officer JWW Birch in 1875, leading to the Perak War.

> Rain or shine, through rough terrain, mud and the occasional crocodile, they perform their duties stalwartly. They are the community postmen of rural Sarawak.

“Some of them have to use a boat to cross the river to make their delivery. There are risks of encountering crocodiles.

“Community postmen around the Siburan area also have to traverse mountain slopes and up rocky mountain roads,” Pos Malaysia Sarawak manager Bong Tung Hu told Harian Metro.

There are now 265 community postmen providing the service, which began in 2010.

Bong said the programme had successfully increased postal coverage while providing job opportunities in rural Sarawak.

The Community Post was established under the Sabah and Sarawak Post Transformation Plan Programme and is an initiative of the Federal Government under the Communications and Multimedia Ministry.

The above articles are compiled from the vernacular newspapers (Bahasa Malaysia, Chinese and Tamil dailies). As such, stories are grouped according to the respective language/medium. Where a paragraph begins with a >, it denotes a separate news item.