A gentleman came by at around 2.00pm on Saturday. I was not in, Phek Chin was. He extended his hand in a handshake. Phek Chin took it and was about to say, "No thank you," thinking he was yet another direct salesman, when the gentleman introduced himself as Inspector So-and-so (no names shall be mentioned) from the Brickfields Police Station. Phek Chin said she was a little taken aback - bengang was the word she used - but the gentleman proceeded to ask if there was going to be a screening of an Amir Muhammad movie later? "No, I don't think so. I think it is going to be a talk of some sort," she replied. He then asked who would be attending? "Our usual customers lah," she said. Can anybody come? Yah, anyone can come. Can I come? Yah, you can come. What time does it start? Five thirty. Are you the boss? No my boss just went out.
He came back just before we started, introduced himself and sat at the back. (He said he had a colleague, though I couldn't figure out whom.)
Amir talked about his new documentary, Village Radio, with a slide presentation. (While The Last Communist was about the Chinese side of the communist insurgency in the country, the Village Radio was about Malay side.) Amir Muhammad said he was at one of the two Malay villages in Southern Thailand (another two are occupied by the Chinese) where the ex-communists live and earn a living off the land given to them by the Thai government - though many of them were originally from Temerloh.
When I turned around after the presentation, I noticed that the gentleman had left. Looks like the police are interested in everything Amir does these days. But from all accounts, I must say that he was extremely polite. Charm offensive? Or new image.
Watch the slideshow here
Farish A Noor writes on www.theothermalaysia.org: The question of how 'progressive' ideas can be transmitted to Muslim societies today is a thorny one, as it raises many other related questions regarding the power relations both between the Western and Muslim worlds as well as the power relations within the Muslim world itself. At a time when Muslims the world over feel that the future of Muslim countries is under threat, and when conspiracy theories abound about the so-called 'concerted attempts' to undermine Islam from within and without, any attempt to work towards a radical re-thinking of Muslim norms, values and praxis is bound to solicit much controversy and suspicion, if not outright resistance and even violent reaction.
Village Radio is the sequel to Amir Muhammad's documentary The Last Communist, the first Malaysian work to be banned at home. The Last Communist has been invited to over two dozen film festivals since premiering at the Berlinale Forum
