Controversial Malaysian filmmaker Namewee issued a statement and a Youtube video entry about his film “Banglasia”, saying that the film which was expected to come out on January 30th has received a total of 31 official notes from the Malaysian Censorship Board.
The notes were to direct Namewee to re-shoot around 90% of the film. With the overwhelming amount of changes that needed to be done, the director decided to apologize to everyone involved during the production and the fans for disappointing them.
“The company and the producers have tried their best to save the film. With this, we are sad to inform that the film “Banglasia” has been banned. This will mean that the film won’t just be banned during Chinese New Year, but for eternity,” wrote Namewee in his statement.
Namewee also posted a Youtube video listing down examples of some of the things that needed to be changed.
“I was found wearing a t-shirt with the sentence ‘Save Malaysia’ on it. They said we’re not allowed to mention ‘Save Malaysia’ because it shows that Malaysia is ‘unsafe’. It appeared as an insult to the country, and therefore it has to be re-shot. Bear in mind, I wore the same t-shirt throughout the movie,” commented Namewee.
The filmmaker also mentioned another remark made by the Censorship Board, “If you’ve been to Kota Raya, you’ll know it’s a place full of foreign laborers. There were too many Bangladeshi customers in the shops and streets in one scene. There were also too many Bangladeshi workers. It’s doesn’t reflect the real Malaysian country, so it needs to be removed. Does that make sense?”
Namewee’s written statement made for the public ended with another apology following the words, “Everybody’s hard work is gone.”
[Source]