Film censorship case puts Malaysias rights record in the dock

Failing to step back and drop the case against Hendry will further sully Malaysias own reputation for clamping down on opposition organisations, rights activists and critics, says Mickey Spiegel.

Lena Hendry Photograph:Haris Hassan/ fz.com

As a member of the UN Human Rights Council in Geneva from 2011 to 2013, Malaysia had plenty of opportunities to hear serious allegations of systematic army abuses in the final days of the civil war against the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE).

Ultimately, a commission appointed by the UN Secretary-General determined that up to 40,000 civilians died in the last months of the fighting, and Britains ITN Channel 4 brought the brutal final days into high definition with its searing award-winning documentary No Fire Zone: The Killing Fields of Sri Lanka.

Unlike other Asian nations serving on the Human Rights Council who sided with Sri Lanka, Malaysia abstained in votes on Sri Lanka resolutions, making what was considered nothing more than a nod to concerns about the seriousness of those crimes.

Fast forward to 2014 and local Malaysia politics are pushing rights principles out the window. Malaysia is pursuing a case that has all the earmarks of a politically motivated vendetta against Lena Hendry, a Programme Coordinator at the nongovernmental organisation Pusat Komas, for violating the seldom-enforced Film Censorship Act for arranging a screening of No Fire Zone last July in Kuala Lumpur.

Criminal penalties for censorship violations are severe. Hendry could spend three years in prison and face fines up to RM30,000 (US$9,500). Her selective persecution is seen by other showings, including to parliamentarians and by another NGO, which did not result in any government action.

An upcoming defence application to strike out the charge, scheduled for 6 February in the Kuala Lumpur Criminal High Court, is an opportune time for the Malaysian government to bow out of this ill-advised venture into censorship.

Calling it quits now on the case will reaffirm Malaysians rights to see the films they want, exercise their right to free expression, and freely assembly. It will also reaffirm previous positions of the government not to back Sri Lankas effort to wipe out the enormous blot on its human rights record.

Failing to step back and drop the case against Hendry will further sully Malaysias own reputation for clamping down on opposition organisations, civil rights activists, and outspoken critics.

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Film censorship case puts Malaysias rights record in the dock