Unless you are the Singapore Rebel your views can be expressed freely. [I will soon publish a complete transcript of the offending documentary. And if I can get my IT skills up to standard I will place it on line.] The complete transcript will not be appearing soon. And I am postponing the uploading of the said documentary.
Yes I have watched Singapore Rebel and I feel that it is not going to undermine the national security of Singapore. Nor is it likely to result in mass panic in the streets. It merely consists of a pro-longed interview with Dr Chee, intercut with images of Singapore, accompanied by a very professionally produced voice over.
It has a high production quality to it. Every Singaporean should get a chance to see it for themselves and come to their own conclusions.
16 comments:
Steven, the first sentence in this blog is rather ominous, in it's larger context. Is it possible for me to email you for an interview that I will publish on Global Voices online? I am running a series there on Asian bridge blogging, oh well, read it here.
http://cyber.law.harvard.edu/globalvoices/
Could you drop me a line at mack(at)brandmalaysia(dot)com, so we can speak of these issues further.
Many thanks
Where can one obtain a copy of this exposure of the lying *spoilt-brat-bully dictatorship?
*spoilt-brat bully: can dish it out but can't take it. Uses violence instead of reason when confronted with opinion he disagress with.
There's more than one Singapore Rebel. That, I'm certain of. ;-)
If this were the 17 or 1800's I'm sure the dictators will be lynched for treason.
Now wouldn't that would light up all the blogs eh?
Hi Matilah_Singapura
I hope the days of lynching anyone for anything could be behind us.
Hi, is the documentary available from the net like the soccer short film? I don't see why would it be prohibited to do so.
Bittorrent distribution might be the way to go. However, are the filmmakers of Singapore Rebel willing to give permission to put their documentary on the net?
ifilm.com or atomfilms.com may be of some help but it all depends on the filmmakers. I wonder if action would be taken against them if they released or 'leaked' the film online?
hi mc dermott,
The govt have to realize that they can only push the (disarmed and disempowered) serfs so much.
I do appreciate your optimism about public lynchings, however I believe oppressors get their comeuppance... sooner or later.
BTW, great job with the blog!
Cheers
Wandie, it depends on how they leak it out online.
Going through ifilms means they're giving the ifilm company distribution rights over the internet.
Going through bittorrent or p2p they can either officially distribute it themselves (via some bittorrent tracker site), or pretend that it's an unauthorised leak (i.e. deny all knowledge and responsibility for the existence of film on net)
What action will be taken against them? Depends on legal status of film. Was it banned in Singapore? Not to the best of my knowledge. How on earth would an internet distribution (i.e. website not registered in Singapore) be under the jurisdiction of Singapore law, anyway?
I'm all for the file sharing networks for distribution of "teasers"
Sell the dvd on amazon. I'll definitely buy a copy - or three ;-)
Afterall, it is only fair that the creator makes money on his project. But if he wants to give it away freely on the file sharing networks, that would be good too.
S'pore Dicktaters may be able to impose censorship on part of the local populace, but bear in mind there are over 100,000 S'poreans living overseas - most of who would jump at the chance to stuff the govt up :-)
Yes! Can someone who has the film please put it in the net for all of us to see?
akikonomu, I was refering to 'unofficial actions'. The *wink wink nudge nudge* types.
Oh, the unofficial reactions.
Well, there could be a period where the filmmakers are unofficially blacklisted, or rumoured to be unofficially blacklisted.
Then, it'll depend on whether these filmmakers can get enough critical support overseas so they can be unofficially rehabilitated in a few months. Because it'll be too embarrassing for Singapore to have a 'critically-acclaimed but unofficially sanctioned in home country director'.
That's as bad as it can get, seriously. No minister or bureaucrat is going to use the force of the law on them.
Akikonomu
Have you considered this letter sent to the director Martyn See...
CSJ film "objectionable under Films Act"
From: "Singapore International Film Festival"
To: singapore_rebel@yahoo.com
Subject: Singapore Rebel
Date: Wed, 16 Mar 2005 18:41:12 +0800
Dear Martyn,
As requested, this is what happened.
On Friday March 11, Philip (Cheah) was asked to meet the censors at 4.30pm. At the MICA office, he was told that SINGAPORE REBEL was objectionable under the Films Act pertaining to political party videos. He was "advised" to inform you to withdraw your film whereby the matter would be dropped, failing which, the full extent of the law would apply.
Yours sincerely,
Lesley Ho
Director
Singapore International Film Festival
45A Keong Saik Road
Singapore 089149
Tel: +65 6738 7567
Fax: +65 6738 7578
Email: filmfest@pacific.net.sg
Website: www.filmfest.org.sg
Yup, interesting letter (did they send it with a donkey's head?),
Now, distribution over the internet using a foreign server (ifilm or bittorrent/edonkey) is, as I understand, *not* tantamount to distribution in Singapore. Does the Film Act prohibit the filmmakers from distributing Spore Rebel outside Singapore?
Does the filmmaker need to seek permission from MICA/Film censorship board to distribute their film overseas? The full extent of embarrassment shall apply to them if they try to suggest extra-legal jurisdiction on this.
The film maker may be holding back in the hope that it will be noticed by an overseas film festival.
Steve, that could be the case.
But film festivals only notice a film if you submit it. If you don't submit it, it's unlikely they're going to invite you as a special entry (unless you're already a prize-winning director, etc).
So the ball is in the filmmaker's court. He needs to decide where to send it.
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