“The Malay Aura Is Too Strong”: Kelantan Citizens Want Cinemas Back For Mat Kilau

By Quinny Tan  •  01 Jul 2022 in News

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By now you should have heard about the movie that grossed RM18 million in just five days, and beat Top Gun at the Malaysian box office. But if you’ve been living under a rock, here’s a summary:

Mat Kilau is a period film starring Datuk Adi Putra, Beto Kusyairy, Fattah Amin, Yayan Ruhan and Johan As’ari, and tells one portion of the life of Malay warrior Mat Kilau, who fought against the British in the late 19th century.

It has action, adventure, and history, all tied up nicely with a patriotic bow on top. Some might say the national pride that came with this movie has been a little too much…

A Facebook post on Jabatan Netizen Negara has been going viral with multiple scenes from the movie being uploaded.

While the clips were entertaining, it’s illegal to post up videos that are longer than 5 seconds, according to the 1997 Copyright Act where the crime could be punishable by a fine of RM20,000 or a jail time up to 5 years if found guilty.

It also caught the attention of Syamsul Yusof, the director of Mat Kilau. He has since posted up his angered opinions on the matter on his Instagram:

 

View this post on Instagram

 

A post shared by Syamsul Yusof (@syamsulyusoffilm)

Clearly, he wants the clips to be taken down and reminds the public that “it’s not worth it” to be causing trouble for yourself and that it is a serious offence.

Surely Mat Kilau will get the green light for streaming sites like Netflix or Mubi soon enough anyways, so just be patient, guys.

Speaking of which, the movie has also caused several groups of people from Kelantan to travel out of state just to watch the film. Due to the sheer fact that they don’t have cinemas in the state, and the hype of this historical Malaysian flick just seems worth the road trip.

According to Utusan, the citizens of Kelantan are travelling to Terengganu because apparently, it’s the nearest cinema available. Including petrol costs, that’s a really expensive ticket to watch a movie…

Mohd. Azwar Sharifuddin, 41, said that because the ‘aura’ of the film was too strong with the Malay race, he and his friends were willing to take a car for three hours to go to Terengganu as a sign of support.

“I hope the state government can review the proposal to open cinemas in the state. It would at least allow us to watch movies with our families,” he said.

“I don’t mind watching movies alone and the seats between men and women are separated. Regardless, we as the people of Kelantan want cinemas in this state,” says Ahmad Fikeri, another Mat Kilau fan.

It appears that people want cinemas back and are urging the government to open them back up again. However, Kelantan’s Deputy MB says that people could just “sit at home and watch Netflix instead.”

He said this during a sit-down interview with FengRenGuan. Datuk Mohd Amar Abdullah also stated that cinemas, or lack thereof, haven’t been a problem until the Mat Kilau movie was released.

Maybe one day Mat Kilau would be on Netflix. But until then, don’t record clips in theatres.