KUALA LUMPUR, Nov 25 (Sin Chew Daily) – Chong Keat Aun, the newly crowned best new director in the 57th Golden Horse Awards in Taiwan, was in tears when he received the letter from the Malaysian Film Censorship Board notifying him that 12 parts of his award-winning feature film "The Story of Southern Islet" will be censored.

Chong, who received congratulatory messages from communication and multimedia minister Datuk Saifuddin Abdullah as well as Finas, hopes that after his quarantine he can have a dialogue with Finas and the minister to get "The Story of Southern Islet" screened uncensored during the 4th Malaysian International Film Festival (MIFFest).

After "Islet" was selected as one of the films to be featured at the closing ceremony of MIFFest, Chong has hoped he can attend the premiere in Malaysia with the film's production team.

After being awarded the best new director at the Golden Horse Awards in Taipei on November 18, Chong received the censorship board's letter early the next morning.

He spoke to Sin Chew Daily through the phone during his quarantine after returning to Malaysia, "I was asked to cut five parts from the movie "Islet" and explain the other seven parts. If my explanation is unacceptable to them, a total of 12 parts will be censored from the film!"

To make the movie, he invited a wayang kulit maestro in Kedah to perform the traditional folklore, but was told the parts on the mountain god, bomoh, snake god, fairy, etc. did not conform to Islamic teachings of today. Other parts that require censorship or explanation include elements such as black magic (降头) and little ghosts (鬼仔).

Chong, who has been actively studying the history of native dialects in the country, is working very hard to defend Malaysia's dying cultural legacies.

Besides the Golden Horse, Chong has also won three other awards, including the FIPRESCI Prize by the International Federation of Film Critics, and the NETPAC Awards.

His second film project "Snow in Midsummer" also bagged the CNC Cash Award from Centre National du Cinéma et de l'Image Animée of France.

Chong told Sin Chew Daily Kedah's wayang kulit (shadow play) is unique and is different from that in Kelantan, with history dating back to the Langkasuka era.

"Shadow play had its origins in the Western Han dynasty of China, and was later brought to Southeast Asia from northern China.

"While cinematography has a history of only about a hundred years, shadow play has been in existence for over a thousand years!"

He said he grew up watching wayang kulit in Kedah, adding that it was played during prayers to the paddy god as well as on the birthday of Datuk Kong.

"Such a gracious tradition should leave a major impact on cinema-goers. I have been persistent in promoting the wayang kulit culture of Kedah, but am now told these parts have to be muted or censored. How ironical!"

As Chong is still in quarantine at this moment, he has authorized MiFFest to negotiate with the censorship board over this matter.