KUALA LUMPUR, Sept 11 — Singapore has banned a documentary on its exiles but the film, which reportedly features Singaporean communists, student leaders and trade unionists, will be shown in neighbouring Malaysia, a New York Times (NYT) report said.

The US daily reported that the movie “To Singapore, With Love” by Singaporean filmmaker Tan Pin Pin was banned in the island republic on grounds of national security.

“The MDA has assessed that the contents of the film undermine national security because legitimate actions of the security agencies to protect the national security and stability of Singapore are presented in a distorted way as acts that victimised innocent individuals,” Singapore’s Media Development Authority was quoted as saying yesterday.

“The individuals featured in the film gave the impression that they are being unfairly denied their right to return to Singapore,” the agency added.

NYT reported the Media Development Authority as saying that former communists could go back to their homeland “if they agree to be interviewed by the authorities on their past activities to resolve their cases”, adding that other “criminal offenses will have to be accounted for in accordance with the law”.

The movie reportedly features nine Singaporeans aged 60 and above – including former trade unionists, communists and student leaders – who had fled the city state in the 1960s and 1970s to avoid imprisonment under Singapore’s Internal Security Act which, like the now-repealed ISA law in Malaysia, provides for detention without trial.

Tan had reportedly travelled to Malaysia, Thailand and the United Kingdom to do the filming.

One of those featured in the film – Dr Ang Swee Chai – is a surgeon in London who has provided medical aid to Palestinian refugees, NYT said.

Another exile, former student leader Ho Juan Thai, who is based in London, reportedly did not marry until he was 60 for fear of being accidentally sent back to Singapore.

The US newspaper reported that the film will be shown in Johor Baru next week during the Freedom Film Festival.

The 70-minute film has also been played in Kuala Lumpur and other cities like Bangkok, Berlin, New York, Dubai and Seoul, since its premiere at the Busan International Film Festival in South Korea in October last year.

Tan reportedly won an award at the Dubai International Film Festival for best documentary director.

The 45-year-old filmmaker reportedly said she had hoped the movie would spark national discourse to allow Singaporeans to better understand themselves as a nation.

“Now, the irony [is] that a film about Singapore exiles is now exiled from Singapore as well,” NYT quoted Tan as saying.