Anwardi said the newly-created Malaysia Film Festival (FFM) award should instead be given to films that promote both the beauty of the national language and its proper use.

“You cannot give it to (just) any Malay movie. It’s not Best Film in Bahasa Malaysia, but Best Film that uses Bahasa Malaysia in a correct way,” he told Malay Mail Online when contacted yesterday.

“The award is not for movie shot in Bahasa Malaysia. The award is supposed to be for movies that use Bahasa Malaysia correctly,” he said.

He noted that many locally-made movies in Bahasa Malaysia use terms such as “I, you” in their dialogue, as well as Manglish and local slang, which he said does not promote the sanctity of Bahasa Malaysia as many have been pushing for.

As for localised versions of Bahasa Malaysia used in the different states in Malaysia, Anwardi felt that these are “dialects” and that the new FFM award should be for films that promote the use of the official version of Bahasa Malaysia by the language’s local authority Dewan Bahasa dan Pustaka.

“In an exam, Bahasa Malaysia exam, if you put the answer in Bahasa Kelantan or Bahasa Negri Sembilan, would the national education department accept it or not? Because what you learn is Bahasa Malaysia, you don’t use ‘depa’, you use ‘mereka’ (they).

“So if you want to fight for proper use of Bahasa Malaysia, then you have to use Bahasa Malaysia Dewan Bahasa style. It cannot be ‘bahasa rojak’, ‘bahasa rakyat’, let’s define what is it they want, they kept saying Bahasa Malaysia,” he said, referring to participants in a public engagement session on FFM this Monday.

Noting that the main dispute in the #TanyaFinas2.0 engagement session revolved around the national language, Anwardi said he had then proposed there the creation of a “special” and “important” award for films that “memartabatkan” or uphold the national language.

In sharing his view of the proposed criteria for such an award, he said requiring the proper use of Bahasa Malaysia would also prevent a Best Picture-winning film containing dialogue in poor Malay winning the Best Film in National Language category by default.

Although the Best Film in National Language award is “language-based” in nature, the winner selected would also be the film that is also the best in this category in its technical and artistic aspects, he said.

He also said that entries in this new FFM category should not be required to have 70 per cent of their content in Bahasa Malaysia, adding: “Who’s going to count 70 per cent? When I write my script, I don’t count whether it’s 70 per cent Malay.”

Yesterday, the Communications and Multimedia Ministry decided to open up the FFM’s Best Picture category — previously restricted to films with 70 per cent Bahasa Malaysia content — to all films. It also created the Best Film in National Language category.

The announcement came after public outrage over the recent nominations of two critically acclaimed movies — Ola Bola and Jagat — for Best Picture (non-Bahasa Malaysia) at the 28th FFM this year, instead of the main Best Picture category.

Screenwriter Nik Jassmin Hew told Malay Mail Online that she was shocked as she did not think the controversy over the FFM award categories would end so fast.

“Very pleased with the brilliant solution which was exactly like Anwardi Jamil suggested the other night. No idea if this is black and white though, cause PFM, FDAM may still not agree to it,” she said, referring to the Malaysia Film Producers Association and the Film Directors Association of Malaysia by their initials.

Screenwriter Nik Jassmin Hew told Malay Mail Online that she was shocked as she did not think the controversy over the FFM award categories would end so fast.
Screenwriter Nik Jassmin Hew told Malay Mail Online that she was shocked as she did not think the controversy over the FFM award categories would end so fast.

She praised the creation of the Best Film in National Language category “because we can truly award the films which really encourage and promote bahasa Kebangsaan, not bahasa pasar or street slang which are not exactly upholding the national language.”

“For the new special award, it should be films that truly ‘memartabatkan bahasa Melayu’. Even if it’s only 50per cent in Malay, but the Malay it uses is proper and encourages the usage of proper Malay Language. Bahasa Kebangsaan is that Malay we learn in school, not anything else,” she said.

Filmmaker Al Jafree Md Yusop, who heads film lover and film industry professionals group Komuniti Filem Titiwangsa (Komfit), said the opening up of the Best Picture category would allow all films to compete together and help the local film industry to grow.

But he felt the creation of the new Best Film in National Language category is “redundant” and unnecessary, alleging that it still amounted to segregation.

“The national language has always been upheld, it already has a high place in Malaysian society,” he said, noting the widespread use of Bahasa Malaysia in Parliament, Putrajaya, official letters and other government bodies.

“We even have a special body to uphold Bahasa Malaysia — Dewan Bahasa dan Pustaka. Why do we need to worry if BM will survive or not?” he asked.

Filmmaker Al Jafree Md Yusop (centre) said the opening up of the Best Picture category would allow all films to compete together and help the local film industry to grow.
Filmmaker Al Jafree Md Yusop (centre) said the opening up of the Best Picture category would allow all films to compete together and help the local film industry to grow.

The best way to uphold the national language is to instead ensure local films made in this language have high standards “artistically, technically and story-wise”, he said.

“That is how people have been doing it, that means making a good movie, not just by simply creating a category like that out of nowhere,” he said.

“We have a lot of ‘cincai’ (lackadaisical) movies done in the national language, that’s even worse than not upholding the national language,” he said.

The 28th FFM will run from this September 1 to 3.