THERE have been hundreds of cases concerning police corruption over the years, so much so that the Royal Malaysia Police (PDRM) has been getting a lot of flak from the public.
When everyone is taught to depend on the men and women in blue who have sworn to uphold the law and protect the public, it is shocking to find cops turning to the dark side.
But it is not fair to label every cop as bad.
Finding the issue pressing, actor, director and producer Bront Palarae wanted to come up with a police corruption film.
Of course, getting PDRM’s permission was a daunting task, which saw him making several trips to its headquarters in Bukit Aman to finally secure the green light for the film project.
“The script was rejected twice (by former inspector-general of police Khalid Abu Bakar).
“We were also instructed to ensure that the bad cop in our story was arrested and punished for his wrongdoings,” said Sahili Abdan, a.k.a. Namron, who took the director’s chair for the police corruption film, One Two Jaga.
It also goes down in history as the only film screenplay about the Malaysian police’s corruption that PDRM has approved to date.
Previous attempts by others to come with a similar theme for their films were all shot down.
Produced by Bront’s Pixel Play, One Two Jaga revolves around a rookie cop (played by Zahiril Adzim) who discovers that his superior is corrupt.
When he confronts the latter, he is told to turn a blind eye.
Zahiril, 33, said there were always two police officers observing the whole process during filming.
They also pointed out any inaccuracies in the film’s depiction of PDRM’s standard operating procedures.
“The film shines a light on certain individuals in the police force who are involved in corruption.
“We try to highlight why this is happening by diving deeper into their motivations.
“It’s a story about humanity,” said Namron, 47, who recently took home the Best Actor award at the 29th Malaysian Film Festival.
Currently in post-production, One Two Jaga was initially planned to be screened only at various foreign film festivals. However, the producers decided that the film should also open in Malaysian cinemas.
The cast comprises actors from Malaysia and Indonesia. They include Sofia Jane, Zaidi Omar, Amerul Affendi, Ario Bayu and Asmara Abigail.