KUALA LUMPUR: The recent revelation that actors Hairul Azreen and Ammar Alfian were in a dangerous situation that could have led to their abduction by pirates in Semporna, Sabah has been dismissed as untruth.
They were at a decommissioned oil rig there during the filming of Paskal sometime in the middle of the year.
The film’s production company, Asia Tropical Films, has issued a statement recently saying that they were only informed by the Royal Malaysian Navy (TLDM) and its special operations force (Paskal) that the particular area, known as the Tun Sharifah Roziah sea base, was a “hot zone”.
The statement read: “We want to state clearly that any mention of actual danger during the time we were there is not accurate at all. We only received a brief from Paskal and TLDM that the location where we shot our film was considered a hot zone which was close to pirate activity in the waters due to its proximity to the Philippines."
The statement further explained that Hairul and Ammar were only told of the safety situation at the location and that no one had been specifically targeted by pirates during the actual shooting.
Hairul, 30, had revealed during a recent Press conference for the film that he and Ammar, 31, were faced with a heart-stopping incident where they were almost abducted by pirates at an oil rig while filming there.
The actor’s statement had drawn the ire of Eastern Sabah Security Command (Esscom) commander Datuk Hazani Ghazali who said that there was no basis to Hairul’s remark.
In a previous news report, he said that the entire production crew, which included the actors, were accompanied by a team of highly-trained security personnel during the location shoots to ensure the safety of everyone.
He dismissed the actor’s comment as just an act of fishing for cheap publicity and added that such a negative remark could create the wrong impression in the public eye on the level of safety in the waters of the Eastern Sabah Security Zone (Esszone).
In another news report, the Esscom commander added that the two actors would be called up to the headquarters of Esscom in Lahad Datu to have their statements recorded soon.
The action film Paskal features the Royal Malaysian Navy’s Pasukan Khas Laut, or Paskal, the country’s version of the United States’ Navy Seals.
A co-production with Asia Tropical Films, Golden Screen Cinemas (GSC) and Multimedia Entertainment, Paskal which is supported by RMN navy and National Film Development Corp is set to premiere on Sept 27 in cinemas nationwide.