KUALA LUMPUR: The director and producer of banned controversial indie movie "Mentega Terbang" were charged in the magistrate's court today with deliberate intention of wounding the religious feelings of others last year.
Mohd Khairianwar Jailani,32, and Tan Meng Kheng, 37, pleaded not guilty before magistrates Noorelynna Hanim Abd Halim and Aina Azahra Arifin.
They were charged under Section 298 of the Penal Code for deliberate intention of wounding the religious feelings of others by uttering words which those other people could hear and see in their roles as producer, director and scriptwriters of "Mentega Terbang.
They committed the offence at a unit at Diamond Regency,
Jalan Semarak Api 2 at 12.34pm on Feb 26 last year.
It carries jail of up to one year; fine or both.
Deputy public prosecutor Nor Azizah Aling offered RM10,000 bail for each accused as well as a gag order against commenting until the case is disposed of.
"The bail is a condition to ensure the accused comes to court without fail so that the trial can go on smoothly," she said.
She added that the gag order was necessary as the accused had made comments on the case when they were served with notices to appear in court and before the proceedings today.
She also applied for the duo to report to the nearest police station and for their passports to be surrendered to the court.
In mitigation, defence counsel N. Surendran, who stood for the duo, objected to the proposed bail sum, describing it as excessive as it was meant to ensure their attendance in court.
He said the bail sum should be RM1,000 each as Khairianwar works as an independent film maker while Tan is a school teacher who earns less than RM3,000 monthly.
He also said there was no need for any gag order, saying it would be a drastic move, not a lawful order and no basis for it.
Both his clients were not flight risks and would not abscond, he added.
Following submissions from the prosecution and defence, Khairianwar and Tan were allowed RM6,000 and RM6,500 bail with one surety respectively.
Both magistrates imposed the gag orders on the duo while Khairianwar must report to the Kajang district police headquarters once a month until the case is disposed of.
The magistrates set March 14 for mention.
In the proceedings, Nor Azizah was assisted by deputy public prosecutors Abdul Malik Ayob and Nadia Mohd Izhar.
The banned movie, which went viral, features a scene where its main character Aisyah had the desire to eat pork and her father granting permission to leave Islam.
On March 4, 2023, Malaysian Communications and Multimedia Commission (MCMC) said it contacted Viu, a Hong Kong-based video streaming platform, which confirmed that Mentega Terbang had been removed.
Minister in the Prime Minister's Department (Religious Affairs) Datuk Dr Mohd Na'im Mokhtar had said the Malaysian Islamic Development Department (Jakim) found that the contents of indie film 'Mentega Terbang' goes against the creed and way of life of Muslims from the Syafie school of thought in Malaysia.
Police said it received eight reports on "Mentega Terbang" and it was being probed by Bukit Aman's Classified Crime Investigation Unit (USJT) D5 under Section 298A and Section 505 (b) of the Penal Code and Section 233 of the Communications and Multimedia Act 1998.
On Monday, it was reported that the film's producer and director would be charged today for allegedly offending religious beliefs.
Tan had received a summons on that day under Section 298 which scheduled his appearance at the court today (Jan 17).
Freedom Film Network's founder Anna Har had said Khairianwar was also served with a similar summons.