Mat Kilau Is An Ethnonationalism Film

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Recently my friends and I watched Mat Kilau in theatres. For those of you who have no idea what Mat Kilau is, it is an action film loosely based on Mat Kilau, a Malay anti-British independence fighter (for the lack of a better term).
The tipping point for his band of rebels was the excessive taxation imposed on Malay kampungs.
Now I am not one to severely criticise action films. I enjoy my fair share of dumb action flicks I could turn off my critical brain to. If it gets the job done, and the film doesn't aspire to be remembered for its dialogue, I also don't mind the heavy exposition.
I don't mind black and white motivations, especially when I don't find anything redeemable in some historical actors. Think about all the anti-British and Japanese overtones in old kung fu flicks.
I understand the need to get the anger out of the system. I also don't care about minor historical inaccuracies, if that wasn't the goal of the film. All of the above are not fair criticisms of what is supposed to be a dumb action flick.
However, what I think is fair to criticise is the message in what the creators and fans of Mat Kilau claim to be just entertainment, an action flick.
It is so convenient that every single non-Malay character is painted as an evil caricature. The one Chinese character was set out to be a stereotype of the scheming Chinese with no impact on the storyline except to be killed violently at the end of the movie, as if it was an expression of pent-up anger against the ethnicity.
The one character from Borneo from the fictional Pulau Mata Satu was alluded to be close to Charles Brooke, implying as if anyone from Sarawak is more than happy to be an assassin for the British.
Now I understand. The Sikhs historically were employed as British soldiers. But they were also a colonised group of people. They were drafted into the empire because they were absorbed into the empire.
Many were only responding to economic incentives and their material conditions. And for many, joining the British military in Malaya helped put food on the table.
Is it better that they did not join the British? Yes of course, but the film does a huge disservice in painting them as mindless drones in service of British interests.
But why am I bothered about all this if I have a high tolerance of dumb action flicks?
All of these characters, who aren't Malay-Muslim men, are brutally killed off, maimed, and not given any humanity. All Malay-Muslim characters are treated as victims of oppression.
Now I know historically the Malay were a colonised people group and I empathise with how it affects their insecurity and psychology. But the violence portrayed on film showed the rest of us, non-Malay Muslims of Malaysia as extensions of their oppressors.
I understand that the material conditions of the 1800s mean that Islam and attaching it to the Malay identity, can be used as a positive, nationalist tool to fight against oppressors. It was a common identity, easy enough for people to understand in a world where economics or other rallying causes might be too dry for the masses.
However, we are no longer living in the 1800s when Malaysia as an identity didn't even exist.
Use nationalism in films
In Malaysia today, rallying around an ethnonationalist-religious identity would make the rest of us modern-day targets. That we don't deserve to be in the same space. That we are perpetual outsiders. That we are the reason for the various dissatisfaction in their lives.
To use nationalism as a vehicle in a film like this is irresponsible filmmaking that only serves to deepen the divide in this country.
This film in all honesty is no different thematically from the 1915 film “Birth of a Nation” which portrayed the then-dying KKK as heroes for the white race against African Americans.
The film injected the Lost Cause into American mainstream thought where the South was right to protect the institution of slavery, and boosted KKK numbers that what was on its way out got a second life. Parallels can also be drawn to the Nazis blaming the Jews for everything wrong in their society.
Granted, the Malay world does not have the same grip as white supremacy. They are still a colonised people after all. They do have legitimate grievances and they do have economic struggles.
Income inequality does affect them. Those are real problems. But a film like this replaces the KKK with a real historical Malay figure carrying ultra-nationalist overtones.
I can imagine how the events of this film can be used against citizens of this country who just happen to be minorities. It can be used to exclude us from positions of power because we are forever the other.
Now I am not opposed to nationalism. Like I said before, it is a useful tool. But nationalism needs an external oppressive target.
If it is done internally, it can be abused to hurt anyone outside the in-group. If a filmmaker wants to sell nationalism in a film, they need to be responsible or else it will be used as a vehicle by fascists who wish to hurt others.
The film could've been improved, and by extension be a more responsible depiction of nationalism. They could've related to the struggles of nationalism and for independence in other regions or countries but they didn't.
They could've given a line where a character asks a Sikh soldier if he is ashamed as colonised people to be British guns but they didn't.
They could've shown scenes of the brutal working conditions Chinese labourers faced while their kapitans exploited their labour but they didn't.
They could've shown how for many to come to Malaya were primarily based on economic incentives but they didn't.
And I think we know why.
I want to give the benefit of the doubt to the filmmakers but what I want is different from what was presented.
The filmmakers cannot hide behind the veil of nationalism in a political climate this fragile. Not when nationalism and fascism are being used in today's politics.
I hope more people realise what is this underlying psyche in today's politics that drives this film's popularity.
And I hope my Malay friends realise what film is underneath all the action, that it is fascist propaganda out in the open. - Mkini
TERENCE AARON is a movie buff. He likes running… from his responsibilities.
The views expressed here are those of the author/contributor and do not necessarily represent the views of MMKtT.

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