Mat Kilau: “Blame the cunning British, not Malays or Sikhs”; Kadir Jasin says

Mat Kilau: “Blame the cunning British, not Malays or Sikhs”; Kadir Jasin says

A FORMER Parti Pribumi Bersatu Malaysia (Bersatu) leader weighed in on the controversy surrounding the movie, Mat Kilau; Kebangkitan Pahlawan, where Sikh soldiers were shown roughing up the elderly and children in the fictional depiction of a real-life hero.

A Kadir Jasin said that if anyone were to be blamed for the suffering of the Malays during the colonial period, it was the British as the latter had manipulated various communities in their colonies and turned one against the other to control the populace.

“If indeed the Sikh sepoys were involved in putting down the Malay rebellion, it was not surprising at all.

“Historically, the sly and exploitative British used members of different ethnic, religious and caste groups in India to spearhead and literally do the dirty jobs for them in their colonies like India, Malaya, Burma and Borneo,” he said in a Facebook post.



Yesterday, a non-governmental organisation (NGO) known as United Sikhs Malaysia criticised Mat Kilau makers for making a villain out of other communities in the fictional narrative of a real-life warrior.

“While we understand that it has fictional components in a historical film, it contains elements that may create religious and racial misunderstanding.

“We saw that turbaned-Sikhs, who were British soldiers in the movie, were portrayed to have roughed up old folks, children and helpless citizens. These parts were added by the producers to make a compelling storyline.

“But the Sikh code of practice had always prohibited anyone from laying their hands on old folks, children, women and helpless citizens, even during war.

“Whilst the controversial scenes in the movie are fictional, it is distasteful and hurts the sentiments of Sikhs,” the group was reported as saying.

Sikhs, valuable asset to the nation

Touching on the matter, Kadir voiced confidence that the Malays in the country would not act irrationally against fellow Malaysians over a few movie scenes.

He added that from media reports and social media discussion, it was heartening to see that the people were learning some things on the colonial era, such as the role of the monarchy and the oppression the people suffered under the hands of the British and their lackeys.

“And in the post-Independence era, the Malaysian Sikhs contributed significantly to peace and prosperity of the country.

“So don’t let a movie spoil that. Let’s continue to tolerate and celebrate our diversity,” he concluded. – July 9, 2022