ABSTRACT
In this chapter, I examine why Yasmin Ahmad’s films have become the target of attacks by a Malay cultural elite. During April-May 2006, a series of media attacks occurred in Malaysia, aimed at the works of indie (independent) Malay filmmakers – Amir Muhammad and Yasmin Ahmad – and the kakikino film screening series, culminating in the banning of Amir’s The Last Communist, a film previously approved by the national censors without cuts. These critics assumed a position based on Manichean categories of the Malay self that are antithetical to Yasmin’s outlook which strives for a cosmopolitan Malay subjectivity: one that does not eschew inter-racial affiliations and which advocates a liberal Sufi Muslim perspective to challenge hegemonic Islam in Malaysia.
