Hindu coalition protests against Finas Deepavali ad

The Hindu Defence Forum (Hindfrom), a coalition of 30 Hindu NGOs, today lodged a police report and handed over a memorandum of protest against the airing of a Deepavali advertisement produced by the National Film Development Corporation (Finas).

The police report was lodged by about a dozen representatives at the Bukit Jalil police station against Finas and broadcast stations Astro and Radio Television Malaysia (RTM) that carried the 30-second clip.

According to the report, the advertisement, which tells the story of a mixed-marriage couple where the husband has converted from Hinduism to Islam, is seditious and goes against the 1Malaysia concept.

"1Malaysia doesn't mean conversion and (advocates) acceptance of our unique followings," said the group's representative, who only wants to be identified as Ramaji.

He added that the advertisement went against the Malaysian Code of Advertising Practice which states that good advertising must project a Malaysian identity, but not typecast each particular racial group with vocations, traditional values or backgrounds.

"The (advertisement) was an infiltration of the idea that conversion is acceptable...(and) is directly insulting to Hindus and Hinduism," he said.

Ramaji (right in photo) also said that the fact that the advertisement was taken off the air on Nov 9, four days after the Hindu festival, amounts to admission of guilt by Finas, Astro and RTM.

Finas has, however, defended the clip, saying that it is a continuation of their Hari Raya Aidilfitri advertisement, which features the same couple.

The memorandum of protest was accepted by Astro vice-president of communication, Tammy Toh, and a representative from Finas, Fadzil Rosli.

Toh assured the group that Astro will respond to their memorandum by Tuesday.

Malaysiakini