Kuala Lumpur, Aug 24: Prime Minister Mahathir Mohamad has blamed foreign movies that contain too much sex and violence for corrupting Malaysia's youth, news reports said today. "Isn't there any other kind of films?" Mahathir was quoted as saying by the New Sunday Times newspaper. "Everything is to do with sex and violence."
"Terminator this, Terminator that, shootings, killings," Mahathir said, referring to the Hollywood blockbusters starring Arnold Schwarzenegger, who's now running for governor of California.
Mahathir, 77, has led this Muslim-majority country in Southeast Asia for 22 years. He's been an outspoken critic of the international media, globalisation and what he sees as the degrading influence of some western values on Islamic countries.
Commenting on reports of increasing cases of gangsterism and student fighting in Malaysian schools, Mahathir suggested that film censorship regulations should be tightened to curb negative influences.
"When we talk of censorship, everyone starts making an issue about freedom," Mahathir was quoted as telling a news conference yesterday. "Freedom for what - to kill someone?"
Movies screened in Malaysia generally abide by a censorship code that forbids graphic displays of sex and violence, as well as provocative handling of subjects such as race and religion.
Bureau Report