A year later, Tanda Putera site admits 'urination' error

More than a year after the film 'Tanda Putera' was embroiled in controversy with its Facebook page accusing DAP veteran Lim Kit Siang of urinating on a flagpole, the site has conceded that the posting was a mistake.

In its latest posting yesterday, the Facebook site of the film on the May 13, 1969, race riots attributed the faulty allegation it made July last year to a junior social media administrator.

"The administrator at that time, who was also our friend, received a link from a visitor who sent a picture of Lim Kit Siang with wrong caption.

"Our junior administrator did not do it on purpose, but he thought it was real, so he uploaded it," the latest posting reads.

The caption said Lim urinated on the flagpole outside the house of the then Selangor menteri besar Harun Idris.

Yesterday's 'Tanda Putera' Facebook statement said the mistake was promptly rectified and claimed that the administrator and film producer have since apologised, though it did not specify to whom.

However, it noted that there were demands for an apology onFacebook where the posting originally appeared: "No problem, we will do it (apologise on Facebook)," the posting says.

"The picture and caption were not our creations but were sent to us," it adds.

Apology was missing
Despite claiming to have previously apologised over the incident, this was absent in the prominent public rebuttal by film director Shuhaimi Baba on Aug 15, 2012, almost a month after the controversy erupted.

Shuhaimi (right) had merely said that the erroneous posting was removed and that at no point did Lim appear in the film.

However, she insisted that the urination incident was real, though not by Lim himself.

The film's Facebookstatement yesterday also said the film was made in honesty and was not intended to get at anyone.

Tanda Putera chronicles the relationship between former prime minister Abdul Razak Hussein and his deputy Dr Ismail Abdul Rahman in the midst of the 1969 race riots, which continues to be a divisive topic, and more so today as a result of the controversial film.

Lim has repeatedly denied the urination incident, seen as a provocation for the 1969 race riots, pointing out that he was in Sabah when the May 13 tragedy broke out in Kuala Lumpur.

On Monday, Lim, who is also DAP national adviser, commenced legal action against Umno-owned Utusan Malaysia and former information minister Zainuddin Maidin for repeating the 'urination' allegation against him.