The postponement of the screening of the film Tanda Putera is not the decision of the Information, Communications and Culture Ministry, says its minister Rais Yatim.

Instead, Rais said, the postponement was decided by the Film Censorship Board, which comes under the Home Ministry.

“It is now in the hands of the authorities, not the minister or other agencies. If the censors decide (on the postponement) we will abide by it,” he told a press conference after a function in Kuala Lumpur today.

Asked if the postponement could be related to the general election, Rais replied: “I don’t know about that.”

NONE The film, which portrays second prime minister Abdul Razak Hussein and his deputy Dr Ismail Abdul Rahman, was originally scheduled for release in September.

After some outcry over the nature of the film, based on its trailer , the National Film Development Board (Finas) decided to postpone the release, ostensibly to allow more time to intensify promotional activities.

However, as November approached, there was speculation that public screening of Tanda Putera would be put off for a second time .

This was then confirmed by the film director, Shuhaimi Baba, while Finas director Naguib Razak declined to explain why.

Finas is among the producers of the film.