Independent filmmaker Pete Teo is known for his national day themed short films.

His productions, such as 'Hari Malaysia - Slipstream' in 2013, which featured the likes of activist Ambiga Sreenevasan, DAP veteran Lim Kit Siang, and Umno veteran Tengku Razaleigh Hamzah, were well received.

However, Teo's latest short film 'Citizens', written and directed together with Liew Seng Tat, had received mixed reaction on Youtube.

Compared to 'Hari Malaysia - Slipstream' which garnered over 1,000 likes and only 42 dislikes, 'Citizens' also received over 1,000 likes but 726 dislikes at the time of writing.

The short film featured MCA president Liow Tiong Lai, playing two roles – that of a politician and a citizen, having a conversation.

Teo said Liew's and his decision to make the latest short film was motivated by the current political climate.

"There is a lot of fear, anger and helplessness especially in the non-Malay communities right now...The current state of affairs is, therefore, a sad indictment of how politics have failed these communities.

"We wanted to depict this. We also wanted to remind people that it is important to have hope," he said.

In the short film, 'politician' Liow acknowledged that 'citizen' Liow viewed him as irrelevant and nothing he did was good enough for the latter.

But 'politician' Liow also spoke about his dream for the country, noting that it was fading, but urged 'citizen' Liow not to give up hope and to keep faith in the nation.

Teo said Liew and him wanted to emphasise this sense of hope.

"It was important to us that this sense of hope should ideally be shared by both sides of the political divide – especially on Merdeka Day – that despite the political fracture, it is important to acknowledge for that one day our basic commonality as simply Malaysians," it said.

Some comments on social media heaped praise on the short film's message while others were unhappy that Liow was featured, hardly viewing 'politician' Liow as a fellow Malaysian whom to share hope for the nation with.

One commenter on social media suggested Liow take up acting after he loses in the general election while another suggested 'politician' Liow, who in the film was thrown with sweets, should also be splashed with hot coffee.

Some comments event targeted the filmmakers, accusing them of making a BN propaganda piece ahead of the general election.

Teo (photo) acknowledged the fact that casting a politician was bound to court controversy.

"We thought long and hard about our casting choices precisely for this reason. In the end, we took the view that exposing the film to such allegations would be inevitable as long as we cast a politician.

"The situation would be no better if it was an opposition politician. So when Liow agreed to play the role, we went ahead with him especially as he expressed strong nonpartisan support for our message of hope," he said.

Ultimately, Teo said Liew and him believed they made the right decision.

"In truth, this decision worried us at first because he is such a maligned figure in a large section of the Chinese community as is his party. But in retrospect, it was an absolutely correct decision.

"Not only did he nail both roles, he did it without changing a single line of the script. We can tell you that it took guts for a sitting federal minister to say those lines. He impressed us that day," said Teo.

'Politician' Liow's dialogue in the film acknowledged "we haven't done enough" and that "many things could have been done better." He also noted that 'citizen' Liow was angry.

Teo said Liew and him did not want to cast an ordinary actor as the film would not be able to reflect the same immediacy and tension as a real minister speaking to a citizen would.

"It was also impossible to cast an opposition figure because no opposition figure is a federal minister and we wanted a real federal minister to play the part.

"We considered other candidates but Liow was the obvious choice," he said.

On pro-DAP groups re-editing the short film into parodies, such as one portraying Liow arguing with his party predecessor Chua Soi Lek. Teo said he did not take it personally.

"We feel that once our work had been released, it is released for good. People can interpret it, comment upon it, or even butcher it for comedy in any fashion they like.

"Our original will always be there in public view. We may not necessarily agree with their (parody videos) message but we also don't take personal issue with any of it.

"We understand that there are a lot of angry folks out there. It is perfectly ok as long as they get a few laughs out of it," he added.