SOME 250 veteran commandos, who battled the communists, had a reunion in Alor Setar, Kedah.
According to Harian Metro, some of them had not met for over four decades after completing their service at Zulu Squadron of the 21st Commando Regiment.
Reunion committee secretary Zailani Aziz said the programme was held to remind the veterans of their service, which allowed all Malaysians to live in peace and harmony today.
“They reunited to recall the days of fighting the communists and to remember those who were killed or injured while defending the country,” he said.
Zailani said they took three months to prepare for the two-day meet and the veterans were from all states except Sabah and Sarawak, due to health factors.
“The ceremony was lively and we arranged accommodation and for vehicles to pick up and drop off the participants, and took their health into account,” he said.
> The National Film Development Corporation (Finas) should be transparent in the way funds are granted to ensure growth and success in the industry, said a filmmaker.
According to Mingguan Malaysia, film director U-Wei Saari said Finas needed to scrutinise every grant application in detail to ensure better quality films were made.
He added that grants should not be given to those who could not deliver.
“Finas should also know what is happening in the industry and be more sensitive to local film makers,” he said.
U-Wei also described Finas as a ‘broken down bus’ that has become a pain for the local film industry.
“The bus has broken down but ‘tok empat’ (middlemen) are ‘keeping the spare parts’ and do not distribute them.
“So ‘passengers’ or movie goers should get off the bus and walk or change to another bus,” he said.
He also hoped that besides developing local films, Finas would continue to support the industry by being a link to overseas markets for films from Malaysia.
“Finas cannot act like a bank as it is not a money-making body. It needs to function as a support system,” he said.
● The above article is compiled from the vernacular newspapers (Bahasa Malaysia, Chinese and Tamil dailies). As such, stories are grouped according to the respective language/medium. Where a paragraph begins with this ‘ >’sign, it denotes a separate news item.