Christian groups in Thailand say 'ney' - Malaysia and Philippines say 'ok' to Da Vinci Code

May 16, 2006, 9:11 GMT

While in Paris on business, Harvard symbologist Robert Langdon (Tom Hanks) receives an urgent late-night phone call: the elderly curator of the Louvre has been murdered inside the museum. Near the body, police have found a baffling cipher. While working to solve the enigmatic riddle, Langdon is stunned to discover it leads to a trail of clues hidden in the works of Da Vinci -- clues visible for all to ...more

Bangkok - A coalition of Christian organizations in Thailand called Tuesday for the Hollywood movie 'The Da Vinci Code' to be banned unless the film includes a disclaimer telling audiences it is based on fiction.

Meanwhile, Christian groups in Malaysia have no problem with the film and the Philippine Government has ok'd the opening of the film.

The Evangelical Fellowship of Thailand, the Seventh Day Adventists Foundation of Thailand, and the United Christian Church of Baptism of Thailand joined fellow Asian Christian groups from India to the Philippines in urging their governments to ban the film.

'Without the warning to audiences, the movie should not be shown in Thailand,' Manote Cheangsuk, chairman of Evangelical Fellowship of Thailand, told a press conference. 'If (the movie) is not true, it cannot be shown.'

However, it was unlikely Thailand's Culture Ministry or Film Censorship Board would agree to ban the movie, the opening of which has been heavily promoted on billboards and in newspapers and magazines in Bangkok.

The controversial movie, based on the best-selling novel by American author Dan Brown, is scheduled to open in Thai theatres on Thursday.

Cheangsuk said local officials from Sony Pictures, which produced the movie, and the censorship board invited representatives of the Christian coalition to view the movie Tuesday morning. Coalition officials said afterwards that they agreed to keep pressing for a ban since the movie does not have a disclaimer message for audiences at the beginning.

Brown's novel, which has sold more than 40 million copies worldwide, challenges traditional teachings about the life of Jesus by saying he was married and fathered a child. The book's plot is a murder-mystery involving a conspiracy by Opus Dei, a real-life conservative Catholic group, to cover up the truth about Jesus' bloodline.

Thailand is a predominantly Buddhist country of 65 million people, and only around 1 million of them are Christian.

But in neighbouring Malaysia, which has about an 11 per cent Christian minority, there have been no calls by Christian groups to ban or boycott The Da Vinci Code.

'We are very clear that we would not make any public request to the government to ban this particular film, purely because we believe that if the Bible is the truth of God, (and) we are not afraid of any attempt to discredit it,' sais Wong Kim Kong, secretary-general of Malaysia's National Evangelical Christian Fellowship.

Wong said the 'strategy' adopted by many Malaysian churches in response to the movie, which also opens there on Thursday, was to hold talks debunking claims made by Brown in his book and the movie.

'We are not intimidated by this. If you hold your house in order, you are not afraid of any onslaught,' he said.

Meanwhile in the Philippines, the Philippines' Movie and Television Review and Classification Board (MTRCB) approved on Tuesday the showing of 'The Da Vinci Code' in this predominantly Catholic country.

Condoliza La Guardia, chairman of the MTRCB said that while they rated the movie R-18, they did not see anything that would merit the banning of the film.

'I don't think it (showing of the movie) will have any adverse affect on our religion,' she said. 'Its mainly an entertainment movie, a suspense thriller.'

La Guardia said that those groups who were lobbying against the showing of the movie can always urge people not to watch it.

'It's their choice, they can always persuade their friends not to watch the movie,' she said.

A senior government official and several Catholic bishops condemned the movie as blasphemous.

The movie, starring Oscar-winning actor Tom Hanks, is scheduled to open in the Philippines on Thursday.