"The Last Communist" is a hybrid documentary, not because it combines fact and fiction, but because it combines testimony with song. Chin Peng was born in 1924 and is the last leader of the banned Communist Party of Malaya. He now lives in Thailand because the Malaysian government will not allow him to return, despite his repeated attempts to go through the courts. "The Last Communist" uses history as a backdrop, but is more interested in seeing how the country has changed from the time of Chin Peng's youth to now. The director and his cameraman travel to the towns Chin Peng lived in from his birth to the country's independence. Most of them are still not very developed as the modern highways bypass them. Interviews with various people in these towns are sought. The longest sequence takes place in Betong, Thailand, home of many exiled members of the Communist Party of Malaya. "The question asked most before I made it was, 'Why Chin Peng?' to which the answer would be, 'Why not?' The question I will be asked most when it’s finished will be, I suspect, 'Why is Chin Peng not in it?' This will be more difficult to answer. Chin Peng's absence makes him an active void, furthers the enigma. Besides, I've never liked interviewing politicians. If I were to sum up this documentary in one word, it is about landscape. If I were to sum it up in two words, it is about contested terrains." Amir Muhammad
Production: Red Films, Petaling Jaya, Malaysia
Screenplay, Producer: Amir Muhammad
Cinematographer, Sound: Albert Hue
Composer: Hardesh Singh
Lyrics: Jerome Kugan
Editors: Azharr Rudin
Cast: Zalila Lee (Singer)
Format: Digi Beta PAL (shot on MiniDV), Color
Running time: 90 minutes
Languages: Malayan, Cantonese, Hokkien, English, Tamil
