Bront Palarae shelves ‘Dawn Raid’ film on Malaysia’s boldest corporate takeover after funding falls through (VIDEO)

KUALA LUMPUR, March 23 — It’s been almost a month since local actor and filmmaker Bront Palarae announced the cancellation of his highly anticipated film Dawn Raid: The Hands That Rattled The Queen.

The project, which has been in the works for nearly 11 years and involved over 50 creative professionals, was supposed to bring one of the pivotal moments in Malaysia’s history and economy.

This is of course referring to the historical 1981 ‘Guthrie Dawn Raid’ on the London Stock Exchange (LSE) where on the morning of September 7, the national investment agency Permodalan Nasional Berhad (PNB) took control of over 50 per cent of Guthrie Corporation Ltd (GCL), which was owned by the British at that time.

PNB — through the notable efforts of its then-chairman and Bank Negara former governor Tun Ismail Ali and their chief investment officer Tan Sri Abdul Khalid Ibrahim, then Selangor Menteri Besar — became major shareholders of the premier British-controlled plantation group in just less than four hours of trading on LSE.

The film was meant to explore from how the ‘Guthrie Dawn Raid’ idea came to be to how it was executed, with famous actor Shaheizy Sam was set to play Khalid Ibrahim in it.

However, Bront had to pull the plug after failing to secure enough funding for the film from their prospective funder SD Guthrie.

Guthrie Corporation Ltd merged with Sime Darby and Golden Hope Plantations Berhad in 2007. This merger created a new entity called Synergy Drive, which was later renamed Sime Darby Berhad.

Following the merger, Guthrie shares were delisted, and the new entity’s shares were listed under the Sime Darby name.

Later, in 2024, Sime Darby Plantation rebranded itself as SD Guthrie, paying homage to the Guthrie legacy and its historical significance.

Too costly?

A source from SD Guthrie told Malay Mail that one major reason for not proceeding with the project was that filmmaking was not aligned with their expertise or regular business operations, which mostly deal with palm oil plantations.

They had meetings with Bront several times previously to discuss the Dawn Raid film proposal and after closely reviewing it and passing it through the higher corporate ladder, SD Guthrie board of directors finally came to the decision to not proceed with the project.

Another reason for this was also due to the budget requested by Bront to make the film, which was deemed too much for SD Guthrie.

“It was a big budget. A portion of the cost that he (Bront) requested was RM6 million plus.

“You have to understand that as a corporation, our philanthropic work is channelled through Yayasan Sime Darby, whose focus is working with the underprivileged communities, education and on environmental regeneration.

“When we received such a proposal, it’s a bit out of our nature, so we really had to look at the pros and cons of proceeding with the project,” the source told Malay Mail.

Despite their decision not to fund the movie, SD Guthrie did applaud Bront and his team at Pixel Play Entertainment for all the work they have done on developing the film’s idea and script for the past 10 years.

Missed opportunity

Meanwhile, Sunway University’s business historian Professor Shakila Yacob has deemed the cancellation of the Dawn Raid movie as a missed opportunity not just for the rakyat, but for others as well.

Shakila is one of the authors of the academic journal article The ‘Unfinished Business’ of Malaysia’s Decolonisation: The Origins of the Guthrie ‘Dawn Raid’.

This article has been associated with the historical context explored in Bront Palarae’s Dawn Raid film, and served as one of the references for the movie.

She highlighted that PNB’s efforts to bring Guthrie Corporation Ltd home through the ‘Guthrie Dawn Raid’ are proof of ‘post-colonial justice being served cold’, where PNB beat the British at their own game.

“For decades, the colonial mindset justifies the marginalisation of the Malays.

“This legal victory over a British owned company, became a coup de grâce, a final and decisive blow that shattered those toxic stereotypes that Malays have to live through until today, which is very sad.

“This proves that the Malays weren’t just rebels or subjects, but they can also be strategic thinkers that could dismantle colonial powers,” she said.

She also stressed that the film could also do justice to local unsung heroes such as Tun Ismail Mohamed Ali and Khalid Ibrahim, who went to great lengths in planning and executing the ‘Guthrie Dawn Raid’.

Shakila Yacob, who interviewed Khalid and former prime minister Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad for her research paper on the Guthrie Dawn Raid, mentioned that Ismail and Khalid used a coded language involving birds’ names to keep their mission confidential.

She emphasised that it was Ismail who played a pivotal role in the operation, while Dr Mahathir’s involvement was limited to approving the project in his capacity as the prime minister at the time.

Aside from that, she also said that the Dawn Raid film has all the potential to make history exciting again especially for younger generations who might not have heard of the ‘Guthrie Dawn Raid’ before.

“If not for a source of inspiration, then as a source of legitimation, it’s a story worth telling over and over again.

“It’s also a story that is worth sharing with governments in emerging economies worldwide like in Africa and South-east Asia, as it can motivate them as this is really a timely discussion.

“Even now, we have to be clever and strategic if we want to outmanoeuvre superpowers such as China, the US and EU,” Shakila said.

So, what’s next? At the moment, it is safe to say that we won’t be getting a film on ‘Guthrie Dawn Raid’ anytime soon as Bront is currently doing his Master of Business Administration at the Malaysia Multimedia University (MMU) in Cyberjaya.

He is also currently juggling work on a Thai film and an Indonesian film, with the latter set for release this May.