The Pirate and the Emperor’s Ship (DVD)

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The notorious ‘pirate king’ Tan Lian Lay once terrorised the waters of Perak Malaysia and Bagan Siapi-Api in Indonesia. His personal story and the history of his coastal bases are a mix of fact, fiction, legend, myth and religious beliefs. 

Director Khoo Eng Yow and field researcher Lee Eng Kew (aka Ah Kew) retrace how a notorious criminal went from being a powerful gang leader to a hunted man, and later became revered as a deity. It is a story that encompasses the WWII Japanese occupation of South East Asia, the British colonial rule, and the power of the assimilation of myth into history, which still affects people today.

Published by Da Huang Pictures.