Worldwide Controversy

Much has been said about the film Aladdin by Arab-American groups in the United States. However, little has been written concerning the reception of the film in other parts of the world, especially in those nations with significant Muslim populations.

These nations include Indonesia (with the largest Muslim population in the world), Brunei, and Malaysia, all of which are predominantly Muslim, and Singapore, in which Muslims constitute a significant minority.

The film opened in Singapore at the beginning of May 1993 at seventeen theaters, the first time an animated film had been screened on such a large scale in Singapore.  As in other Southeast Asian countries, the film's release was planned to coincide with primary school holidays to take advantage of the young audience.

Aladdin ran into few problems in Singapore; the island's largely Chinese population apparently found little to be offended by in the film, and if the nation's Muslim population was offended, it certainly was not vocal in its opposition to the film. Across the straits in Malaysia, however, this was not quite the case. Unlike some of its neighbors in the South China Sea, Malaysia was torn by conflicting attitudes concerning the film and its depiction of the world of Islam.

Aladdin opened throughout much of western Malaysia on 28 May 1993; as in Singapore, the film was opened to coincide with school holidays.

On the same day, the Malaysian Muslim Youth Movement (Angkatan Belia Islam Malaysia, or ABIM) urged the Malaysian government to ban the film as well as the soundtrack on cassettes and compact discs.  The group included the soundtrack in its attack, as did Arab-American groups in North America, because of the alleged racism of the lyrics of the opening song of the film

Certainly, ABIM was not alone in its feelings toward the film; in a nation as devoted to Islam as is Malaysia, there must have been many others who were also offended by the portrayal of Muslims in Aladdin. However, there was surprisingly little publicity in the Malaysian press concerning the call by ABIM and others to ban the movie. In fact, only one of the major Malaysian newspapers covered the story, and that paper was an English-language newspaper; none of the major Malay-language newspapers reported ABIM's call.

The film had an even more peaceful run in the rest of Southeast Asia. Aladdin opened in Jakarta on 10 June 1993 and it ended its successful run in the Indonesian capitol on 14 July.

As in Malaysia, the film was accompanied by publicity and promotional stunts, including shopping centre appearances by actors dressed as Jasmine, the Genie, Princess Jasmine, and Jafar, fashion shows featuring clothing inspired by the film, and contests for children, with free tickets to the film as prizes

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