KUALA LUMPUR, July 16 -- Malaysia's Court of Appeal has upheld the government's ban on the controversial film Mentega Terbang, ruling that the home minister's power to prohibit films in the public interest is constitutional and may be exercised before any public disorder occurs.

A three-member bench comprising Justices Datuk Ismail Brahim, Datuk Ong Chee Kwan and Datuk Ahmad Shahrir Salleh unanimously dismissed an appeal by the film's director, Khairi Anwar Jailani, and producer, Tan Meng Kheng, affirming the High Court's dismissal of their judicial review application, Free Malaysia Today (FMT) reported.

Delivering the court's broad grounds, Justice Ong rejected the appellants' argument that Section 26 of the Film Censorship Act, which ...