The Pirate & the Emperor’s Ship

The notorious "Pirate King" Tan Lian Lay (a.k.a. Tan Teck Hui) once terrorised the waters of Perak Malaysia and Bagan Siapi-Api, Indonesia. His personal story and the history of his coastal bases are a mix of fact, fiction, legend, myth and religious belief. 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.