George Town Literary Festival

Exciting news for book lovers in Penang - the first George Town Literary Festival, organised by Bernice Chauly, features a line-up of Farish Noor, Tan Twan Eng, Shih-Li Kow and Iskandar Al-Bakri.  You can read more on the festival blog.

Why Farish's History is So Important

Simply put, what we know of our past has been oversimplified and condensed into a mould meant to serve ulterior and narrow political motives. For example, little, if any, is ever spoken about the influences of Hindu and Buddhist cultures that have actually played a major role in forming what we know as “Malay” culture today. Similarly, the notions that Chinese and Indians only appeared on our landscape during late colonial times, as recent social ingredients that have made Malaysia multicultural – notions that play very well into the exclusivist political rhetoric that we hear all too often today in our nation. ... The second reason why this book is important, is that our obscured history has for too long been only available, for the most part, to the academicians. Hence, the uniqueness of where this wealth of information was initially presented to the general public.

Walski has an excellent review up on his blog of Farish Noor's alternative Malaysian history What Your Teacher Didn't Tell You.

Rock Star Professor

My background was in philosophy and I’m a philosopher by training. Much later I moved to political theory and began to work on the history of politics in Malaysia, pertaining to the history of the respective political parties. ... That was when I realised that even political parties distorted their own histories and some party members did not even know their own history. I was shocked when I interviewed a leader of a party who didn’t know the date of its foundation! And that’s when I realised that there were facets of Malaysia’s past that had been kept from most of us.

Farish "Rocky Star Professor" Noor is profiled by Martin Vengadesan in today's Starmag, and talks about his own colourful family history (Jawi-Peranakan, Indian and Arab blood) and parents who worked in broadcasting; his academic background (philiospher and political -theorist) ; and great populariser of Malaysian history via his lecture series at Central Market Annexxe. (The talks are collected in What Your History Teacher Didn't Tell You.)

And one piece of very good news for us -  this already prolific author is planning to retire in three years time and turn to fiction.

Perhaps the best quote about Farish comes from Silverfish's Raman, who is one of his publishers :  

If I have to describe him in one word I would use ‘intense’. He’s an avowed socialist and always on the side of the downtrodden and the victimised, and I can never find fault with his sense of fair play and his sense of humour. ... He is also indefatigable! When I was editing Quran and Cricket, I thought to myself that this guy is crazy. I was amazed at the lengths he went to get the stories, often putting his life (not to mention his sanity) in danger. I was watching a BBC news item on Patani once while editing the book, and I remember thinking, ‘Oh my God, how lame is that?’ Compared to Farish’s reporting, most of the current news media have no clue what is going on. I realise that this is because most reporters cannot (and are not willing) to get down to the ground like him. Can you imagine Abu Bakar Bashir giving such an interview to a Western journalist?

Farish Launches Another Book

Apologies for blogging this booklaunch a bit late, but I hope some of you can make it. I plan to go and I'm really looking forward to getting a copy of this :

FARISH NOOR’S “WHAT YOUR TEACHER DIDN'T TELL YOU: The Annexe Lectures Vol.1”

Book Launch

Sat 5 Dec, 8pm

Presented by Matahari Books

Admission Free

Matahari Books is proud to launch Farish A. Noor’s latest book “WHAT YOUR TEACHER DIDN'T TELL YOU: The Annexe Lectures, Vol.1”. The book is especially significant for us as it collects the texts of Farish’s free public lectures at The Annexe Gallery. Hurray!

Farish A. Noor might just be Malaysia's hippest intellectual. His gifts are on full display in these expanded versions of public lectures that he delivered at The Annexe Gallery, Central Market Kuala Lumpur in 2008 and 2009.

Find out how “racial difference” became such a big deal in Malaysia, and contrast this against the way our distant ancestors lived. Discover the hidden stories of the keris, Hang Tuah and PAS. There's also quite a bit of sex. Erudite, impassioned and sometimes just plain naughty, “WHAT YOUR TEACHER DIDN'T TELL YOU” is a stimulating plunge into aspects of our past that have been kept from us.

The 288-page book also contains dozens of sepia-toned photographs, many from Farish's own collection of antiques. There's even a bonus chapter! And it's printed on thick (128 gsm) fully recycled paper. Retail price: RM40 (RM5 off at the launch).

+

EVENT PROGRAMME

Launch by Sara (age 5), fairy kid
Speech by Farish A. Noor
Birthday cake for Amir Muhammad
+ Secret surprise!

This launch event is co-sponsored by The Annexe Gallery and The Other Malaysia.

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PRE-ORDER YOUR COPY NOW

If you can't make it to the launch but would like to pre-order an autographed copy, you are most welcome! Just deposit RM40 (free delivery within Malaysia) to Maybank 014105120512 (Amir Muhammad) and email your confirmation and address to matahari.books@gmail.com

This offer ends on the night of 4 December. Farish will autograph the books at the launch and they will be posted via registered post on 7 December.

Farish in the Madrasahs

Congratulations to Farish Noor who this week launches his new book Qur'an and Cricket : Travels Through the Madrasahs of Asia and Other Stories at Silverfish.

Catch the event at 7.00pm on Friday, 6th November, 2009 at Silverfish Books, 58-1 Jalan Telawi, Bangsar Baru, Kuala Lumpur. Tel: 448 449 37 Email: info@silverfishbooks.com. Admission: Free

Here is the blurb :

Farish A Noor, academic, activist, traveller extraordinaire, visits, lives and interviews students (and others) in 'jihad factory' madrasahs (Islamic seminaries) from Patani to Pakistan and from Kashmir to Cairo, and comes away dazed and confused. In attempting to make sense of it all, he ends up confronting his own demons and nightmares.

and a taster from the book :

However, in the course of the same research I have also visited some rather dodgy institutions that can hardly be called madrasahs. Once in Pakistan I had to interview some students while in the corner of the room played a videotape of the gruesome murder and decapitation of the American journalist Daniel Pearl. The boys I was speaking to were between seven to ten years of age, and were smiling and laughing -- while others lay asleep. I tried to look away as long as I could, resisting the urge to puke.

Farish is one of my favourite writers. I really value his intelligence, his calm rationality and careful research.

Silverfish was kind enough to send me a copy, and I am really looking forward to reading it.

Farish's Next Book - Illustrated

Message from Farish Noor via Facebook :

Ok chums, some generous bloke by the name of Amir Muhammad wants to publish the public lectures that I gave at the Central Market Annexe over the year. The book ought to come out by the end of the year and I hope to see you at the launch. In the meantime I'm sending these pics to Amir to brighten up the book a little bit, as apparently my writings are not exciting enough.

This is really good news and I'm cheering for both author and publisher. Can't wait for a copy.

Farish's pics are here, and of course his writing is on The Other Malaysia website.

CeritAku@Readings June

This month we feature a stellar lineup of Malaysian writers who will be reading and storytelling at No Black Tie, 9.30pm, Sunday 7th June :

Tash Aw
Clarissa Tan
Charlene Rajendran
Hishamuddin Rais
Zedeck Siew
and
Farish Noor

Tel: 03 2142 3737 (reservations recommended)

www.noblacktie.com.my

Cover: RM 20
Books will be sold. (20% discount for Tash's books unless you have the 25% The Star coupon.)

ceritAku@readings is hosted by Bernice Chauly.

Spread the word. See you there!

--------------------------

bernice chauly
writer/photographer/actor
www.bernicechauly.wordpress.com

hp +6 012 323 0929
fax +6 03 7493 1573
kuala lumpur, malaysia

No Terrestrial Address Reason for Book Seizure

At The Nut Graph Zedeck Siew manged to catch up with Home Ministry's acting director for Selangor, Zainal Osman, to find out why copies of Farish Noor's book From Majapahit to Putrajaya were seized from Kinokuniya in a joint inspection carried out by officials from the ministry, and from three Islamic departments : Jabatan Agama Islam Selangor (Jais), Jabatan Agama Islam Wilayah Persekutuan (Jawi) and Jabatan Kemajuan Islam Malaysia (Jakim)*.

Would you believe it - the first reason for the confiscation was the book does not carry the publisher's terrestrial address? :

The first clause of Section 11 of the Printing Presses and Publications Act (PPPA) 1984 stipulates that “Every publication printed or published within Malaysia shall have printed legibly in Bahasa Malaysia or the English language on its first or last leaf the name and address of its printer and publisher.” ... According to Zainal, while the book does contain “Silverfish Books, Kuala Lumpur” on its first page, this is not sufficient to fulfil the requirements of the law. “We can already charge the publisher and bookseller in court,” he asserted. ... If convicted, they are liable to imprisonment for a term not exceeding one year, or to a fine not exceeding RM5,000, or both.

Raman of course explains that in the ten years since he has set up Silverfish, he has moved three times, and even if he had included a street address in the book at the time of publication, it wouldn't be valid now!

But it seems that the second reason why the book is under scrutiny was because it touches on issues concerning Islam. En. Zainul explains :

Because we have no expertise on this matter, we have sent it to Jakim for study.

And this is apparently why the investigation is taking so long and why no date can be given when Jakim would arrive at a decision about the book.

Raman's decision is to withdraw the book with immediate effect and to republish (since the book is not banned) - with the address included.

It will be interesting now to see what happens - or doesn't happen - with the book. But as I say, we are watching.

* JAIS = Islamic Department of Selangor (= JAWI = Islamic Department for the Federal Territory (i.e. Kuala Lumpur), JAKIM = Department of Islamic Development.

From Kinokuniya to Putrajaya

Raman of Silverfish contacted me yesterday to tell me that he had learned from a customer that Farish Noor's From Majapahit to Putrajaya had been "banned".

Since I was making my weekly (expensive!) pilgrimage to Kino anyway that afternoon, I decided to check out the status of the book, and discovered, yes, that the KDN (Home Ministry) officials had make their rounds and confiscated all the copies of the book, telling the bookshop that they were going to investigate it further and that in the meantime the store was not allowed to sell copies of the book.

Today I learned that this ban applies to all Farish's books which the store is not allowed to bring in until further notice (although there are still copies of the Malay translation of Di Balik Malaysia published by ZI Publications still on the shelves).

Things that I don't understand :

Why did the officers decide to take the copies? The book has been on sale since 2005! If it was so controversial why couldn't the KDN have investigated it back then? The book has a valid ISBN from the National library, the copies weren't hiding anywhere, Farish has a website and has made public appearances to talk about the issues discussed in the book.

Why do they have to swipe all the copies when a single copy would suffice for examination purposes?

Why can't they supply the bookshop with any valid reason for wanting to remove the book? What exactly is their objection with the book? Is it the terrifying fact that Muslim intellectuals actually exist in Malaysia? Is it because the official version of the country's history is questioned in the book? As always we can only guess. Raman thinks it might be because the book has Majapahit in the title and anything connecting Malay culture with its Hindu roots is so controversial these days, especially with the fatwa against yoga so much in the news.

Do officers really need to go into bookshops and take books from the shelves? Isn't this an uncomfortable way of operating for the staff of the shop and the customers? Does it really make Malaysia look good in the eyes of tourists who frequent the country's biggest bookstore to see uniformed officers prowling the shelves?

Do officers actually have a legal right to remove books or tell a shop that the book may not be sold if the book is not in any sense legally gazetted as banned? (I don't know the legal position but it would be useful to have information on this.)

Why haven't the publisher and the author been informed of the removal of the book through official channels instead of having to rely on rumour (which causes unnecessary stress and anxiety?).

How many more books are being removed from bookshop shelves in this way? No wonder the bookshop is circumspect when selling certain titles! Bookselling is a hard business to be in, so why make it harder for retailer?!

Yes, the book is still on sale quite legally at other bookstores so you can still buy it at the moment. (This is the way these things work here.)

Let's hope that reason prevails and the books are back on the shelves in Kino very soon. We're watching closely.

Friedman's Green Message

Thomas Friedman, author of The World if Flat and the guru of globalisation is now calling for an American green revolution in to combat climate change, and Starmag journalist Martin Vengadesan interviews him over the phone.

What I found especially interesting about the article is Farish Noor's take on Friedman’s work. Farish is now Senior Fellow at the Rajaretnam School of International Studies, Nanyang Technological University, Singapore and feels that Friedman is too concerned with America’s and not the world’s interests :

He is one of the most important American thinkers today because his anxieties reflect the anxieties of the intelligentsia. The problem is that while not being a blatant apologist for America’s actions, he adopts liberal positions yet remains partisan to American interests. People like Friedman and Gore Vidal straddle an unsafe boundary in which they seem to espouse liberalism and democracy, yet send an alarmist message to get America to re-energise and reassert its hegemony.

Friedman's latest book Hot, Flat and Crowded is reviewed by Elizabeth Tai.

Another Literary Saturday

Heavens above! Once again we have a single Saturday crammed with activity of the bookish kind. I'm talking about 26th which kicks off with MPH Breakfast Club (11.00a.m. to 12.30p.m.) featuring short story writer Robert Raymer, whose collection Lovers and Strangers Revisited has just been republished by MPH. (More about Robert and the event on Eric's blog.)

I've been hoping for some time that Sarawak based Robert would find his way back over here again soon, and that I would be able to nab him for Readings@Seksan. And so it has come to pass.

This then is the second great event of the day, running from 3.30-6 p.m.) and the poster will be up on this blog as soon as I have finalised the line-up (or as far as I can, given the inherent unpredictability of this kind of event!).

Saradha Narayanan will be at Silverfish at 5.30 p.m. to talk about a little about her experience with writing and then read selected passages from her book, Freedom of Choice. (Should be possible to hop from Seksan's to Silverfish in time to catch this if you need a double/treble dose of book events.)

Meanwhile, over at Rasta Restaurant in Taman Tun (5.30-8.30), the lovely Farish Noor launches his new book Dibalik Malaysia. The hilarious Harith Iskander will be MCing and there's food! (Click the poster up to full size to see details and map.)

Can you cram in four events in one day? This is the ultimate lit-lovers challenge.

Get that Garouda off the Twin Towers!

Farish Noor, surely one of the most influential contemporary thinkers on the political landscape of this country has a new book out this month. Di Balik Malaysia is a collection of his essays translated into Malay. Hopefully this will mean that Farish's writing will reach a much wider local readership.

Most of the pieces appeared previously in English in From Mahajapahit to Puterajaya (Silverfish Books 2005), but there are also three new pieces written specially for the book. The cover illustration by Fahmi Reza is rather lovely too. Very King Kong Indon style. (Click up to full size and admire.)

Being the lazy so-and-so that I am, I've lifted this synopsis from the English version on the Silverfish website :

Washington has fingered Malaysia as a 'Islamic terrorist hub' several times since 9/11. In this second collection of Farish A Noor's commentaries on unfolding developments in Malaysia (which) is nothing if not timely with the current raging debate on the 'clash of civilisations'. By focusing on specific issues and suddenly erupting controversies, of Malay/Muslim nationalism and (what he calls) the rise of Islamic 'religio facism' in Malaysia and Indonesia, he tries to answer the question: how much of this is caused by Western 'meddling', and how much of it is actually home grown? This book is written in "white heat" of someone personally affected by the events, but at the same time Dr Farish A Noor manages to maintain an academic distance required by the scholar he is. A must read for anyone interested in the rise of Islamic fundamentalism and religio-fascism in the world today, especially in Malaysia and Indonesia.

I had a breakfast meeting Ezra Zaid of ZI publications (which put out this book) the other day. I tell you the guy is absolutely bursting with ideas for great publishing projects. I'm giving him the space here to tell you more very soon.

Oh, and news about the launch party for this book when I have it.

Hands Off The Holy Books!

If Muslims can get so worked up by the fact that some right-wing Dutch politician hungering for publicity can stir up a debate by demeaning the Quran, why is it that so many Muslims remain indifferent to how their fellow Muslims treat the holy texts of other faiths and belief-systems? A case in point is the recent seizure of thirty-two Bibles from a Malaysian Christian who was on her journey back to Malaysia from the Philippines. Upon arrival in Malaysia, her bags were checked by the customs authorities and all of the Bibles were confiscated, on the grounds that they had to be vetted by the Ministry of Internal Security. But since when were Bibles deemed a security threat in Malaysia, and to whom might they pose a danger? More worrying still is the fact that the customs officers – who we were told were Muslim – had seized the Bibles on their own initiative, despite there not being any formal ban on Bibles in the country. (After all, there are literally millions of Christians of all denominations in Malaysia and they have lived there for decades if not centuries, so why the fear of Bibles now?) In the event the Bibles were eventually returned to the Malaysian Christian in question, but worrying doubts remain. What will be the fate of other books of other religions and belief-systems? As a scholar who teaches comparative religion, I have in my collection not only numerous editions of the Bible but also Taoist, Buddhist, Hindu, Tantric, Animist and Jewish texts. Are these to be screen and vetted too? And on what grounds; that as a person born to the Muslim faith (a contingency of history that I did not decide or determine, I might add) I am not allowed to read such texts for fear that I may be ‘contaminated’ by alien ideas of alien creeds?

Farish Noor on The Other Malaysia website is commenting on this incident.

Lucia Lai blames the UMNO gomen, though it seems to me that in most cases it is individual officers (whether of the Internal Security Ministry, or as in this case customs officers) who are acting on their own woefully misguided initiative.

Of course such incidents provoke an outcry and are put right later, but not without bringing the country a barrage of bad publicity (look at how this story has bounced round the globe) and causing deeply hurt feelings at home.

Such incidents really worry me because there is such a need for religious tolerance in this multi-faith, multi-ethnic country. We've seen too many countries take the other path.

Ubud Early Birds

From Ubud Writers' and Readers' Festival director Janet de Neefe:

Greetings,

There is a buzz in the air as the residents of Ubud start gearing up for the 4th Ubud Writers & Readers Festival. But don't think the chatter ends in our little village. Apparently the literati-glitterati, from as far away as London, have been talking up our next Festival. They must know that this year promises to be even more dynamic, stimulating and magical than ever.

For those who are willing to take a leap of faith and trust that this year's program will be better than ever, Early Bird Specials are available on the 4-Day Festival Pass. Purchase a 4-Day Pass from now until when the program is released on the 13 August and receive 10% off [that's a AUD$30 discount!]. With less than a month to take advantage of this special offer we encourage you to throw caution to the wind and head to the Booking page on our website to get your ticket or for more information.

Although the full Festival program won't be released until mid-August, we have released our Adult Workshop and Feature Events Programs to sate your curiosity. Tickets for these are on sale now and we recommend that you book early.

Once again, our fabulous Feature Events will take transport you into the worlds of some of our most fascinating Festival guests, whose writing and experiences are as diverse as their countries of origin. Set in some of Ubud's most elegant hotels, these unforgettable feasts of flavour, mind and soul are always quick to sell out. So book now!

It's no wonder that the Festival was named among the world's top six literary events! Join us and see what all the talk is about. You wont be disappointed!

This year will see more Malaysian participation in the festival than ever before with our Tan Twan Eng, Farish Noor, Kam Raslan and playwright Ann Lee taking part.

But some of the other invitees have a strong Malaysian connection.

There's Catherine Lim, a Malaysian-born author resident in Singapore, and Madeleine Thien, an Canadian author with Malaysian-Chinese parents whose novel Simple Recipes was a regional Commonwealth Writers' Prize finalist.

Then there's a couple of Hong Kong based authors I know because I included their stories in the Silverfish volume I edited (Collateral Damage) : Xu Xi, and Mohammad Cohen.

I hope that there will be more Malaysians attending the festival too, because, despite what Mr. Raman says, you really aren't going to feel out of place.

Check out the guestlist to know who else will be coming.

(I'm sure I've heard of this Kiran Desai somewhere ...)

Much Ado About Rushdie

I was on a BBC radio programme recently, in conversation with a certain Minister of a certain Religious Affairs Department of a certain Muslim country. The topic of the debate was, of course, the recent furore over the award of a knighthood to the British author Salman Rushdie. In the course of the programme, a number of listeners called in to add their opinions to the debate, with a considerable number of Muslim callers from Europe and North America decrying what they saw as the amateur theatrics of some hot-headed Muslims who had gone on the warpath, condemning Britain, the Queen of England, the West, the ubiquitous global Jewish-Zionist conspiracy, et al. for this affront to Islam…

Farish Noor gives his take on Rushdie's knighthood.

Meanwhile, Boyd Tonkin in the Independent welcomes back:

... the pious fact-resistant bullies who never read the man they still want dead, the shameless political spivs on a vote-hunt and (worst of the lot, because they would once have known better) the screamingly self-righteous leftist academics who parade their ignorance and malice in sub-literate tirades.

And Tonkin reckons that:

Almost the only good thing to emerge from this dismal reprise is a terrific spoof protest invented by the Hindustan Times of Mumbai. Its cod report discloses that an association of people not born at 12 has mounted a campaign against Midnight's Children as a "wilful act of provocation that has hurt the feelings of those who were born at other times of day". "By honouring Rushdie, the Queen has insulted the more productive hours of the day." Moreover, Rushdie himself was not even born at midnight: "He is full of self-hate and has crossed over to the other side to belittle all of us."

Amen!

Rushdie didn't need this honour to confirm the fact that he is one of the most important writers of our time and has significantly changed the literary landscape. But now he's been offered it, he should be allowed to accept it in peace.

Bloggers Breakfasted

Much overdue, here are my photos from last Saturday's Breakfast with the Litbloggers held at MPH Bangsar Village. There were curry puff, tuna sandwiches ... and plenty of brain food too, especially about Islam and fundamentalism, and the need for a plurality of voices in Malaysia.

Dina Zaman talking about I Am Muslim and her project to collect other voices for the sequel.

Political scientist and human rights activist Farish Noor, author of The Other Malaysia and From Majapahit to Putrajaya talking about the need to reclaim Malaysian history, and document women's history, and his fears about extremism. Poor Farish was extremely jetlagged, and had big dark rings under his eyes, (how many countries in how many days?) but still made perfect sense.

Larry Parr, co-author (with Tan Chin Nam) of Never Say I Assume is also a fascinating political analyst, and believes that Islamic fundamentalism does not represent a threat to world peace and is largely a by-product of US interference in the Middle East. He also predicted the break up of China into a number of autonomous states. (And you thought we just talked books!)

Chatting afterwards. Kam Raslan (in the brown shirt) dropped by.

I met blogger Enar Arshad with her son. We discovered within minutes of talking to each other that we are related by marriage! (She's my sister-in-law's sister.) That's Kenny behind us, of course. He did a sterling job of facilitating the session.

Pascakolonialisma in Pink

The latest issue of Quill is yours for free if you flash your MPH card, and a mere RM8 if not.

It's crammed with so much good stuff I don't know where to begin.

I loved Eric Forbes' article on the short story, chock full of excellent reading recommendations which I would love to see the bookstore promoting! He also gives sterling advice about how to submit your manuscript.

It's a Long way to the Floor author David Byck explains about how he got started. Tan Twan Eng talks about the writing of The Gift of Rain, and FireWife author Tinling Choong (who will be visiting Malaysia in July) is interviewed at length.

Dina Zaman and Tunku Halim debate about whether you would take a look at the book a person reads before you decide to get married to them. Pragmatists both. (I think books are windows to the soul ... should have thought twice when I found only war stories on my beloved's bookshelves!)

The Ambassador for Mexico, H.E. Alfredo Perez-Bravo reveals his love for Octavio Paz, Marques, Vargos Llosa and Carlos Fuentes (good for him!) and talks about Umberto Eco's The Name of the Rose as the ultimate airport novel (CSI Medieval Italy!).

There's a long interview with Farish Noor, and Dr. Faridah Manaf writes a very interesting piece about gender, race and nationalism in post-colonial Malaysia. Am most impressed that the Malay word for post-colonial is pascakolonial, which I will now slip into conversation with the gardener.

Yours truly writes about why Writers Need Friends which I dedicate to my scribbling running mates. (Saras, Mercy, Soo Choon, Leah - you're famous now!). My pics of the Night of the Living Text event are in there too.

But as I told you, my article on book banning ironically got censored out.

That doesn't surprise when the PM himself graces the cover, holding the book of tributes for his wife Datin Paduka Seri Endon who died of cancer in October 2005. The book A Bouquet of Jasmines. (Yes, "jasmines" with an "s"! - a big fat grammar blooper in the title!) was launched at a grand gala evening where everyone who is anyone wore pink and drank pink drinks (think Barbie!).

(Sorry, sorry ... I don't know where such cynicism comes from.)

Eight Pages of Booknews!

Wah! The Readsmonthly supplement in StarMag has doubled in size this month. What a great Sunday treat for the book addicted! (Next month we demand 12 pages.)

There's a story by Daphne Lee about a remarkable young man called Gerald Chuah who wrote a book about his favourite actor and films when he was feeling down and depressed in his early '20's. In the Eye of the Tiger: Survival Principles from Sylvester Stallone's Life and Films has finally been self-published by Chuah to coincide with the release of Rocky Balboa, the sixth film in the Rocky series.

The article tells how Chuah managed to pass the manuscript to Stallone when he was in Singapore, and how Jackie Stallone (Sylvester's mum) supported the project, even appearing at the launch with Chua. And now famous motivational speaker and author Bob Proctor has offered to publish the book internationally.

But Tan Siow Chin reviews the book in the supplement but seems decidedly underwhelmed by it. And while I'm so glad that Chuah has the courage to believe in his dreams, I'm horrified to think that anyone would put out a self-published book which isn't properly proofread, let alone carefully edited.

Among the other reviews: Dina Zaman's I Am Muslim is reviewed by Farish Noor, Amirul B. Ruslan reviews Only Revolutions by Mark Z. Danielewski (and whilst I don't think the book sounds like my cup of tea, am impressed with the 17 year old reviewer! Keep writing, kid!); Ooi Si Min reviews No Dram of Mercy - Sybil Kathigesu's memoir detailing how she gave medical aid to both civilians and members of the Malayan People's Anti-Japanese Army; and (surprise surprise!) Women, Family and Community Development Minister Datuk Seri Shahrizat Abdul Jalil talks about her reading, reveals herself to be a Hanif Kureishi fan (me too!) and reviews very nicely Sweetness in the Belly by Camilla Gibb. My dear friend Kaykay seems now to be writing under his real name as Krishna Kumar, and reviews Hannibal Rising.

And there's much much more!

*(The book is also included in Faces of Courage which was until recently a "restricted" book).

Turning Off Village Radio

Of course I was teasing Amir Muhammad before the Berlin Film Festival and I introduced him at "Readings" by saying "And his next banned film is Apa Khabar Orang Kampong (Village People Radio Show)".

(After all, his previous film The Last Communist was banned last year, and he was exploring similar territory.)

And lo it came to pass. The Censorship Board gave 7 reasons for the ban, including that it shows the Malaysian government and former Prime Minister, Tungku Abdul Rahman in a bad light.

Who actually owns history? That's the really big question. Perhaps only a country fearful of its present tries to censor its past?

As Farish says:

It would appear that Malaysia is still suffering from growing pains, despite the fact that the country will celebrate its 50th anniversary of independence this year. After 50 years, and despite the fact that the MCP (Malaysian Comminist party) is practically non-existent in the country today, the ever-so-sensitive sentiments of right-wing nationalists will tolerate no alternative viewpoint contrary to their own; even if this means denying the fact that it was the MCP and its military wing that fought against the Japanese imperialist army during the Japanese occupation of Malaysia during World War Two, and later the returning British imperialist army following the end of the war. Dubbed ‘terrorist bandits’ by the colonial power then, the MCP and its members have been steadily written out of the history books and the process of historical erasure continues unabated till today.

And we have seen how recent books have been withdrawn or lost for months in a "restricted books" limbo*, because they offered perhaps an alternative (and personal) account of how things happened during The Emergency.

Zedeck Siew writes about the ban on the Kakiseni website and the organisation Artis Pro Activ have issued a press statement.

This ban contravenes Article 10 of the Malaysian Federal Constitution which guarantees freedom of expression. In any democracy the right to a different point of view is fundamental. A country cannot call itself a democracy and demand that all its citizens share a singular, official point of view. The Malaysian government must begin to accept that Malaysian citizens have differing views on many things and they have the right to voice those views. It is through healthy debate that we grow as a nation. That if 50 years after independence we cannot discuss our history then Malaysia is not an adult democracy but one still crawling out of the cradle. And it is decisions like this that keep us in the cradle.

I add my Mat Salleh voice to the protest, and hope that Amir's appeal is successful.

Because someone has to keep pushing at those boundaries, and I'm glad that Amir is brave enough to do it.

You can watch a trailer for the film at Amir's blog. The DVD of the previous film, The Last Communist, is on sale at amazon.com.

* I heard this morning that Faces of Courage has at last been released for sale ... almost a year after it was seized at Johor.

A Women's History of Malaysia

Farish Noor is calling for papers and articles for a publication to be entitled A Women's History of Malaysia from the Post-Colonial Era to the Present which Farish will be editing with Rachel Leow. The reasoning behind the project?:

Malaysian history, like the official history of many postcolonial societies, is narrow in focus, overwhelmingly political, and dominated by the unstated assumptions of those who write that history. More often than not, these mainstream narratives have ignored large areas of the past that are either not perceived to contribute to national history or run counter to the cultural, linguistic, class and gender leanings of the historians themselves. Official Malaysian history is no exception. The history of women in Malaysia, in particular, has hitherto received desperately little attention by historians and contemporary scholars.

The book is slated for release by Silverfish, later in the year.

More information available on The Other Malaysia website.