Jewel of Medina Among Books Banned in Malaysia

22 more books have joined the banned list in Malaysia, bringing the total number of books banned sine 2000 to 397.

From Bernama :

The Home Ministry has issued a ban order on 397 book titles containing materials that could jeopardise public order and obscenity from 2000 to July 2009.

Publication Control Division and Al-Quran Text Division principal assistant secretary Abdul Razak Abdul Latif said 190 of them contained materials that could jeopardise public order and 207 with immoral content.

He said 150 of the books were in Bahasa Malaysia followed by English (142), Mandarin (94), Tamil (nine) and Arabic (two).

Of 22 books banned until July this year, 13 were in Bahasa Malaysia while the rest in English, he said in a statement.

Among Bahasa Malaysia titles banned were Cinta Awak Dalam Sehari, Pengantin Remaja, 55 Masalah Seksual Yang Anda Malu Tanya, Rahsia Dalam Rahsia Di Sebalik Tirai Kamar Suami Isteri and Senggama Kubur.

English titles banned include those published abroad like The Jewel of Medina, The Trouble with Islam Today, Ibrahim a.s And Sarah and Qabil & Nabil.

Abdul Razak said individuals involved in printing, importing, publishing, selling, distributing the books can be charged under the Printing Presses and Publications Act 1984 which carries a jail term up to three years and a fine up to RM20,000.

The complete list of books gazetted as banned in Malaysia from 2000-2009 is online here. Most of the books are the predictable mix of sex manuals and titillation, and books on Islam which don't follow the official line.

The list apparently includes The Jewel of Medina which is not unexpected (and of course there was a whole kerfuffle about it in Britain and elsewhere), but I can't seem to locate it on the list. (Can you?)

The book that I'm saddest about of course is the book edited by Noraini Othman and published by Sisters-in-Islam : Muslim Women and the Challenge of Islamic Extremism.

I see things in Malaysia as becoming less free every day - I almost coughed up a hairball when I read about the possibility that the internet in Malaysia be censored. Freedom of speech is vitally important and must be defended.

On The Right to be Offended

I found this fascinating debate on the limits of freedom of speech (in 9 parts) between Indian diplomat and novelist Shashi Tharoor who is Under-Secretary General for Communications at the UN, and God is Not Great author Christopher Hitchens. It was recorded at the Hay festival last year and is chaired by Joan Bakewell.

Rushdie the House Guest

We made him welcome. I was his lawyer and he was a good friend of my wife, the author Kathy Lette. More important than these links, as it turned out, was the orientation of our house in Islington, north London, which overlooked a church: our bedrooms, the security service explained, offered a clear view of the approach of any would-be assassin.

Geoffrey Robertson QC, in The Times, on having Salman Rushdie as a house guest following the fatwa, twenty years ago yesterday.

More (if you can bear it!) at The Guardian - this time in the form of a documentary which interviews those involved in the book burning incidents.

Galle Festival - How Relevant?

Of course, there's no immediate way that fiction or poetry can be of constructive use in a bloody conflict whose human cost remains concealed. But the fact that most of us can't read the Sinhalese novelists does point to one very relevant literary exercise. A key failing of the otherwise world-class Sri Lankan education system is that while many islanders read at least some English, very few Sinhalese can read Tamil, and vice versa. This will be a major obstacle to any peaceful integration of the island for all sorts of reasons, and allowing Sinhalese and Tamil literature to promote understanding across the ethnic divide is perhaps the least important of them. But putting effort into translation projects would be a small but tangible step in the right direction ...

Lindesay Irvine on The Guardian blog writes about authors celebrating freedom of expression at the Galle Literary Festival in Sri Lanka, and notes the great need for translation of locally written fiction to transcend ethnic boundaries.

Ajith P. Perera [found via The Literary Saloon] refers to the event as :

Colombo elite’s annual intellectual masturbation

and rather cynically asks what objectives the festival actually serves :

A section of Colombo elite might take a long holiday, eat continental breakfasts, drink lots of expensive wines, exchange yarns about their kids, buy few ornamentals, gain few pounds, may even boost the condom sales of nearby pharmacies and disperse. So much for the literature.

The tragedy is large section of creative writers never benefit from either of these festivals. They become untouchables at state festival because they do not appease Talibans. State shows the rebels the door. ... They have no place even at Galle because they do not write in English.

He says he sees the best creative writing - particularly poetry - on the blogs. But bloggers were not a group represented at the festival.

Maura O'Connor of The Sunday Times of Sri Lanka [also found via!] says that:.

.. despite all the fun to be had at the festival, there was a strong sense that the event had yet to seriously deal with the reputation and criticism it garnered in previous years for rather unabashed elitism.

While the programme touted intimate gourmet dinners in Galle Fort mansions and the opportunity to rub shoulders with literary hotshots, there was little in the way of events that allowed for the discussion of topics such as the current ethnic conflict, politics, education, media responsibility, or development. This is strange because one of the festival’s espoused objectives is to “encourage debate on topical issues.”

These are the challenges that the organisers of any literary festival in this part of the world (or indeed in any part of the developing world) have to face up to. The Ubud Festival I think is managing to keep on right side of the line.

A Day in the Prison Life of Harry Nicolaides

Harry Nicolaides, the Australian author who has been imprisoned in a Thai jail talks to Andrew Marshall.about his conditions in prison [via Facebook] :

We’re woken at 6 and counted in the cell. Mine is 40ft long and 15ft wide, holding 50 or 60 prisoners, mostly Thais, mostly murderers and rapists. The cell has one toilet, which is a hole in the ground, and poor ventilation. I sleep in a face mask because tuberculosis and pneumonia are common. I’ve been in this jail for five months now since my arrest last September.

My book, Verisimilitude, was a rather clumsy first attempt at fiction — only 50 copies were printed, and seven sold. I love Thailand and respect the royal family. It was never my intention to offend anyone. I didn’t think what I wrote constituted lese-majesty. I’m an Australian who came to Thailand five years ago, and the passage in my book [alluding to the “romantic entanglements and intrigues” of the Thai monarchy] is no different from things I’ve heard Thai people say over and over again with impunity.

For breakfast I have a small carton of soya milk and a biscuit. Then the prisoners wash and shave around large troughs covered in mould and grime. The water’s changed once a week. Then there’s assembly. We stand to attention as the Thai flag is raised.

We’re asked to sit and pray to a large gold Buddha. I use the time to collect my thoughts and think about my loved ones. Then the guards subject us to long speeches in Thai. I imagine they’re about prison etiquette.

I’m taken upstairs with other foreigners to clean another cell block. Then we’re at leisure for a while. I used to walk around, but I can’t help but encounter the weak and the feeble — like men with TB, languishing on benches. It deadens me. So I try to spend my time replying to the many letters I receive. Letters keep me alive.

We are allowed one 30-minute visit a day, but not on weekends or holidays. The hardest part is walking back to my cell after a visit from family or friends. I break down when I think how they’re suffering.

At 12 the lunch bell rings. The food’s mostly fish bones in hot water, extremely spicy, with rice. I’ve tried it and felt unwell. I can’t afford to fall sick — the mental strain is enough — so my family send me some chicken and a salad every day. It arrives at about 2. There are 20 or 25 cats, who run into the mess hall before the prisoners. Some men put cigarettes in the cats’ mouths or do other unspeakable things to them. For others the cats are a source of comfort in a place full of bitter, twisted people and feelings.

I’m barefoot 80% of my day. It’s partly a security measure so we can’t leap over the electrified, barbed-wire fence, and partly Thai custom. But the floors are covered with fish bones, saliva and cat vomit, so the soles of my feet are black.

I am led to court in shackles and chains. It’s positively medieval. They’re degrading and they bruise and lacerate the ankles. They make you feel you’re guilty.

They say that it’s easy to get to someone in a prison like this, so I’m always on the alert. I’ve met some colourful characters, like Viktor Bout, the suspected Russian arms dealer. He’s an unassuming, softly spoken man. He gave me some garlic the other day — and a manuscript of his life story to edit.

I haven’t looked at it yet. Lots of people give me manuscripts about their lives and cases. They’ve misunderstood that I’m a BBC journalist, of all things.

At 4pm we’re locked in the cells until 6am. That’s a very long time. My patch is about a foot wide, the length of my body. I cannot move to the left or right without pressing on another person. I cannot stretch out my legs without kicking someone.

On the king’s 81st birthday I saw fireworks in the distance. Some Thai prisoners had tears in their eyes, praising a man they regard not just as their king but their father. I may not be a subject of Thailand, but I am a son, and I know what it means to love a father. I’m applying for a royal pardon. I pray the king learns of my plight so I might enjoy his grace, as all his subjects do.

We must make our own provision for dinner. When I’ve finished my chicken, Thais beg for my scraps. The fluorescent lights stay on at night, so I sleep with a cardboard box over my head. I toss and turn on a thin mat on the hard floor. “And this too shall pass,” other foreigners tell me. It’s an old adage and true. But time passes very slowly here.

A blog for the campaign to bring Harry home can be found here with links to the petition.

Another Case of Lèse Majesté

Least we find ourselves getting upset only over the case of a foreign writer ending up in a Thai jail, you might like to consider the case of Thai academic Giles Ji Ungpakorn who yesterday was informed that he is being charged with lèse majesté (and faces a maximum of 15 years in jail) because of 8 paragraphs in Chapter 1 of his book A Coup for the Rich. (The book is banned in Thailand but can be read here on PDF.)





Go read the eight paragraphs which can be found on his blog. This is legitimate political discussion, is it not, of the kind you must be able to debate in your own country? Take another look at Article 19 the UN's Declaration of Human Rights if you have any hesitation in answering that question!

In an email that I just received from Giles, he says that it was the Director of Chulalongkorn University bookshop who decided to inform Special Branch that his book "insulted the Monarchy". :

The bookshop is managed by the academic management of the university. So much for academic freedom!

It looks like the present regime is concerned with creating a climate of fear in which no dissent can be brooked, and is using the royal shield of lèse majesté to legitimise that oppression.

If you feel moved to action :

1. Write a letter of protest/concern to Prime Minister Abhisit Vejjajiva, Government House, Bangkok, Thailand. Fax number +66 (0) 29727751

2. Write a letter of protest/concern to the Ambassador, The Royal Thai Embassy, in your country.

3. Demand that Amnesty International take up all lèse-majesté cases in Thailand.

4. Demand the abolition of the lèse-majesté law.

Australian Author Imprisoned in Thailand

An Australian author and teacher, Harry Nicolaides, has been jailed for 3 years under Thailand's draconian law of lèse majesté - insulting the monarchy. (Do go watch the video footage and see the poor guy shuffling around in chains - completely shameful!)

Nicholaides self-published a novel called Verisimilitude four years a go which sold a total of 7 copies. (The only copy which is still known to exist apparently sits on the shelf of the Thai National Library, freely available to the public!) The book contained a short passage, just 103 words long, which describes the rather flamboyant private life of an unnamed Thai prince.

(I dug around and found the actual extract here if your curiosity is getting the better of you!)

Nicolaides admitted the charge of insulting the royal family, but said he was unaware he was committing an offence.

The writer is by no means the only one to be suffering from this outdated and draconian law which, it seems, is (suprise, suprise) being misued by politicians.

The Australian Embassy more or less ignored the case! I see nothing about Nicolaides plight on Sydney PEN's page (something that does surprise me!).

But PEN American Centre has launched a protest and lists addresses where appeals can be sent.

I join with them in :

• Expressing serious concern about the detention and charge against writer Harry Nicolaides;

• Calling for his immediate and unconditional release in accordance with Article 19 of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, to which Thailand is a signatory.

Postscript :

Yusof found a PDF of the whole book (complete with library stamp!) - read and enjoy!

You can add your name to a petition to stop lèse majesté in Thailand here.

Twenty Years of the Satanic Verses

The Satanic Verses remains a book about the struggles of migration and the frictions of cultural exchange. It pokes fun at all manner of targets, not least America and Britain. Above all, perhaps, it dramatises the conviction that there is nothing more sacred than the freedom to question what is sacred. Twenty years on, it's a principle that urgently needs to be remembered.

In an excellent piece in the Observer Andrew Anthony describes how the book, first published twenty years ago, ignited a cultural war across the globe - the repercussions of which are still being felt, especially in terms of greatly increased censorship in Britain :

Who would dare to write a book like The Satanic Verses nowadays? And if some brave or reckless author did dare, who would publish it? The signs in both cases are that no such writer or publisher is likely to appear, and for two reasons. The first and most obvious is fear. The Satanic Verses is a rich and complex literary novel, by turns ironic, fantastical and satirical. Despite what is often said, mostly by those who haven't read it, the book does not take direct aim at Islam or its prophet. Those sections that have caused the greatest controversy are contained within the dreams or nightmares of a character who is in the grip of psychosis. Which is to say that, even buried in the fevered subconscious of a disturbed character inside a work of fiction - a work of magical realism fiction! - there is no escape from literalist tyranny. Any sentence might turn out to be a death sentence. And few if any of even the boldest and most iconoclastic artists wish to run that risk.

Postscript :

Literary Saloon pointed me in the direction of another article worth reading on the same issue : Twenty Year's On : Internalising the Fatwa by Kenan Malik. Particularly interesting :

The lesson of the Rushdie Affair that has never been learnt is that liberals have made their own monsters. It is the liberal fear of giving offence that has helped create a culture in which people take offence so easily.

Another Postscript :

Screech left this link to Christopher Hitchens Vanity Fair essay on the same theme in the comments. Very well worth a read.

Censorship in Malaysia

If you missed veteran journalist and playwright Kee Thuan Chye, dramatist and actress Jo Kukathas, Malaysia Today editor Raja Petra Kamarudin talking to Riz Khan on Al-Jazeera about press freedom and censorship of the arts - well, here it is again thanks to the miracle of YouTube!

So Who's the Victim Now?

It seems that Patrick Jones' controversial collection of poetry Darkness Is Where The Stars Are will now have a reading hosted by Lib-Dem AM Peter Black and Cardiff South Labour AM Lorraine Barrett, and Jones has been invited to read his work at next year’s Hay-on -Wye festival.

However, something that does rather weaken Jones' case that that he was an innocent victim of a Christian hate group is the fact that he actually e-mailed his poems to every nutcase extremist group he could think of in order to "spark debate". Clearly this publicity was something that he deliberately courted and presumably relished. Christian Voice duly rose to the challenge and inadvertently gave Jones the best advertising blast he could have dreamed of.

(So interesting that in the BBC radio interview Jones actually denies having sent them to Stephen Green! Why on earth does he chose to lie?)

Mr. Guo sent me a link to the poems Green is reacting to on the Forever Delayed forum. I'm sorry, I'm all for Jones' right to put them into a public arena ... but these poems are so utterly banal (think Vogon!) one wonders how they even got published in the first place!

It's sad when battles about freedom of speech (which have to be fought ... against those who would silence voices, against the bookshop which doesn't defend its authors) serve the interests of the mediocre writer.

Update 12/12 :

Patrick Jones read his "blasphemous poems" from Darkness Is Where the Stars Are at the Welsh assembly, and about 250 Christian activists (predictably) turned up to demonstrate by singing hymns and praying outside. Said Liberal Democrat assembly member Peter Black :

I felt very strongly that no organisation should be able to intimidate and force the cancellation of a reading of this sort. ... This is a democratic society, with freedom of speech and freedom of expression, and people shouldn't be intimidated into giving that up. The Welsh Assembly is the home of Welsh democracy, so it seemed highly appropriate to do a reading here. ... My view is that freedom of speech is also the freedom to offend – once you start trying to limit [speech] on the basis that you find the view offensive, you start on a slippery slope towards dictatorship and losing your rights. That's why we staged the event.

Did Waterstones Wimp Out ? You Betcha

Has Waterstones lost its spine? A contributor called Brett on the political blog Harry's Place certainly thinks so.

The British bookstore chain pulled the plug on a booksigning by South Wales poet and playwright Patrick Jones at the 11th hour because of threats of protest from Christian extremists. He was due to launch a new poetry collection Darkness is Where the Stars Are.

Stephen Green (right) and campaigning organisation Christian Voice vowed to disrupt the event if it went ahead, saying that the book was "blasphemous".

In the end the poet had to sign copies in the street.

So what was so controversial about the poems? Jan Fortune -Wood, commissioning editor at Cinnamon Press (which published the book) :

A few of the poems deal with Patrick’s strong views on religion, particularly the way in which it is often associated with military conflict, the subjugation of women or movements that exclude the ‘outsider’. These are issues that art should rightly be pushing to the forefront of debate in a liberal society and there are people of faith who are concerned with such issues as well as humanists and secularists.

William Crawley on the BBC website says :

Mr Jones is plainly a poet who addresses political and religious themes in his work. In this collection, some poems explore the portrayal of women and some deal with the relationship between Jesus and Mary Magdalene. He uses language that is, at times, raw. He would not be the first poet to address these themes or to use raw language.

But as Fortune-Wood goes on to say :

Debate is not served by caving in to extremists, who do not even represent the majority of Christians, let alone the values of civil, liberal society, but proceed by threat and intimidation.

Surely a bookstore has a duty to support its authors - from whom it makes its money, after all, and it's necessary to stand up against all who would silence a writer's voice. (Or the space for other voices shrinks away too.)

It's the job of the British police to offer protection against intimidation and thuggery, should the bounds of legitimate protest be overstepped.

You can hear both Jones and Green talking on the BBC Wales website.

Here is the publisher's statement :



If you feel strongly about the issue, do drop an e-mail to Gerry Johnson, Waterstone's Managing Director at gerry.johnson@waterstones.com . (Be polite, please!)

You can also support Patrick Jones by buying a copy of his book from Cinnamon Press or from Amazon. (Mine is on the way!)

Postscript :

Carrie Dunn on the Guardian blog calls Waterstones "cowardly".

(Thanks, Jilly Kidd, a Second Life friend, for bringing this issue to my attention yesterday.)

English PEN Calls for RPK's Release

The English branch of international writers' organisation PEN is calling for the immediate and unconditional release of Malaysian blogger Raja Petra Kamaruddin saying that it is in violation of Article 19 of the United Nations Universal Declaration of Human Rights. RPK was sentenced without trial to two-years in prison on 22 September 2008 under the Internal Security Act (ISA) for his critical writings published online.

(Although was it really that article on Islam that got him detained or his piece linking the wife of a very high profile politician to a spectacularly gruesome murder? I am very confused. I guess we have no way of knowing what the truth is since the case against him won't come to trial.)

PEN also provide a list of contacts to whom you can make your appeal. And should you be so inspired, you can buy a t-shirt to support RPK here.

Those Arrests

It's no good. It's too big to be ignored. Forgive the off-topicness.

This blogger vehemently protests the arrest and detention without trial of Raja Petra, MP Theresa Kok and Sin Chew Daily journalist Tan Hoon Cheng under the Internal Security Act. I add my voice to those demanding their immediate release.

More here on The Malaysian Insider ... which also says that intelligence sources said more arrests are likely ... making us wonder if this is this a repeat of the infamous Operation Lalang of 1987?

Three newspapers have also been issued show-cause letters.

Certainly these measures smack of desperation and are taken by a government which has clearly lost the plot.

Tan's arrest (for, hello, simply doing her job as a reporter!) has sent shockwaves through those working in the media. On Rocky's blog, Norlia Daud of the National Union of Journalists is quoted as saying :

This is a gravely serious matter. For the first time in 21 years, a journalist has been detained under the ISA. A reporter has been detained under ISA for doing her job, for reporting. The Prime Minister, Datuk Seri Abdullah Ahmad Badawi, only recently told media practioners to be brave in reporting the truth [read the Star's Uphold the truth, 4/9], and now the Government has taken an action designed to intimidate these media practitioners. Sin Chew has been issued with a show-cause letter by the Government over the Ahmad Ismail report, so why invoke the ISA when before letting the newspaper editors respond to the show-cause? Also, I am very disappointed that the editors have not been hauled up. In any newspaper company, it is the Editor who is accountable. The NUJ will monitor the developments very closely.

I'm not very good at writing of matters political so please let me pass you on to other bloggers who talk a lot of sense. Here's some to start with : Kickdefella, Marina Mahathir, KTemoc, Lulu, Patrick Teoh, Jeff Ooi, Eli Wong.

(The badge, which I also picked up from Rocky's blog, is designed by Mr. Smith and I wish I had a real life version to wear.)

Cyberspace Crackdown

Congratulations, Malaysia. Your crackdown on the internet (see here and here) now allows you to join an exclusive list of progressive countries which includes as North Korea, China, Syria and Iran.

To celebrate go and read Amnesty International's Irrepressible Information website and sign the pledge.

RPK and the Sedition Charge

This blogger adds her voice to those expressing concern and support for Raja Petra Kamaruddin who has been arrested and charged with sedition for his article Let's Send the Alantunya Murderers to Hell which he posted on his news portal Malaysia Today. RPK has refused bail and is now going to jail.

My overseas readers who don't know the background to the case, might like to read this piece the originally from Asian Wall Street Journal (now archived on the Unspun blog) about the horrifying murder and the possible political implications. The case is ongoing, but whether those who gave the order for her killing will ever be brought to justice remains to be seen.

That RPK should find himself in court over his words, I'm sure surprises no-one.

But arrested? But charged with sedition? As Datuk Ambiga Sreenevasan of the Malaysian Bar Council says :

The Sedition Act is a draconian, archaic and repressive piece of legislation that has long outlived any perceived utility it may ever have had. It is incompatible with the progressive, open and democratic society that we had believed Malaysia was becoming," she said, adding that the use of such law was disconcerting and lends credence to the view that in fact the democratic space in Malaysia is still severely curtailed. ... The Sedition Act and other authoritarian laws represent a severe encroachment on the fundamental freedoms enshrined in our Constitution. These fundamental civil liberties are indisputable hallmarks of any democracy and must be safeguarded if Malaysia is to lay any claim to being a democratic nation.

It looks as if someone at the top wants to scare, not only RPK, but the whole online community into compliant silence, don't you think?

Tesco in Hot Thai Sauce

Member of English PEN, including authors Mark Haddon, Nick Hornby (right), Joanne Harris, Marina Lewycka and Deborah Moggach have sent an open letter to Tesco chief Sir Terry Leahy protesting :

..."grossly disproportionate" libel actions against critics in Thailand who have questioned the growth of the supermarket chain. ... Siratranont, a former Thai MP, is facing up to two years in jail and a £16.4m libel damages claim for saying that Tesco was expanding aggressively at the expense of small local retailers. He was served with writs for criminal defamation and civil libel. Kamol Kamoltrakul (below) a business columnist, is being sued for £1.6m damages for alleging that Tesco Lotus, the supermarket's trading name in Thailand, had sought to minimise its Thai tax liabilities. Kamol, who was paid £16 for the column, faces bankruptcy if he loses. Nongnart Harnvilai, another columnist, is also being sued for £1.6m after she wrote in a short, tongue-in-cheek article that the company did not "love" Thailand. In the writ, Tesco claimed that the article had damaged its reputation.

It is entirely necessary that journalists and others should be free to ask questions about huge foreign corporation expanding aggressively in their own country. Suing those writer seems to me grossly insensitive, and the amounts involved hugely disproportionate, and I add my voice to those protesting the court actions.

Tesco, of course, has a presence here in Malaysia but doesn't seem to be expanding as quickly - perhaps because of competition from Carrefour and Giant hypermarkets.

Postscript :

Online magazine The FirstPost points out that :

The protest by Hornby et al is not without risk. According to The Bookseller magazine combined sales of their books through Tesco are estimated at £2.5m.

Another Postscript :

If discussing the impact of supermarkets on a local economy were a criminal offence in Britain, hosts of prominent journalists would find themselves in prison.

argues Lisa Appignanesi on the Guardian blog.

Yet Another Postscript :

More about this case and Tesco's reponse in the Times.

If You Can't Laugh at Yourself, Who Can?

Some time ago I asked (playing Devil's advocate, I admit) whether Malaysians "get" satire.

Well, perhaps there are those in the Malaysian Internal Security Department (KDN) who (*gasp*) don't. The Wikipedia website reports that:

... Uncyclopedia, a parody of online encyclopedia Wikipedia, has been labeled by the Malaysian government as dangerous. The Internal Security Department of Malaysia issued the warning today, saying that the site has "messages and information insulting Malaysia".

And just how is Malaysia depicted? Here's a snippet:

Essentially the penis of Asia which is located to the north of their cousins who live on an even smaller island Singapore, Malaysia (also known as Bolehland) is a young nation of diverse cultures and races such as F1 Formula-1 and Nascar. The timezone of Malaysia is unique because it follows the system of +1/+2 PMT (Predetermined Meeting Time) which is 1 or 2 hours later than PMT. Most foreigners have difficulty adjusting to this new timezone as they tend to show up 1 or 2 hours earlier than the local counterparts. The nation is moving forward with a vision towards becoming a developed nation by the year 2020, 3030, 4040 or whatever catchy number. ... Another common state that Malaysians have is denial (no lah, where got?), which incidentally, is a river in Egypt.

The Internal Security Department urges folks not to circulate the content of the site. (Ooops!)

And in response to the warning, the Uncyclopedia Internal Security Department has issued one of its own ... and asked all Malaysians not to use the country today.

Please do your best to comply.

I picked up the story from Howsy and it is also covered by Jeff.

Just Be Thankful

... you aren't a writer in these countries.

1) Iran

where according to Saeed Kamali Dehgan in the Observer authors are becoming increasingly disheartened and disinclined to work following the banning of many important contemporary and international novels. (I blogged a short time back about the banning of the Farsi translation of Gabriel Garcia Marquez's Memories of My Melancholy Whores.) The crackdown has included Persian books too, with writers finding it very difficult to get the official approval they need to publish.

Worse still:

The novelist Yaghoub Yadali was recently illegally imprisoned for 40 days by the government for several passages from his novel Mores of Unrest, a book which had ministry permission. He was eventually charged with dissemination of falsehood and sentenced to three months' imprisonment, as well as being required to write three mandatory articles. This led to an outcry among many Iranian writers, who believe that the government is invading the imagination

The internet is providing an avenue for authors though:

Reza Ghassemi, an important Iranian novelist based in France, recently published his new novel, The Abracadabra Murmured by Lambs, on the internet in a free ebook PDF format instead of facing government censorship and the formal permission procedure. His enovel has been reviewed and welcomed by the huge Iranian blog community much more warmly than if it had been published on paper.

2) Myanmar

where according to the People's Online Daily, authors have been urged :

... to serve the national interest and educate people with literature as well as to lead people applying modern arts, new thoughts, theories and ideas.

Nothing like using your art to prop up a corrupt regime, is there?

It's worth going back to Aida Edemariam's article here for a more realistic view of how things are. The delights include arrests, imprisonment and harassment.

3) Vietnam

where nothing at all seems to be happening on the literary scene. VietNamNet noted* that its authors seem to be in hibernation. Several prominent writers and poets passed on, which could be one the reasons.

Still government crackdowns on writers doesn't exactly create the optimum creative environment, does it?


To point out the obvious : good writing does not thrive under a totalitarian regime.

* found via Literary Saloon.com

While I Was There, Things Were Happening Here

Here people really have to work hard to build a scene. And by the time (the scene) is thriving, the poets would have nurtured themselves pretty well to take over. And that's going to be mind-blowing. ... I really do think than the Malaysian poets can whack off stage those so-called top poets in the UK now. The standard of writing here is better.

The words of performance poet Charlie Dark will be enormously encouraging to all involved in live literature in KL. The complete interview from the New Sunday Times is here.

I'm so sad I missed Wayang Kata V at No Black Tie on Sunday night when Dark performed with local poets. Has anyone blogged it or stuck up pictures anywhere? If so, could you please post the link?

I also missed Ann Lee's play Tarap Man which I had really been looking forward to. The only night I was free to go, the tickets were already all gone when I called up. But I appreciated Saras Manickam's review and really hope this excellent play gets staged again.

The other big event of the weekend was to have been the International Human Rights Day celebrations with a peaceful walk from Sogo to Central Market in solidarity with the principle of freedom of expression. I am most upset that things turned out very differently, and that lawyers got arrested ... what is happening? No, don't answer because the way things are going in this country is just too depressing.

Britain's Thought Police

And yes, we knew, we just knew that Hari Kunzru would have something to say about Samina Malik's case.

Hari confesses to having quite a stash of books on terrorism himself (not totally unrelated to the fact, I suppose, that he was researching a novel on the topic, My Revolutions).

On Samima Malik's case he says:

I have no idea whether Malik was giving material support to terrorists, or intending to become a suicide bomber. It certainly seems reasonable that she came to the attention of the authorities. However, we're now in the grip of our own terrorist panic, and rationality seems to be ebbing away. We seem to have accepted the principle that it should be illegal to think, read and write certain things. Incitement to violence is rightly criminalised, but what about imagining violence? It's hard not to link Malik's poems to other trends - the push for ever-widening hate speech laws, the calls for writers like Monica Ali to be "careful" about how they represent the world. We are being taught to be circumspect. How long before it's suggested we should shut up altogether?

There's a lot happening in Britain that deeply worries me ... and it doesn't have to do with terrorism.