Cartoonist Zunar Charged with Sedition

The police raided the office of political cartoonist Zunar (left) in Brickfields on Friday and seized 66 copies of his collection (very aptly titled given the high-level of governmental paranoia towards his work!) Cartoon-o-phobia. They also apparently took away a caricature of Prime Minister Najib Razak and his wife Rosmah Mansor.

The story? :

Zunar’s book is considered detrimental to public order and can influence the public to revolt against government policies. 

Zunar was charged with sedition and detained but has since been released on bail.

Home Minister Datuk Seri Hishammuddin Hussein is reported as saying that Zunar's arrest was made after his book of cartoons that touched on the country's legal system and religion, including the "Allah" issue (still unresolved!) was found to be detrimental to public order.
 
Malaysiakini chief editor and Zunar's publisher Steven Gan called it :

... an attack on freedom of expression

Aliran says :

If expressing views that are critical of the government and its policies are deemed to be an offence, then this unfortunately may be construed as a warning to not only other cartoonists but also critical political commentators, analysts and oppositionists. ... If a free and responsible press is the cornerstone of a democracy, then the political and legal constraints that have been placed against journalists and cartoonists, among others, must be removed to promote democracy, the free flow of information and honest journalism. In the case of Malaysia, the Sedition Act and the Printing Presses and Publications Act must be repealed.

Zunar, meanwhile,  vows to continue to draw and also plans to sue the police.

This blogger cheers him on.

Postscript :

Some of the cartoons that got Zunar locked up.

Postscript 2 :

NGO's come out in support of Zunar :

Body2Body Snatchers

The Home Ministry has apparently seized* three copies of the Body 2 Body: A Malaysian Queer Anthology published last year, from KL book store, Kinokuniya, Patrick Lee reports.

Publisher Amir Muhammad commented :

They just walk into a shop and take the copies ... They don't want to go through the whole legal process (of banning the book). ... It's kind of ironic, (as) a month ago I decided not to reprint the book.

The book has sold more than 2,900 copies to date, so talk about making a gesture to shut the stable door after the horse has ... not just bolted, but disappeared over the horizon.

Lee points out that :

Amir is no stranger to the government's book-grabbing tendencies. ... In February this year, nine copies of his political satire title, “Malaysian Politicians Say the Darndest Things (Vol 2)” were seized by police officers from MPH Mahkota Parade in Malacca.

I must say that one doesn't know whether to laugh or to cry when this kind of thing happens. One way or another, we all get to read the books we want to read, and Malaysian voices will out.  But the fact that any book gets seized reminds us that Big Brother State is always there to attempt to trample those voices.

Anyway, Amir has some other good things going on to take his mind off all this.  The first edition of his new book 120 Malay Movies is all but sold out (Amir, please save me a copy!!). He has two more books on the best-seller list. And now he's steaming ahead with a book on his take of the Malay classic Sejarah Melayu. (Chapter One is here.)

Postscript :

Back to splitting semantic hairs.  Christine Chan writes in Malaysiakini :

The Home Ministry's Publications Control and Quranic Text secretary Zaitun Ab Samad said that the books entitled Body 2 Body, published by Amir Muhammad, have not been seized, rather only taken to undergo scrutiny.

"Taken" or "seized"? 

The first word is too innocuous (the stores have no choice but to let the books go so there is an element of  compulsion which "take" - sorry Pn Zaiton - does not cover).  "Seized" may yes, be too strong, a bit dramatic, but "confiscated", which is probably better, makes us think of school.  The books (we know from past form) will not be paid for, not returned after they have been "examined".  If the books were only for study then why on earth would three copies need to be taken??

Postscript to Postscript :

 Hazlan Zakaria gets round it nicely by using the word "appropriated"!

Ban Books - Boost Sales!

Bizarrely, (withholding the books) probably meant we sold more books. We wouldn’t have done this well otherwise ...

Palgrave Macmillan executive director for East Asia, Steve Maginn, talks to Starmag's Elizabeth Tai about the seizure of Barry Wain's Malaysian Maverick: Mahathir Mohamad in Turbulent Times, and the way it (ironically) boosted sales when the book was finally released.

Elsewhere, Tunku Halim reviews the book ... and suggests we should look past the lost RM50bil.  Myself, I don't feel that allegation can or should be swept under the carpet.

Cross-Border Book Trade

Malaysia and Singapore are just simply two funny, intertwined brothers. Can’t find it here? Just cross the border and get it. Good simple free trade, but keep our freedom away from the Big Brother, hopefully. 

guansin's post on the Airkosong blog about book-banning and cross-border book trade is spot on, and thank goodness for it. And with Shadrake's arrest, he says :

Booksellers in Malaysia, time for your contribution to the freedom of Singaporeans now, and make money from it.

Absolutely!

Singapore Arrests UK Author

I must express my concern over the arrest of author Alan Shadrake (75) in Singapore on defamation charges and contempt of course following the publication of his book on the death penalty in the city state.  Once A Jolly Hangman: Singapore Justice in the Dock was launched Saturday at the Post Museum.  The report against him came from the Media Development Authority.

 It sounds like Shadrake opened up a bag of worms the authorities would rather have kept tightly closed, particularly regarding serious inconsistencies in sentencing. The blurb reads :

Over the past few decades, investigative journalism has come to mean the kind of brave reporting that exposes injustice, wrongdoing and, above all, the abuse of power. Alan Shadrake’s hard-hitting new book cuts through the façade of official silence to reveal disturbing truths about Singapore’s use of the death penalty. From in-depth interviews with Darshan Singh, Singapore’s chief executioner for nearly fifty years, to meticulously researched accounts of numerous high profile cases, Once A Jolly Hangman reveals the cruelty and imprudence of an entire judicial system. At the same time he displays a touching empathy with the anguish of the victims and their families. This important book should be required reading for human rights activists everywhere.

The Online Citizen looks at what exactly might have rattled the Singapore authorities. 

The book can be purchased in Malaysia from Kinibooks and SIRD, but in Singapore, although the book was not banned, bookshops were ordered to take it off the shelves.

But there's always a positive side to book banning - it invariably highlights the books we really ought to read, and I hope that as a result of his arrest, the issues highlighted by Shadrake will be debated in a larger arena.

Postscript (20/7):

Shadrake has been released on bail.

A Lack of Confidence

It is quite astonishing that a successful and globalised country like Malaysia should contemplate banning a mainstream account of its recent political developments. It suggests a lack of confidence beneath a glossy, modern exterior. The problem for the government is that there is too big a gap between what it has fed the public in official versions of events and what really happened as related in my book. ... On a practical level, the prolonged examination of the book before release indicates ineptness. Malaysians were buying the book by the hundreds in Singapore and elsewhere, rendering a possible future ban pretty much moot.

says Barry Wain author of Malaysian Maverick: Mahathir Mohamad in Turbulent Times in an interview with Deborah Loh at The Nut Graph. The book is now available in the shops.
 

Malaysian Maverick Cleared for Sale

The Home Ministry took 4 months to make up its mind, but now Malaysian Maverick: Mahathir Mohamad in Turbulent Times by Barry Wain has been approved for sale and should hit the bookshops by early next week, The Star reports.

When The Home Ministry Steals Your Books

I've known about the Home Ministry opening packets of books in the mail and confiscating them on whim for some time, but have usually lacked a concrete example to put before you. (The worst example I heard of before this was a friend losing the books she had ordered from Amazon.com on the subject of ovarian cysts, which she wanted to read up on prior to her surgery. Now if that isn't shameful, what is?)

Subashini provides not one but two examples of books that were taken en-route to her from Malaysian online bookshop Acmamall.  She writes on her blog :

Some time back I was told that my order of Laini Taylor’s Lips Touch Three Times was detained by the Home Ministry after I had placed the order and paid for it. Acmamall was most accommodating about issuing a refund, but I haven’t stopped foaming at the mouth about being informed that I simply couldn’t purchase any book I wanted as I initially thought I could. ... I’ve been unable to fathom what makes Lips Touch Three Times, a young adult book that’s been critically lauded in most American press, a subversive book, or indeed, one that is a threat to national security or morals. Is it the goblins? Are they afraid that reading this book will prompt a rash of young Malaysians to want to make out with pontianaks? Are they afraid it will encourage a kissing epidemic?

I have no idea.

I told myself to calm down, life’s too short to get raging mad at EVERY damn thing (wrinkles, sour facial expression, etc.), and chalked it up to one very small loss as a result of being Malaysian. Other Malaysians were dealing with far worse problems – lack of income, land, home, citizenship; lack of access to rights to see their own babies, rights to a fair trial, rights to drink whatever they damn well please without being whipped. Not being able to read a book is no big deal, really.

Or is it?

I placed my next order for Virginie Despentes’ King Kong Theory with trepidation. I told a friend that it will most likely be ‘detained,’ but I really hoped I was wrong. I REALLY wanted to read it. But sure enough, I get an email today from the Acmamall customer service informing me that the book has indeed been detained by the Home Ministry. And if you head over to Acmamall’s website, you’ll see that the book is now listed as ‘Not for sale in Malaysia.’

I felt anger at that very instant – again, being told what I’m allowed to read and not allowed to read just makes me blindingly angry. Even my parents have never told me what I could and could not read.

... With King Kong Theory, reviewers have said that the author, whether or not you agree with her stand, has presented a brash, bold and thought-provoking perspective on modern-day feminism. ... I mean, these are the subjects I like to think about and read about. Maybe I’m the only sad sod in all of Malaysia who’s upset about the Home Ministry detaining King Kong Theory because… well, what the hell kind of book is it anyway?!? But that shouldn’t be the point. I’m prevented from reading a book for reasons I don’t even know of.

I wonder what made the authorities deem this book unfit for Malaysian eyes – is it the fact that the author was formerly a prostitute, and made a highly-controversial (if not exactly acclaimed) movie on the complex interrelations of sexual desire, abuse, and power? Do the authorities even know this? (I’m of the belief that their brains are puny; small enough to hold only recycled thoughts and prosaic wishes – such as the nature of, “Harap boleh makan nasi lemak petang ni…”) Are they afraid that Malaysian women will, en-masse, decide to prostitute themselves in an attempt at self-empowerment? Are they afraid that Malaysian women will want to migrate to France and prostitute themselves after reading this book (the author is French)? Did they simply look at the title and conclude that King Kong, being the product of American capitalist Hollywood minds, has no place in Malaysia – that a King Kong theory usurps the revered position of our local orangutans?

Again, I have no idea.

Well, I’m not being honest here. I suppose I have an inkling. Books like this one make people think; but more alarmingly, it makes people question the status quo. Police states don’t want its citizens thinking and questioning anything – especially not if it’s a police state pretending to be a multicultural, peaceful, free-thinking democracy.

I hope Subashini's impassioned plea is heard by those who need to hear it.

Meanwhile if you or your friends have any books confiscated in the post do let me know so I can blog it here and get the word out.

The Quiet Desperation of Crumbling Regimes

The evidence suggests that there is a systemic, consistent effort to suppress any efforts to break BN’s hegemony on information and power. ... Instead of banning books or persecuting authors, the police now harass and intimidate bookstores — businesses at the mercy of the authorities — effectively creating a backdoor ban on the books. Due to this pressure, I believe one can barely find copies of Where is Justice? 1FunnyMalaysia, or Politicians Say the Darndest Things Vol. 2 (on the shelves for over a year, mind), in a single Malaysian bookshop anymore, even though it is still 100 per cent legal to sell them.

writes Nathaniel Tan's in Malaysian Insider, one example among many of how alternative voices are being suppressed.

And he concludes :

... the effort put into suppressing the free flow of information and wrongful intimidation of alternative voices indicate more than anything else a crumbling, bankrupt regime.

Nathaniel's book was, of course, one of those "confiscated".

More Bookshop Harrassment

One of Amir Muhammad's books has now fallen victim to this plague of bookshop snafflings. 

He received this fax from MPH Distributors telling him that all copies of Malaysian Politicians Say the Darndest Things (Vol 2) were seized from MPH Mahkota Parade, Melaka on Feb 10th.

Amir writes on his blog :

I view this seizure is the latest act of harassment by the authorities against bookshops and publishers.

If, indeed, these people suspect that the book (which has been on sale since December 2008 -- yes, for 14 months-- with no hassle) might "have a negative impact on public tranquility/morals/public safety/relations between the country and foreign nations", why can't they just go through the proper channels by banning the book?

The book has many pictures and very little text; even so, did it really take the authorities 14 months to even suspect that the book committed any or all of those vaguely-stated offences? If so, should we worry about the literacy rate of the members of the police force?

I wonder why the police are being used in this way, too, rather than the Home Ministry's enforcement officers? Wouldn't they be better employed working to reduce some of the crime on the streets?

Stop Harassing Bookstores!

Dear Malaysian Home Ministry, the message is a simple one (and it's not the first time I have blogged this ) :

STOP HARRASSING BOOKSHOPS!!!

If you say that you want to get your hands on a copy OF a title to study it :

THEN ASK THE PUBLISHERS!

If you decide to get it from a bookseller :

PAY FOR WHAT YOU TAKE!

If a book is not banned and you seize it, you are acting in a bullying, brutish manner and possibly illegally.

News today in The Star that seven bookshops have had copies of the Malaysiakini books 1Funny Malaysia and Where is Justice confiscated/nabbed/grabbed/seized. 57 copies of the books taken in all :

“The books are not banned but they want to seize the books for review purposes,” said Malaysiakini editor-in-chief Steven Gan.

He said ministry officials could get the books from Kinibooks and need not disturb the bookstores.

He added that Malaysiakini had asked its lawyers to send a letter to the Home Ministry asking for reason for the seizure of the books and demand for their return.

“If they want to ban the books, they should just ban it and we will contest the decision in court,” he said.

1Funny Malaysia by Malaysiakini cartoonist Zulkiflee Anuar is the second of the cartoonist’s books to be seized.

His cartoon magazine Gedung Kartun (Cartoon Store) was seized in August last year.
“My work touches on current issues and is designed to arouse critical thinking and encourage healthy debates.

“The Home Ministry and police actions certainly do not encourage the development of the political cartoon industry in Malaysia. It is also a total violation of press freedom, freedom of expression and the principles of democracy,” he said.

Nathaniel Tan, editor of Where is Justice said he does not understand why the Home Ministry was taking so long to review the book as the text was not long.

“The facts used in the books were checked by our lawyers before publishing to ensure we are not breaking any laws,” he added.

This is a pattern of unacceptable behaviour that needs to stop. But then the authorities are clearly not listening.

Postscript (18/2)  :

Amir Muhammad and I got quoted in a piece in The Malay Mail today.  And we discover that lo and behold, the ministry have not, in fact, "confiscated" the copies "for review purposes", but because, according to the ministry's deputy secretary-general Datuk Ahmad Fuad Ab Azizthey  :

... enforcement officers found the titles to be 'offensive' and violated the Printing Presses and Publications Act 1984.

What happens next - whether the books will be banned officially or not - remains to be seen. Meanwhile all we can do is protest against the stiffling of freedom of the press in Malaysia and the heavy-handed tactics of enforcement officers in removing books from shops.

So Where IS Justice?

*Sigh* - here's another incident in which books have been seized  - oops - "confiscated".

This time it's the Seremban police who have confiscated 22 books published by Kinibooks, a subsidiary of Malaysiakini, last Friday from Popular Book Store. The books are 12 copies of 1Funny Malaysia comic books and 10 copies of Where is Justice? 


According to Malaysiakini :

Special Investigation Divisions officer Inspector Bobby Bana said that orders came from the Negri Sembilan police headquarters last week for the books to be seized.



"We are not banning the books but are just taking them to analyse their content," said Bana, who was part of the raiding team, when contacted today.


This is the latest incident following seizures of the same books in Malacca and Penang two weeks ago.


It is understood that the books are being studied for seditious content that could compromise the harmony of the country.


'1Funny Malaysia' is a compilation of cartoonist Zunar's works while 'Where is Justice?' is about death and brutality in police custody focusing on four prominent cases involving Teoh Beng Hock, A Kugan, Altantuya Shaariibuu, and Anwar Ibrahim.

Do get your copies of both books while they are still available, here. 

BanBanBan!

To update you on the several banned-unbanned book sagas ongoing in Malaysia at the moment, so to keep you up to date  ...

First, the High Court has adjourned to Feb 12 the decision on the application by author K. Arumugam seeking to declare null and void the government’s decision to ban his book on the Kampung Medan.

Secondly, I reported that Barry Wain's book Malaysian Maverick : Mahathir Mohammad in Turbulent Times is banned. It seems I was premature, the book is still being studied by Ministry officials. (There's an interesting article about it here in The Sydney Morning Herald.)

Meanwhile the book is flying off the shelves in Singapore and according to industry sources there are also several hundred copies already for sale inside the country (if you know where to look - which isn't in the bigger bookshop chains) so I don't reckon that anyone who want to reads the book is going to go without.   But I do feel very sorry for the supplier whose copies remain are in limbo ... I am sure that the government is not going to compensate them for losses. 

I reported on Sister's in Islam victory the other day, but I have since heard (via Twitter) that the government intends to appeal the High Court's decision - though I have not seen this reported in the press.

Will keep you informed in all these cases.

Banning Books is Like Banning Thoughts

We urge other authors and publishers of banned book to write to the home ministry to ask for reasons on why their books have been banned.

Without communicating to the author or the publisher on any detailed explanation for its action, it will only make one wonder whether the authorities may have something to hide or that they are submitting themselves to unfathomable prejudices or that they have simply not yet read the book.

The joy of reading is a fundamental human right and we hope to get this message across. Books are important keystone for information and expression.

Books can feed the mind, nourish the soul, and promote positive change in individuals and society. Banning books is like banning thoughts – senseless and not to mention, dangerous.

Dr Hamidah Marican, executive director of Sisters in Islam, in Malaysiakini, following their victory in court.

And JAKIM has told Muslims to "stay away" from the book, Bernama reports, a position that makes me very angry indeed - for heaven's sake, let readers make up their own mind!

Wong Chin Huat at The Nut Graph writes an excellent piece on censorship and calls on Malaysians to become conscientious objectors in the face of book banning.

... what would have happened if the High Court upheld the Home Ministry's ban? ...
It could pose a call for Malaysians to be conscientious objectors. Imagine this: 30 persons reading a copy of the banned book — this could be easily done if someone scanned it into PDF format and others downloaded and printed it — in front of a bookshop in one of Klang Valley's major shopping malls.

Maybe next time, then?

Ban Lifted on Sisters in Islam Book

I am extremely happy to hear of Sisters-in-Islam's victory in the High Court yesterday. The Home Minister’s order banning the book Muslim Women and the Challenges of Islamic Extremism was overturned by Justice Mohamad Ariff Md Yusof who ruled that the book did not disturb public order, as the ministry had claimed.

He said :

Some may not agree with what is stated in the book but this is to be expected in an academic text, which this book is. But to conclude that it can create public disorder is something that cannot stand to objective scrutiny. ... I therefore find an error of law evident in the decision of the minister on the combined terms of illegality and irrationality. It can be said that the reaction (to ban the book) is wholly disproportionate to the concerns expressed.

He also awarded SIS costs.

Norani Othman of SIS said to reporters after wards that it was “a good day” for academic freedom and freedom of speech, and that :

The book has not caused public disorder. It is a serious book that discusses and analyses certain aspects of the implementation of Islamic family law and syariah criminal law... in so far as it affects the rights of Muslim women. ... We are not questioning the syariah law, akidah or rejecting Islam.

It's been a two year fight to get the book unbanned, and it is a very important victory which offers hope to others whose works have suffered in a similarly arbitrary way.

And really this is yet another instance of the Malaysian government having been made to look stupid and narrow-minded in the international arena, with the story being picked up around the world. Please don't shame us further!

Yes, Dr. M's Book Will Be Banned Here

Yes, it seems that there is a going to be a ban on the book Malaysian Maverick: Mahathir Mohamad in Turbulent Times. The Malay Mail reports that the Home Ministry's Quran Publication Control and Text Division division :

... found the book by veteran Australian journalist Barry Wain to have content that was not only erroneous but also damaging to former Prime Minister Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamed.

The former PM says that he wanted the book to be released and said that he did not need any protection :

In his blog, Dr Mahathir welcomed the suggestion saying that the commission should not be confined to one prime minister alone but should also look into Tun Abdullah Badawi’s tenure as prime minister.

(Here's what he says on his blog about it.)

Surely it is better for everything to be out in the open, and allegations scrutinised and either refuted, or fully investigated? Banning the book is in no-one's best interests and simply demonstrates that the present government is unwilling to face up to issues that are undeniably in the public interest.

Another good review of the book by Din Merican can be found here.

New Biog of Mahathir Isn't Reaching Shops

800 copies of an authoritative new biography of our former PM entitled Malaysian Maverick: Mahathir Mohamad in Turbulent Times have been held up for the past three weeks at customs at Port Klang. Says The Asian Sentinel, the book written by former Asian Wall Street Journal Managing Editor Barry Wain :

... is a warts-and-all, critical but fair account of Mahathir's 22 years in power. It is certain to become an essential study for scholars seeking to understand the onetime premier's reign and its consequences. But maybe not in Malaysia itself unless the locals buy through Barns & Noble (available Jan. 10) or Amazon (Jan. 5) for US$60.75.

And the piece gives a lovely insight into how a book can be prevented from reading its audience without ever actually being banned by time time honoured practice of foot-dragging :

Foreign published books air-freighted into Malaysia often go through customs without being checked, or with only a cursory check at the airport. Books sent by ship or by land from Singapore are often stopped for inspection, however, which can mean customs officers spending weeks reading the material. Sometimes they just sit on the book, leaving the publisher with little option but to withdraw it or be faced with being hit with storage charges, leaving the book effectively banned without the government having to face criticism for formally banning it.

Aliran says that this is

... nothing short of crude and reckless censorship, although indirect, the effect is the same. It very undemocratically denies Malaysians reading material that should be made freely available to all and sundry. This book is of particular interest to citizens who are appalled by the disclosure that under Mahathir RM100 billion could have been squandered. They have been waiting anxiously to find out how this atrocity involving a mammoth, mind-boggling amount could have happened without anybody commenting on this extravagance.

(One silly silly line at the end of the piece :

But for readers who buy Kindle or another electronic reader, it's easy to get.

because of course there isn't a single e-reader for the Malaysian market as yet !)

More about the book on Anak Bangsa Malaysia's blog.

Update 27/12 :

This from The Star :

The book Malaysian Maverick: Mahathir Mohamad in Turbulent Times is not being put through any additional scrutiny by the Home Ministry.

It has been withheld to undergo the normal process for any foreign publication, said ministry deputy secretary-general Datuk Ahmad Fuad Abdul Aziz.

“Studying the content is the usual process for any publication from abroad and the book written by Barry Wain is no exception,” Ahmad Fuad said in a statement yesterday.

He said this was to ensure the publication’s contents would not jeopardise national security and public safety.

He said the ministry had 60 days from the time it was submitted to decide if the book should be allowed to be distributed in the country.

Banned Book Probably Wasn't Even Read By Banner!

How can a book be banned - when the Home Minister apparently did not apparently even bother to read it first?

This was the question raised in court yesterday by K. Shanmuga, counsel for Sisters In Islam (SIS) in their judicial review to quash an order banning the book entitled Muslim Women and the Challenges of Islamic Extremism highlighted what he referred to as a decision “clearly lacking in logic” and said, quite rightly :

He must read the book. I can’t think of any other way of banning a book. ... The minister must satisfy himself (before exercising his power), and I submit the only way he can do it is by reading the book.

All this of course begs the question - who is actually ruling the country and making decisions - the elected political representatives (who currently seem gutless) or the Islamicists? (Especially those who would rob women of an opportunity to speak out against injustices in a logical and reasoned manner.)

The Allah Controversy and the Confiscated Bibles

Malaysia once more hits the world news for all the wrong reasons :

Malaysian authorities have confiscated more than 15,000 Bibles in recent months because they referred to "God" as "Allah," a translation that has been banned in this Muslim-majority country, Christian church officials said Thursday.

This issue about whether Christians are allowed to refer to God as Allah when they use Malay should have been resolved by the courts, but two years later the case brought by The Roman Catholic Church who say the present ruling it is unconstitutional and discriminates against those worshiping in Malay language (i.e the national language, the medium of education!) is still stuck in preliminary hearings for almost two years.

Further Thoughts on ALA's Banned Books Week

This began as a footnote to my post on the American Library Association's Banned Books week and grew into a sound off, so am posting it separately. Worth reading is Mitchell Munsy's piece at The Wall Street Journal*, arguing that calling books banned in the US is "loose language":

... if banned means something like "made dangerous or difficult for the average person to obtain"...

since many of the books in question are best sellers, or the work of acclaimed authors and may be available at other libraries and in bookshops, and of course online. But Colleen Mondor of the Chasing Ray blog who points out just why removing a book from the shelf of a school library actually IS a big deal. We in Malaysia can but sigh of course. Our banned books are very banned and theoretically we could be fined or imprisoned for possessing and distributing them. More books never reach out bookstore shelf because someone thinks they are unsuitable for us. Books from overseas sometimes don't reach us (just ask Leon about trying to get his copies of Granta magazine or Dina trying to get medical books on ovarian cysts!). Ignorant people who would never read Rushdie in a hundred years (probably can't read any novels in English anyway) call for all his books to be banned and scream "Don't step on my sensitivities," in lieu of logical discussion. (Hey, I got sensitivities too as a reader!) Good for the ALA opposing and highlighting every instance where a book is challenged : I doubt if we could even keep up if we were to do this here! And half the time we don't even know how hard it is to obtain a title until we try. My friends, we are the ones more in need of a Banned Books Week than the Americans, and I really wish this event were an international one. Erna recently resurrected the Manuscripts Don't Burn blog from its long slumber and I hope this time it is maintained, as it could be a very useful focal point for discussion about the issue. (I found myself a lone voice on the blog with no-one else contributing and have dropped out of it now for good ... but will fight my fight from here, of course.) Sisters in Islam (SIS) have, of course, their own very important battle to fight. Leave has been granted for Judicial Review and the first hearing will be on 28 Oct. Thank you, Postscript : Just opened my e-mail midway through writing this post and found this message from Daphne Lee - talk about timely!! :

Twenty-sixth September saw the start of Banned Books Week in the States. Held during the last week of September, Banned Books Week highlights the benefits of free and open access to information while drawing attention to the harms of censorship by spotlighting actual or attempted bannings of books across the United States. Here in Malaysia, more than 1500 books have been banned between 1971 and 2009. In terms of children's literature, these include books in the Spongebob Squarepants series, Dora’s Fiesta Adventure ActivePoint Book, Poems & Prayers for Children and Read-Aloud Children’s Classics.** The Dram Projects believes in the freedom to read. We also believe in the right to make informed choices when selecting reading material. TDP will be participating in the Right to Read Festival, presented by Sisters in Islam and The Centre for Independent Journalism. Artist/photographer Wei Meng Foo and Daphne Lee (of TDP) will conduct Free2READ, a workshop that introduces children (9-12) to their rights as readers; celebrates the joy and thrill of discovering the different worlds and experiences that lie between the covers of books; and examines the problems and challenges children might encounter in their reading journeys. The workshop participants will be encouraged to discuss and debate the concept of book-banning; invited to question book-banning and challenging policies; and explore their own feelings and thoughts regarding the practice of restricting children's reading material. This will be followed by a bookcover art session with artist/photographer Wei Meng Foo. During this session participants will be invited to exercise their imaginations and creatiivity to produce book covers that celebrate their rights as readers. Date: 10th October, 2009 Time: 10am-1pm Venue: The Annexe, Central Market, Kuala Lumpur Admission: Free Registration: Call Nazreen at 03-7785 6121 -- The Dram Projects 016-328 1513

*Found via jelundberg on Twitter. ** Ooops- postscript to a postscript - these children's titles were never "banned" (e.g gazetted) but were, for whatever reasons, seized by JPJ officers. If Munsy is accusing ALA of being sloppy with language, we should take care ourselves.