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.

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.

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.

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.)