Books Being Banned

According to Kementerian Keselamatan Dalam Negeri (2007), as in October 13, 2007, there has been a total number of 69 books been banned from the public in Malaysia by the government due to its explicit and sensitive contents.

Books literally being banned (Source:http://www.censorart.com)
The figure is quite astonishing and it is even more astonishing when I found out it can still grow bigger as the year is not yet over. When I saw the list of books being banned, the first thing which came into my mind was that the authors of those banned books perhaps did not know about the rules and regulations in Malaysia. Before an author plans to release his book in a certain country, it is important for him to have a previous knowledge of that country. According to Schriver (2006), previous knowledge, which is also known as background knowledge, is the influence of knowledge, experience and values on the understanding of the people on certain issues. She also said that two different readers may make two different interpretations of the same text because of the difference in their knowledge, hence highlighting the importance to have a previous knowledge.

For example, the book ‘Murder in the Name of Allah’ by Hazrat Mirza Tahir Ahmad. While it may be accepted in England, the country where it was published, it may not be accepted in other countries such as Malaysia. Before he released the book in Malaysia, he should know that the main religion in Malaysia is Islam and that any religious remarks regarding Islam or Allah is forbidden. One good example of such situation would be the controversy of the caricatures on Muhammad. In 2006, the Sarawak Tribune newspaper was forced to seized from operation after it published the caricature in the newspapers, causing a riot in the entire country (BreakingNews.ie, 2006). This incident shows that religious issue is not taken lightly in Malaysia. Hence, it is understandable why the government is banning this book or any other books for that matter

Banned books in the US (Source:http://www.backspace.com)
Looking at the list of banned books, it caught me by surprise when I found out that several books from Malaysia were banned too. It is scandalous as the authors, as Malaysians themselves, should know better than other authors from other countries that explicit and sensitive materials are not allow to be published as they have the previous knowledge on it. The 10 books which were banned were:

• Al-Kafilah Siapakah Yang Dikatakan Gadis Puteri Izma (Mohamas Abdul Hamid)
  
• Apakah itu Ahmadiyah? (Mirza Bashiruddin Mahmud Ahmad)
  
• Bahaya Tarikat Sufi / Tasawuf Terhadap Masyarakat (Ustaz Rasul Bin Dahri)
  
• Masalah Seksual Lelaki & Rawatan Alternatif (Unknown)
  
• Pendidikan Seks Rumahtangga Kemuncak Rahsia Kebahagiaan & Kasih Sayang Sejati Rahsia Menguatkan Tenaga Batin Teknik Bercumbu dan Berjimak (Jaafar Salleh)
  
• Politik Islam membawa kasih Sayang (Ustaz Hj Ashaari Muhamad)
  
• Rahsia Kenikmatan Rumahtangga (Tabib Haji Anwar Khan)
  
• Rahsia Di Kamar & Kunci Wanita (Tok Nujum)
  
• Rahsia Nombor 1 Untuk Wanita II (Tok Nujum)
  
• Ringkasan Mafatih Al-Jinan Kunci Pembuka Syurga (Syeikh At-Tusiy)

Out of the 10 books, eight books from the list are discussing about sex while the other two books discuss about religion. How on earth these authors thought that they could publish these books in Malaysia will forever remains as a mystery to me. But do you think these 10 books should be banned? Do you think the remaining 59 books should be banned too? Feel free to share your opinions.



REFERENCES:

BreakingNews.ie 2006, Editor resigns over muslim cartoons, viewed 20 October 2007,
<http://www.breakingnews.ie/2006/02/06/story243320.html>

Kementerian Keselamatan Dalam Negeri 2007, Senarai penerbitan haram 2007, viewed 20 October 2007,
<http://www.mois.gov.my/opencms/export/KKDN/BhgPQ/senaraiharam2007.html>

Schriver, KA 1997, Dynamics in document design: creating texts for readers, Wiley Computer Pub., New York, Chapter 6, pp. 361-441