Farish Noor’s book under investigation

Thenutgraph | A leading bookstore in Kuala Lumpur has stopped selling a book by Malaysian public intellectual Dr Farish Noor, pending an investigation by the Home Ministry.

The entire stock of the book, From Majapahit to Putrajaya, was confiscated from Kinokuniya's KLCC outlet on 15 Aug 2008 by officers from the ministry's Selangor office in a regular annual inspection. Other book titles, mostly on religion, were also seized.....

.....While the books belong to the store as stock, Section 18(b) of the Printing Presses and Publications Act (PPPA) allows for any authorised official to temporarily seize books deemed unacceptable even if a title has not yet been banned by the ministry.

Silverfishbook's Raman Krishnan, who only heard about the ministry's actions through word of mouth, described the situation as "totally, utterly absurd."

"This book is four years old. Everybody has read it. A bit late, isn't it?" he said in a phone interview.

"Will the ministry pay for the books they have taken?" he added.

ZI Publications, which published Di Balik Malaysia, was also not notified by the ministry that Farish's book was being investigated.... more.