Banning the truth
Sunday, 13 May: Kua Kia Soong’s May 13: Declassified Documents on the Malaysian Riots of 1969 was launched in KL
Monday, 14 May: Three senators Syed Ali Syed Abbas Alhabshee, Jins Samsudin & Saripah Aminah Syed Mohamed called for the book to be banned and action be taken against the author.
Tuesday, 15 May: Ministry of Internal Security operatives confiscate 10 copies of the book from a bookstore (its MPH) in the Midvalley shopping centre, apparently to “review the contents“. Why can’t they just request a copy from the publisher or but a few like everyone else?
Wednesday, 16 May: Zailani Hashim, enforcement chief at the Ministry of Internal Security says “experts” will study the contents of the book to determine if it is to be banned.
Criteria for banning include that the book is (1) hazardous, (2) undesirable, and (3) can cause havoc to harmony in this country. The fantastic mental gymnastics the Internal Security Ministry will resort to to justify banning a book that is essentially, a chronological presentation of extracts of declassified British diplomatic and intelligence documents and some other contemporary diplomatic and foreign media reports on the events, will be a sight to behold.
Just as well I’ve already got an autographed copy.
More on the 13 May riots here & background on the book here.
May 17th, 2007 at 10:34 am
its malaysia lah. Sure the book will be banned one….
May 18th, 2007 at 12:40 am
so you rather have a freakin bloodshed here rather than a book seized?you people..open ur eyes..d book source taken from britain..former penjajah here..hm so believable…stop causing havoc here.find other country.
counterpoint #1: there is no certainty that official transcripts on an event from over 3 decades ago will incite violence. You would hope that Malaysians are not so emo as to be easily incited by some archival material.
Counterpoint #2: Why would the “penjajah’s” accounts lack credibility? What possible bias should they have against the same people who they handed over power to barely 10 years before?
May 18th, 2007 at 2:16 am
Bloodshed? ah… who threaten to stab people with a traditional weapon every couple of years in a big one-kind gathering in a big building somewhere in the capital? Thank you for reminding me Mr Batu brain.