Representatives of 10 non-governmental organisations including Sisters in Islam, human rights organisation Suaram and representatives from the Bar Council handed some 1,000 postcards protesting against the banning of books to the Home Ministry in Putrajaya yesterday.
We are concerned because the guidelines leading to the ban of books are vague and the decision by the Government is often arbitrary. Some of the banned books have also been published and widely sold in stores for some time but then, the Government decides to confiscate them. ... Similarly, we didn’t even know the books were banned until we read about it in the newspapers ...She cited the banning of Muslim Women and the Challenge of Islamic Extremism published by SIS as an example.
We want the ministry to call for a consultation with all the parties involved in the publication of books to resolve this matter. Banning books has a negative effect on information and intellectual development.I see book banning is one of the most serious issues facing this country at the moment, and perhaps the only way to bring about positive change is to keep up the pressure on the Home Ministry. Though it seems to me that the Islamic Departments (Jabatan Ugama) are really the cause of the problems, while standing behind the KDN, and they don't seem to be at all answerable to the public! (Come on - explain why those books are banned! What did you find objectionable? Engage in open public debate instead of, by your silence, displaying a lack of ability to engage intellectually with your critics!)
This I think is a state of affairs all Malaysians should be seriously concerned about.
technorati tags:
political news | news | world news
More at: News 2 Cromley
No comments:
Post a Comment