Banned books - the saga continues

It was another routine stock replenishment order. Then came the shock: the distributor is unable to supply copies of Salman Rushdie's Midnight's Children because the book had been 'restricted' in Malaysia by the KDN.

Our initial reaction was to laugh out loud. Who are these people? Midnight's Children, published in 1980, won the Booker in 1981 and won the Booker of Bookers in 1993. Every self-respecting reader in the country has not only read the book, but owns a special sentimental copy. Now, after 26 years, some barely literate little Napoleon - to borrow Pak Lah's term - sitting behind a KDN desk in Johor Bahru has decided that the book is not suitable for Malaysians.

We spoke to the distributor of this title. He confirmed that all Salman Rushdie books are now getting the 'treatment'. He related how he tried to ship in the hardback edition of Shalimar the Clown, and was told that it was 'restricted'. He didn't argue. He says he never argues, because he wants the rest of the shipment to go through. This is how all Malaysian (and Singaporean) shippers are treated. If they decide to argue, every single one of the hundred odd boxes will be detained for 'further inspection', if not ripped open right there on the tarmac. If a complaint is made 'further up', this treatment can be expected for every subsequent shipment. It is not surprising then that distributors prefer to suffer in silence, while we readers live in Coetzee's Disgrace, where victimising victims and shooting messangers is a national culture.

(I want to tell you an interesting story here. This was some years ago, during the Khalil Gibran incident, when I was young and foolish enough to think that I could clear books from KLIA on my own without an agent. The book was Sex, Scotch and Scholarship by Kushwant Singh. It was quite obvious that the woman in charge recognised at least one of the 's' words. She kept turning the book over and over, flipping through the pages, peering at the written words as if trying to find something - I suppose, incriminating. Faris and I watched, quite amused. Finally she returned the book to the box. "Too many words," Faris said.)

Anyway coming back to the distributor, some weeks later he tried to import another bunch of books with the paperback edition of Shalimar the Clown in it. To use his words regarding Salman Rushdie's books: ... they are not consistent ... depends on luck, if they happen to see kena la. (For the information of those who don't know, every shipment of books must be accompanied by a packing list.) So the 'restriction' of books depends on who is sitting behind that desk at any point in time, what the person had for breakfast, his 'current' relationship with his wife, parents, in-laws and children and probably, lunar cycles ... amongst others.)

We have managed to get a list of over a hundred from (only) one distributor and we have posted it here for your information, entertainment and outrage. We suspect your reactions will follow a pattern similar to ours. First, laughter. What were they thinking? Some of the titles are really bizarre. Next, sadness. What's wrong with these guys? What's wrong with this country? Then, outrage. Who the hell is this little Napolean, who can barely spell his own name, to tell me what I can and cannot read? And finally: If this is how the KDN operates, how about the other Ministries and Departments? (There are obviously two layers of lawmakers in this country. One: the elected Government and Members of Parliament. Two, a Kafkaesque brigade of barely literates sitting behind desks in various government departments making rules as they like, when they like, as they go along.) Is that a scary thought or what? (Don't be alarmed by the high pitch, whining noise you here at this point. It is a well documented feature of little - and, sometimes, big - Napoleon-dom.)

Guide to using THE LIST: Get a few friends. Type the ISBN number as it appears, into Amazon or Google to get details of the book. Giggle. Try and guess why it has been 'restricted'. (It is more fun if you have your friends around you and your computer, peering over your shoulders and making irreverent comments. Advice: irreverent is good. Try not to get too serious because your sanity is at stake here.) Make a game of it. Count the number of 'restricted' books on the list you and your friends have. No cheating, you must produce the book as evidence. Decide what the winner gets. Then have a party. Read passages from the book, especially those that you think might have offended the little Napoleons. (I know, I know: they can't read. Just pretend, okay?) After you have milked enough fun out of it, adjourn to the nearest mamak shop for some sickly sweet tea, roti canai and outrage.

Note 1: some of you might say, "But I have seen that book in the shops!" You will be absolutely right. They would have been imported directly by air, or they might be old stock. The books on the list have been seized by the KDN staff in Johor Bahru and the distributors have been issued with 'restriction' orders. But the same books may have been legally imported through KLIA for instance. Who is calling George Bush a cowboy?! It is only a matter of degree.

Note 2: The undisputed champion on the list is Salman Rushdie, but you will also find Gabriel Garcia Marquez, Anthony Burgess and Alan Hollinghurst.

More on banned books

Sharon sent me an email yesterday morning if it was true that Shantaram by Gregory David Roberts. I know the book has been making its rounds for a while. I have not read the book myself; firstly because I have a certain aversion to big books these days, and secondly, due to my own personal prejudices. (One Tamil boy called Patel is enough.) Anyway, I made a few phone calls and confirmed the worst.


This is the third book this month. So far this year the distributors have told us that we cannot order the following books because they have been banned. The Malayan Trilogy by Anthony Burgess, Immortality and Laughable Loves by Milan Kundera, 1001 Arabian Nights, Things Fall Apart by Chinua Achebe, The Rape of Nanking by Iris Chang and, Penguin says, all books by Khalil Gibran.


I have also been busy trying to acquire a list of banned books, I mean books that have actually been banned ie gazetted as prohibited under the Printing Presses and Publications (Control of Undesirable Publications) Act, for a long time - ever since all my Khalil Gibrans got nicked by the KDN at KLIA seven years ago, despite the books being available in every other bookshop in KL at that time. Anyway, I finally managed to get one with the help of some friends. I have posted it in PDF format if you'd like to take a look at it. (Read it here, some of it is really funny. Good party material. There is even one called Kunci Mencari Rezeki (2002) published by a company called the Speedy Self Study System!! Go figure.)


From the list one can conclude that that the government has major issues with sex, religion and, to a much smaller extent, drugs. Many of the banned books on sex are in Chinese and a few in English. One interesting note: the Chinese translation of Lady Chatterley's Lover (2000) has been banned, but not the English original. Hmmm! I don't know much about the Chinese books, but there is a certain surrealism about the English list. I mean, this is a country that allows free import and distribution of 'hard-core' porn Fanny Hill (what do they think that it is, a schoolgirl mystery novel?) and prebuscent children are allowed to watch and imitate MTV or Channel V which, to me, is little more that soft porn.


I wonder how many of you read this June 23, 2006 report Porn Up, Rape Down Anthony D'Amato Of Northwestern University - School of Law in the US. Here is the abstract: The incidence of rape in the United States has declined 85% in the past 25 years while access to pornography has become freely available to teenagers and adults. The Nixon and Reagan Commissions tried to show that exposure to pornographic materials produced social violence. The reverse may be true: that pornography has reduced social violence. (Read it here.)


There is no necessity to get your knickers in a knot over that report. You don't have to agree with it. But to me, it does stand to reason. This should mean that countries with more liberal attitudes and policies towards sex, should have less sex crimes. Is that a fact? It sure appears that way from afar.


And how about religion? Is religious tolerance directly proportional to liberal politics and society, or the reverse?


Anyway, coming back to book banning; one there is the official ban with the papers signed off by the Home Minister or his Deputy, then there is the other 'ban', arbitrary and unpredictable. It is almost as if there are two authorities running in parallel. The first one is quite clear-cut (even if you don't agree with it). The second is pure Kafka. Case in point: none of the books that have been proscribed by the KDN this year (according to the distributors) have been gazetted. Is the Minister aware of this?

Commonwealth Prizes and Banned Books

Commonwealth Prize

We received an email and entry forms for the 2007 Prize recently from an assistant working on the Commonwealth Writers' Prize, a literary award established in 1987 to 'reward the upsurge of new Commonwealth fiction and ensure that works of merit reach a wider audience outside their country of origin'. (Previous winners include, Andrea Levy, Louis de Bernieres, J.M. Coetzee, Zadie Smith and Vikram Seth.)

As we know, The Prize is open to any Commonwealth citizen and any work of fiction is eligible with the exception of any work written for children alone, or drama or poetry. (From their website.)

They said they were currently updating their publisher lists for the 2007 Prize. It’s great that Silverfish Books has been noticed by The Commonwealth Writer's Prize organisation. Now, if only we had writers to nominate ...

More books banned in Malaysia

Latest in the list of casualties is Immortality and Laughable Loves by Milan Kundera. We can practically hear your, wha-aa-at? We can only say, to those who are new here, "Welcome to Malaysia."