In praise of alterity

The Kuala Lumpur Alternative Bookfest earlier this month was a nice experience. No, seriously. It was small, cozy, friendly and, most of all, I liked the buzz. There was no fear of it becoming another orgy of commercial bookselling -- it was not large enough to be noticed by the 'big boys'. With not a textbook in sight, not one workbook, not one management book, nor one 'teach-others-how-to-live-their-lives' book, it was a breath of fresh air. Most of the books were Malaysian, in Malay and in English, though there were some books from Indonesia and Singapore, which was good given the way our bookshops are overflowing with imported books. It was nice to see book social groups participating. There was also a 'free books' booth, a book charity, apart from indie and self publishers. (Silverfish Books paid for one of the tables that was used to sell books for charity, and supplied the books as well.)

Congratulations to the organisers. Hope you will do this regularly. I am sure there are other publishers who should have been there. Maya Press comes to mind. I understand the necessity to stop somewhere, or this could end up like any other fair. What is alternative? Alternative to what? Sometimes it is easier to define what we don't want, than what we want. I wouldn't want a book fair selling mainly school textbooks and workbooks like the recent KL International Book Fair, so that is one. That was easy. Secondly, it would be nice to be a place that featured only Malaysian books so we don’t get swamped with imported books. How about books from the other ASEAN countries, then? It is nice to have them around. No? Let us leave that out for the moment and stick to local books. Non-fiction books are fine but do I really want to go to a fair with tables full of books on management, self-help and recycled 'wisdom'? Ultimately, it is up to the organisers to decide. For me, I like the mix of the first KLAB -- eclectic but not high-brow, and fun.

I attended only one session, the one by Sisters In Islam on book censorship, Wacana on book banning. Pretty good turnout, I thought. On the panel were V. Gayathry (Centre for Independent Journalism), Astora Jabat (former Chief Editor of Al-Islam and columnist on Islamic affairs in Utusan Malaysia)
, Norhayati Kaprawi (Sisters In Islam) 
 and a phantom representative from Home Ministry. (He was not visible to anyone, nor did he say anything.) The debate went along pretty much predictable lines (we have all heard it before -- they went to the ministry, spoke to some furniture and came back disappointed, how dare that chair tell me what I should read!) but I liked Astora Jabat's presentation on censorship within Islam -- seemed pretty much about power. The poster and the postcard SIS organized for the event was nice.

So will the issue of book banning ever go away? I think not. We will probably have to wait for a gomen baru, lor.