IN THE age of information technology and ready access to information, banning books espousing radical political thought seems rather ridiculous.
The government has banned the book on the late Samsiah Fakeh who was essentially a Malay nationalist but joined the MCP (Malaysian Communist Party) in the 1940s.
Similar books on the Malayan communist movement have been banned in the country on the grounds that ideas about the communist movement were once a security threat.
Countries often call themselves communist more as a result of labels than substantive reality.
The threat of communism is a thing of the past. According to a US political scientist, it is now more appropriate to speak of civilisational threats in today’s world.
However offensive communism may have been, there is no need to ban books on the theory and practice of the ideology.
The present generation needs to understand the past and how the country evolved through turbulent political times.
‘Great disservice to the present generation’
Communism was defeated for the emergence of modern Malaysia. A knowledgeable society needs to understand the past to appreciate the present.
Blocking past history is a great disservice to the present generation. In the age of artificial intelligence (AI), banning books seems rather premature, especially when such material is readily available on the internet.
I remember that when I was a political science lecturer at UKM in the 1980s, I was keen to introduce a course on Marxism-Leninism but the university forbade me from offering it.
Alternatively, I changed the course title to “Radical Political Thought” which was then permitted by the university. The contents of the earlier course were no different from the subsequent one.
Before I retired from the university in 2005, there was a section in the library that contained banned books. Special permission had to be obtained by students to access these materials.
Malaysia has come a long way from the turbulent times of ideological clashes in the 1940s, 1960s and 1970s.
The communist movement spearheaded by the MCP has long since abandoned armed struggle.
On the contrary, reading books on Samsiah, Chin Peng and others might help readers understand why the communist movement ultimately failed in the country.
It is time for the government of the day to move with the changing times and not remain constrained by imagined insecurities of the past.
Former DAP stalwart and Penang deputy chief minister II Prof Ramasamy Palanisamy is chairman of the United Rights of Malaysian Party (Urimai) interim council.
The views expressed are solely of the author and do not necessarily reflect those of MMKtT.
- Focus Malaysia.
No comments:
Post a Comment
Note: Only a member of this blog may post a comment.