Home Ministry seizes copies of two books

Enforcement Officers from the Home Ministry's Publication and Quranic Text Control Division have seized copies of Body 2 Body andThe Road to Putrajaya today.

Copies of the popular short story compilation Body 2 Body were seized from the Kinokuniya book retail outlet in Suria KLCC, Kuala Lumpur today.

'Body 2 Body book's publisher, Amir Muhammad, said he was informed of the matter at about 2pm via SMS by a Kinokuniya staff member.

"They came and took three copies of the book from the store earlier today. But like my other books, it is not banned."

"I think they just want toharass the businesses(who stock these books)," he said when contacted byMalaysiakini. The store's management was not available for comment.

Meanwhile, Gerak Budaya representative Chua Seong Khoon, when contacted, said that copies of another book has also been seized by authorities today. He related that copies of The March to Putrajaya by Malaysiakinicolumnist Kim Quek were seized from a Popular Bookstore outlet in Kuantan Megamall, Pahang. Seizure notice

Amir said the Home Ministry enforcement officers left a seizure notice (right) with the store's employees and a copy was forwarded to the book's distributor and later to him.

No reason was given by the seizure notice. For previous seizures of this kind, the ministry would usually state that it intends to evaluate and review the books for 'problematic' contents.

Representatives from the ministry's Publication and Quranic Text Control Division could not be reached for comment.

The seizure in Kuantan however was conducted by a team of four police officers, lead by an Assistant Superintendent. At 3.10pm the officers seized 20 copies of The March to Putrajaya from the Popular Bookstore shelves and left a seizure notice detailing what they took. However, similar to the incident in KLCC, the notice stated no reason for the seizure. Chua added that Gerak Budaya was informed by the merchandising manager of another famous book retail chain, that a person who identifies himself as a home ministry officer told them to take all copies of The March to Putrajaya from their shelves. He also said that Popular Bookstore outlets in Cheras, Kuala Lumpur and in Malacca were also raided by police special branch teams.

LGBT short stories

Body 2 Body chronicles the experiences of lesbian, gay, bisexual, transsexual and trans-gender (LGBTs) persons in Malaysia.

It is a compilation of lighthearted, funny and sometimes sad short stories submitted by various authors and edited by musician Jerome Kugan and Annexe Central Market media relations manager Pang Khee Teik.

Three thousand copies of the book were published with most already snapped up by eager readers. Amir said that only about 100 remain stocked in stores.

"In a business sense it would not do much to us, but I fear it may discourage others from publishing their books," he said.

This is the second book published by Amir that has been seized by authorities although none of his books are banned by the ministry as of yet.

The latest seizure today follows copies of other books which wereappropriated by the police or the Home Ministry to 'verify' their contents despite none of the books being specifically banned.

Critics of the move have called this an attempt to discourage publications of books that question authority or deal with issues the government wants to suppress besides harassing booksellers so they wouldn't stock them.

courtesy of Malaysiakini