Toko Buku Rakyat owner Benz Ali has urged his industry partners to rally against the highly controversial Printing Presses and Publications Act 1984 (PPPA).
Speaking at a talk hosted by Parti Sosialis Malaysian (PSM) last night, the author, whose real name is Amir Hamzah Akal Ali, said that lawmakers will only act if there is pressure from below.
“The PPPA is a concerning factor in a country (administration) of reforms.
“If (Prime Minister) Anwar (Ibrahim), (Home Minister) Saifuddin (Nasution Ismail) or (Digital and Communications Minister) Fahmi (Fadzil) don’t want to (advocate against the act), then people involved in printing presses should,” Amir Hamzah (above) said during the talk, live-streamed on PSM’s social pages.
Fahmi said in June that the government had no plans to repeal the Printing Presses and Publications Act (PPPA) 1984 and would instead focus on the formation of an independent media council.
The Home Ministry seized two books from Amir Hamzah’s shop in Wisma Central, Kuala Lumpur in August.
The titles of the two seized books were: ‘Marx the Revolutionary Educator’ (Marx Sang Pendidik Revolusioner) by Robin Smalls and Benz’s book ‘Masturbation Poetry Collection’ (Koleksi Puisi Masturbasi).
Saifuddin had defended his ministry's book seizure, saying it would not be accurate to call it a "raid" on the premises and that the books were taken based on public complaints.
At the talk last night, Amir Hamzah also questioned the processes and centralisation between government agencies.
He said his own book was approved for an International Standard Book Number by the National Library of Malaysia in 2015.
However, eight years later, it was confiscated by the Home Ministry.
“It’s like they (the agencies) are not in sync,” he claimed. - Mkini
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