Comments on: Malaysian book banning: how to look stupid in the eyes of the world

By: Glenda Larke

Glenda Larke — Sat, 04 Nov 2006 18:15:00 +0000

Oxymoron – this is the silliness of the whole “Restricted” books thingy. The decisions are made completely arbitarily by small-minded functionaries (who perhaps don’t speak very good English?) who don’t have to justify their decision to – as far as we can make out – anybody at all. Perhaps they don’t like that particular book distributor and decide to punish him by banning ten percent of his shipment, who knows? Maybe they just took exception to the nipple on the teapot, as Hrugaar suggests…

There is no way of telling. No explanation is ever given, and complaints are apparently met with that distributor being unmercifully hassled next time around (see silverfishbooks.com)

By: Anonymous

Anonymous — Fri, 03 Nov 2006 18:00:00 +0000

But although I’ve been a Malaysian civil servant for more than 14 years, banning stuff like Spongebob Squarepants, Read Aloud Children’s Classics, Music for Sleepy Babies and the Wiggles Shop Wiggly Jukebox kinda makes me wonder …

Must be some pretty powerfully controversial stuff in the books..:/

By: hrugaar

hrugaar — Fri, 03 Nov 2006 00:38:00 +0000

LOL! The Enlish have long known that a nice cup of tea can lead to all sorts of interesting and compromising situations, heh.

The book you show was no doubt bannned not because of the tea drinking, but because the pots are Chinese. Clearly the Chinese must be considered cuter, smarter, sexier and more industrious than the average Malay, and infidels to boot, and should be oppressed and marginalised at every opportunity. (Hmm, why does that sound scarily plausible? :o )

And that teapot lid is remarkably nipple-like, heh.

By: Anonymous

Anonymous — Thu, 02 Nov 2006 21:59:00 +0000

I looked down the list and there was one book that said everything: a Wiggles book.

By: Anonymous

Anonymous — Thu, 02 Nov 2006 20:38:00 +0000

Ah, Glenda…let’s not forget witchcraft and vampirism. Books written by Sherrilyn Kenyon (basically about vampires in love) are either banned or sold openly. It depends on what colour the moon was when the decision to ban was made. Harry Potter must’ve given them twitches. But I have faith in the Malaysian love of a healthy economy. So far that’s held sway over the majority of the decisions.

By: ink paw prints

ink paw prints — Thu, 02 Nov 2006 18:20:00 +0000

everywhere in the world there are silly little people… you’re just unfortunate enough to have them in positions of authority. Pity power doesn’t just appeal to the goodhearted.