| Review guidelines on content control |
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| Sunday, 13 January 2008 | |
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The Centre for Independent Journalism (CIJ) is concerned with the recent seizure of Christian-themed books by the Internal Security Ministry, fuelling concerns that religious texts are under strict scrutiny in the country. While we realise that publications - both local and imported - are subject to the ministry's guidelines, CIJ feels that there is a continuous effort to target religious texts, in particular on Christianity and Islam, for control. The seizure also suggests that the ministry is willing to act on limited prompting, in this case complaints from the Islamic authorities, without applying broad based discussions on the impact of such content.
On Jan 11, online daily Malaysiakini.com reported that scores of Christian-themed books for children were seized from several MPH bookstores in the states of Negeri Sembilan, Johor and Perak. The report said that the ministry decided to conduct the seizure following complaints from the "Islamic authorities" that the books contained illustrations of the prophet deemed offensive.
Calls made by CIJ to the Internal Security Ministry for verification and comments went unanswered.
The seizure violates the people's right to freedom of information and expression. Seizing more than the needed copies for investigation, while the titles are not banned, denies the right of people to access the book and is clearly high-handed.
Such high-handedness has caused alarm and discontent among the people- the public outcry over the Catholic Herald permit issue and the suit by the Sidang Injil church against the government for confiscating the Malay version of Christian books are indicative of people feeling increasingly difficult to accept the government's measure.
We also find objectionable the lack of transparency in the decision making of both the Islamic authorities and the Internal Security Ministry, which was reflected by the absence of identifiable complainants and the lack of clear explanation by the Internal Security Ministry.
Instead, we recommend that the ministry set up an committee to review its guidelines and policies on content available in Malaysia. It is high time that the guidelines are open for public discussion. We also urge the Internal Security Ministry to return the books to the bookstores and retain only the minimum for investigation.
Issued by
Gayathry Venkiteswaran
For more information, please contact Wai Fong at 03 40230772 |
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