When do things end? This blog has gone completely quiet. There's been nothing about book restrictions or bannings in the Malaysian media to fuel it.
Yet behind the scenes there has undoubtedly been a shift. According to friends in the industry, many of the books which were formerly restricted appear now to be coming in to the country without impediment. I haven't heard news of other books being arbitrarily seized.
I thank those who listened and put things right.
I thank those who highlighted the issue in the press and on blogs and brought it to the attention of the authorities and the public.
We will continue to monitor the situation though, won't we?
4 comments:
Hooray! Good job everyone!
i had forgotten how things work in this culture of not losing face and where decisions are made behind closed doors and not announced.
Hi, my name is Gayathry from CIJ. Thought you might be interested in our meeting recently with the head of the Publications and Quranic Text division.
"The Ministry of Internal Security recently indicated its willingness to listen to the civil society groups on book banning and reconsider several titles under the ban list. In a meeting with the CIJ and Sisters in Islam (SIS), it promised to correct the inconsistency in practices among its officers and to standardized the guidelines at all checkpoints, although stopped short of acknowledging that the banning of books violated freedom of speech."
We've just had a follow up meeting with civil society groups on this and it was suggested that we could launch a campaign against book banning. We're just putting down the suggestions and can share with you. One of the things we will do immediately is to write officially to ask them to lift the ban on Karen Armstrong's books and others as well.
(http://www.cijmalaysia.org/display_story.asp?ID=508)
very interesting blog ! pleased to meet you from another folkie :)
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