BOOKS: Right to read

2009/10/24

SUZIEANA UDA NAGU

The issue of banned books was the main topic of discussion at a recent festival to celebrate the love of reading and the right to access information among young Malaysians, writes SUZIEANA UDA NAGU

YOU might think that young Malaysians — who spend more hours on the Internet than have their noses in a book — could not care less about the more than 1,500 titles that have been banned in Malaysia since 1971.

After all, according to the 2006 survey on Malaysians’ reading habit, they read only two books a year. Even those who claim to read books and magazines spend less than three hours a week doing so, reported the survey.

Yet the subject of banned books was the focus of discussion at the recent Right to Read Festival at The Annexe, Central Market, Kuala Lumpur.

Some 80 young book lovers spent their weekend celebrating their love of reading and the right to access information at the event which was organised by Sisters in Islam (SIS) in collaboration with the Centre for Independent Journalism (CIJ) — a week after the American Library Association’s annual Banned Books Week was celebrated across the United States.

Right to Read was aimed at promoting creative ideas and independent thought as well as creating awareness of freedom of expression by drawing attention to banned and challenged books throughout history.

For KBU International College Graphic Design student Ray Choo (not his real name), the festival was an eye-opener.

“Young people can access any type of information on the Internet that we tend to take our right for granted. This event has raised my consciousness (of upholding that right).”

CIJ executive director V Gayathri says challenging banned books is important as it “pushes the boundaries of information and democracy”.

“The joy of reading is a fundamental human right and we hope to get this message across,” adds Gayathri, who acted as a compére for the event.

Banning books and censoring authors have been practised long before the dawn of the printing press.

Banning a book means removing it from the shelves of libraries, bookstores and classrooms because of its alleged controversial content.

Books such as Maya Angelou’s I Know Why The Caged Bird Sings and Salman Rushdie’s The Satanic Verses are banned for sexually explicit passages, offensive language or unsuitability to a particular age group.

In Malaysia, however, the reasons for banning books are not always clear.

Seemingly harmless titles such as the Spongebob Squarepants Series, Dora’s Fiesta Adventure ActivePoint Book, Poems & Prayers for Children and Read-Aloud Children’s Classics have been prohibited from being sold here.

According to National Human Rights Society secretary-general and lawyer Sharmila Sekaran, the Home Affairs Ministry has absolute authority to ban books here. (For a full list of the books, visit http://epq.kdn.gov.my/e-pq/index.php?mod>public&opt>pl)

Dram Projects project director Daphne Lee (right) introduces participants of the Free2Read workshop to their rights as readers.

When a book is banned, the Ministry publishes a government gazette announcing the action. The gazette also outlines the conditions and guidelines for the prohibition to take place.

The Printing Presses and Publications Act of 1984 (PPPA) has broad provisions that allow any authorised senior government official to confiscate, at his discretion, reading material which he deems offensive or threatening to public morality.

A sample of 827 books from 1,446 banned between 1971 and 2007 — categorised into five groups; sexuality, religion, foreign culture, ethnicity and politics — revealed a spike in the prohibition of religion- and sexuality-related titles, reported a 2008 article, The bane of book banning, which appeared on TheNutGraph.com

In most cases, little or no reason is given to the publisher or author of banned books.

Some books were only removed from bookshops a few years after being published or used as reference books for university courses. These are available in certain libraries and bookstores overseas.

Similarly, bans can be lifted from a book without any explanation.

While popular titles such as Khaled Hosseini’s The Kite Runner, J.K Rowling’s the Harry Potter series and Stephenie Meyer’s Twilight saga are challenged every year in the US, these books are hardly questioned in Malaysia.

According to About.com, a challenge to a book is an attempt by a certain group or agency to remove or restrict it from bookshops, libraries and schools. Review committees will decide whether or not the book should be banned. A challenge does not always end with the banning of a book.

For a majority of young visitors to the Right to Read Festival, banned or challenged books are not discussed at home or school.

However, some remember being forbidden from reading certain books when they were younger.

When she was about nine years old, Kari’s mother forbade her from reading books with mature content.

“I vaguely recall what it was about — perhaps something on the sex trade,” says the second-year student.

“Other than that, I grew up reading anything that I could get my hands on from her, or my siblings’ book shelves.”

Kari disagrees with the act of outright banning of books.

“It makes little sense to ban certain books in this day and age as young people can find anything on the Internet.

“Besides, preventing children from reading certain titles only make them more curious. They will try to read the books behind their parents’ backs,” says Kari, who counts Émile Zola and Zadie Smith among her favourite authors.

Choo, on the other hand, had the freedom to read anything he fancied.

“My parents were happy as long as I was reading something,” he adds.

SIS research and publications programme assistant Nur Syuhada Sible believes the Right to Read Festival has not only highlighted the issue of banned books in Malaysia but also its poor reading culture.

“Some visitors tell me that they didn’t know that some Malaysian books have been banned. It shows that we need to take a closer look at our reading campaigns.”

The 23-year-old Media Studies graduate believes it is necessary for young people to take the issue seriously.

“Furthermore, if we want the younger generation to be intellectuals and inventors, and to think out of the box, they need access to information,” says Nur Syuhada.

“We need youth programmes such as theatre workshops so that they can express their feelings about banned books and other current issues freely.”

Although there were no “live” readings of banned books at the event, the young visitors had the chance to participate in activities that enhanced their understanding of them.

Those aged nine to 12 years old took part in the Free2Read, a book cover art workshop which, among others, introduced them to their rights as readers and engaged them on a discussion about the challenges children might encounter in their reading journeys.

The Dram Projects (dramprojects.wordpress.com) project director Daphne Lee, who conducted the workshop with artist/photographer Wei Meng Foo, says: “We asked the children if their parents had prohibited them from reading certain books. Only a few said yes.

“So we discussed how they could talk to their parents about the issue instead of sneakily reading the banned books.”

The two-day Page@STAGE workshop for performing arts and youth theatre practitioners taught them how to make books come alive through drama.

Young audiences also listened with rapt attention to local writers such as Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia’s Professor of Sociology Dr Norani Othman and writer and activist Hishamuddin Rais, who shared their experiences of having their books banned and being curious of “suppressed literature” as young adults.

Although her book is banned, co-author and editor of the banned Muslim Women and the Challenge of Islamic Extremism Norani remains optimistic.

“My book may have been banned but I can still debate about it. It’s all about finding the platform to be heard,” Norani told the audience.

Performing arts students and youth theatre practitioners at the Page@STAGE workshop.