Is Farish Noor banned?

Early last week a customer asked if Farish Noor's From Majapahit to Putrajaya was banned. We told him that not as far as we knew. But he went on to tell us that he had been to Kinokuniya at KLCC and, apparently, they told him that officials from the KDN had come in and seized the book and had told the bookstore not to sell them. We asked some friends, who did their own investigations and found it to be true.

According to The Nut Graph, the books were taken from Kinokuniya's shelves on the 15th of August, two and a half month ago, together with other titles (mostly on religion). The report says that the book is under 'investigation'. We notice that all titles by Farish Noor have been removed from Kino's online store as well (except the recent Malay translation.)

Of course, this is totally unacceptable besides being absurd. This is not because Farish Noor is the country's leading public intellectual whose non-partisan views are well known, not because the book is almost four years old and everyone who wants to read it already has, but because we have a rule of law that presumes innocence until guilt is proven.

Kinokuniya is a business concern. True, they have probably already written off this loss as one of the costs of doing business in Malaysia. But they should not have too. They should not have to operate under a constant threat, not knowing if they have violated some vague rule, not knowing when they will be raided, and not knowing what for. The rules must be clear and fair for everybody, and KDN have an obligation to explain why they take certain actions.

It is almost seems a waste of time asking the Minister for an explanation. He (or she) probably doesn't know what is going on. But, ask we must.

So Minister, can you please tell us if all books by Farish Noor have been banned?

The Nut Graph