M'sia bans Oxford University book on Islam

It seems that the Censors of books and publications in the Home Affairs Ministry are either becoming irrational, paranoiac and arbitrary, or infiltrated by religious extremists with setengah masak English proficiency. I refer, of course, to the ban imposed recently on one of Karen Armstrong's best sellers, The Battle For God - Fundamentalism in Judaism, Christianity and Islam.

The book was first published in 2001 and had been available in Malaysian bookshops very soon after its publication. Many Malaysians, including my sister Rachael, have read it a few years ago. If (and even if) it is a subversive book, the ban imposed in 2006 is really too late and it shows how inefficent the censors are. However, the truth is that the Islam-friendly ex-Catholic nun's books, including The Battle for God - Fundamentalism in Judaism, Christianity and Islam have always been receiving critical acclaims in developed countries.

I am also shocked to read from the ban list that even Professor John L. Esposito's What Everyone Needs to Know About Islam is not spared. Esposito is a leading scholar on Islam and Middle Eastern affairs in the United States.

He visited Malaysia before in the late 1990s as a promoter of inter-civilisational dialogue and I interviewed him for two hours. It is truly ironic that while Malaysians are still free to read Professor Bernard Lewis's many critical books on Islam and Middle East affairs like Islam in Crisis, Esposito's What Everyone Needs to Know About Islam , published by the Oxford University Press in 2002, is banned four years after it was first published.

Another Karen Armstrong’s book banned
http://www.malaysiakini.com/news/52588

Patah Balek
http://patahbalek.blogspot.com/

Anwar: M'sia not a 'moderate' Muslim country
http://www.malaysiakini.com/news/35063

Adnan Buyung Nasution — the Muslim democrat
http://www.malaysiakini.com/opinionsfeatures/21889