A DAY after its founder was questioned by religious authorities, Putrajaya has banned two books from think tank Islamic Renaissance Front (IRF).

The Home Ministry has also banned the seventh book from Muslim academic Mohd Faizal Musa, better known as Faisal Tehrani, titled “AKU _______, MAKA AKU ADA! (I ___, therefore I exist).

The ministry also banned IRF’s Wacana Pemikiran Reformis (Jilid I) (A Discourse on Reformist Thought, volume I) and Wacana Pemikiran Reformis (Jilid II).

In separate gazettes, the ministry said these publications were “likely to be prejudicial to public order and interest” and “likely to alarm public opinion”.

The bans were instituted under Section 7(1) of the Printing Presses and Publications Act 1984, read the gazettes from the ministry.

The ministry has also banned the Bahasa Malaysia and English versions of a book by Turkish author Mustafa Akyol titled “Islam Without Extremes: A Muslim Case for Liberty”.

Mustafa had been a guest speaker at several IRF organised forums one week ago.

He was detained on orders of the Federal Territories Religious Department (Jawi) on September 24 but was released the next afternoon after giving his statement. He left Malaysia the same night.

Mustafa was questioned under Section 11 of the Shariah Offences Act (Federal Territories) 1997 Act for teaching Islam without proper accreditation.

Mustafa’s host IRF director Dr Ahmad Farouk Musa has been ordered by Jawi to answer charges under Section 43 of the same Act for abetting him.

Ahmad Farouk was interviewed yesterday at Jawi headquarters after which he was told to present himself at the Kuala Lumpur Shariah Court on December 4.

When contacted, Ahmad Farouk declined to comment as the IRF was in the midst of dealing with repercussions of the ban.

During a speech at the Fourth Asean Literary Festival in Jakarta, Indonesia last August, Faizal had said that the Malaysian government’s ban on books was a violation of the 1957 Merdeka agreement.

Some of Faizal’s books that have been banned include the novels “Perempuan Nan Bercinta”, “Sebongkah Batu di Kuala Berang”, collections of his poems and essays, and the play “Karbala”.

Faizal, who teaches at Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia (UKM) has written and researched on Malaysia’s persecuted Shia Muslims.

The Barisan Nasional administration’s penchant for banning books has also been criticised by United Nations Special Rapporteur on Cultural Rights Karima Bennoune.

Bennoune had said that the government was banning books that discussed progressive Islamic ideals despite promoting a global image of a moderate Muslim nation.

“(The bans) will have a huge impact on necessary discourse,” Bennoune said at the end of her visit to Malaysia on September 21. – October 3, 2017.