BOOK censorship is a form of oppression and the reading community must oppose it by voting against the ruling government in the next election, said lecturer and writer Dr Faizal Musa.

Society must reject “the troubling trend of oppression” that takes the form of book bans,  to shape critical and free thinking, said Faizal, who goes by the pen name Faisal Tehrani.

“The parties that are banning (books) have no consideration whatsoever for the rights of others, which are the readers, to think and to self interpret.

“What is shocking is that these same people feel that they have the true interpretation, which they force upon others,” he told The Malaysian Insight.

Faizal said the readers, who far outnumbered the writers, were the voters in the general election to come.

“Readers are voters. Readers will also become writers by writing on the ballot paper in 2018,” he said.

Faizal said readers must also voice their anger through such channels as social media and the book clubs.

He was responding to the home ministry’s recent banning of books authored by DAP leader Zaid Ibrahim and young activist Benz Ali.

Zaid’s book “Assalamualaikum: Observations on the Islamisation of Malaysia” was published in 2015 and Benz Ali’s “Antithesis”, in 2014.

Another book, “Agama Masa Depan: Perspektif Filsafat Perennial” by Profesor Komaruddin Hidayat and Muhamad Wahyuni Nafis was also recently banned.

Faizal, who has had seven of his books banned in Malaysia, said book bans were aimed at damaging the writer’s reputation and finances.

“It distances the readers. Bookshops don’t want to sell the book. And it gives students, lecturers and literary elites a certain impression of the author. So the (effect) is huge,” he said.

“After seeing seven of my books banned, my confidence in me as a human being is shaken because there are other humans with the power to determine my fate and my rights,” he said.

Faizal said the only way to make the authorities take note of the anger against the relentless banning of books was for the community to stand up together against it.

“When one has been hit seven times, what is the guarantee that he won’t be hit for the eighth time?.

“And this is why I’m pleading with the reading community. If someone is being hit, surely you cannot just stand by and just watch.” – December 28, 2017.