TWO bookstore owners who have had books confiscated by the authorities last year are still in the dark over the status of the cases against them.

Speaking to The Malaysian Insight, Amir Hamzah Akal Ali, better known as Benz Ali, and Chong Ton Sin, or Pak Chong, said they have not been getting any updates from the Home Ministry on the status of their books.

The Home Ministry raided Benz Ali’s bookstore in August 2023 and confiscated two books – a Malay translation of “Karl Marx: The Revolutionary as Educator” by Robin Smalls, and Benz Ali’s own book “Koleksi Puisi Masturbasi”. Both books were not on the government’s ban list.

Pak Chong’s GerakBudaya bookstore, meanwhile, was raided in November and eight Chinese-language books were taken away due to alleged “communist elements”.

“I have not been updated from the day they took away my books,” said Benz Ali when contacted.

Pak Chong, on the other hand, said that he would soon engage with the Home Ministry.

He added that he could have contacted the ministry earlier but his busy schedule prevented him from doing so.

“I will chase them after this. I have been very busy these past few months.

“After the books were taken, I have not been getting any information on the status of the investigation,” he said.

Pak Chong previously said that institutional reforms would not be realised if the administration practices bureaucracy.

He said things could be fixed if the Home Ministry dissolved the department tasked to conduct inspections on publishers.

“Get rid of the department, only then can we see real reform. But as long as it exists, they will do their job. They have been programmed in that way. I am not surprised,” the former ISA detainee said.

Home Minister Saifuddin Nasution Ismail defended the ministry’s seizure of eight books from GerakBudaya allegedly containing communist content.

He said it was part of the ministry’s due diligence.

When asked why the ministry continued to “seize” books, Saifuddin said the connotation used for the authorities’ action was rather aggressive and did not align with their real intention.

“The term is ‘take’, because GerakBudaya also mentioned that enforcement officers acted politely during the confiscation. I thought I would choose softer words. Words like ‘seize’ are considered aggressive and rough.”

Human rights group Lawyers for Liberty (LFL) condemned the allegedly heavy-handed action, saying that it is the government’s duty to safeguard the community from actual harm or the threat of harm, not thoughts and ideas.

It said Putrajaya has no right to seize any publication it deems inappropriate without going through the process enumerated in Section 7(1) of the PPPA.

Section 7(1) states that any order by the minister to ban publications must be gazetted before it can have the force of law. – June 4, 2024.