Home Ministry bans three books with LGBTQ values

KUALA LUMPUR – The Home Ministry has gazetted a prohibition order against three books deemed to possess immoral content, effective January 20.

The banned books are The Tale of Steven, Jacob's Room To Choose, and Aku, with the prohibition order issued under Section 7(1) of the Printing Presses and Publications Act 1984 (Act 301), the ministry announced in a statement today.

In line with the law, any printing, importation, production, reproduction, publishing, sale, issue, circulation, distribution, or possession of the said publications is strictly prohibited in Malaysia, it added.

The ministry said Aku “clearly contains obscene and immoral content that is detrimental to the values of modesty practised by Malaysian society”.

For The Tale of Steven and Jacob's Room To Choose, these books were deemed to promote the LGBTQ lifestyle which the ministry said “clearly goes against eastern values”.

A check on Amazon books found that The Tale of Steven and Jacob's Room To Choose are children's books, with the latter being a story about gender expression in young children.

Aku, meanwhile, was described in an online review in 2019 as a Malay novel with LGBTQ themes.

Last month, Anwar in an interview with RTM, said LGBTQ values, the concept of a secular state, and communist ideology will never be accepted by his administration.

The ministry today said that under the law, those who violate the ban on these books can be imprisoned for up to three years or fined not exceeding RM20,000, or both under Section 8(2) of Act 301.

The ministry said those with complaints regarding these books or other offensive publications can report them to the ministry's enforcement and control division. – The Vibes, February 14, 2023