KUALA LUMPUR – The Home Ministry will only return the two books it seized from local author Benz Ali’s bookstore in Wisma Central last week if checks find that the materials are not against existing laws.
Home Minister Datuk Seri Saifuddin Nasution Ismail said that the return of the books will depend on the material’s compliance with laws under the Printing Presses and Publications Act 1984.
“The act states that seizures can be carried out to conduct research, reviews, and analyses of certain materials to determine if they contradict aspects provided for under the law.
“If our findings show that the books’ contents do not affect public peace or cause any discomfort, then we will return them to him (Benz),” Saifuddin said in a press conference after his ministry’s monthly assembly in Putrajaya today.
He added that enforcement officers had acted based on reports from the public on the two Bahasa Malaysia books, namely Marx the Revolutionary Educator by Robin Smalls, and Koleksi Puisi Masturbasi (Masturbation Poetry Collection), written by Benz himself.
“The term ‘raid’ implies that we took all of the books in his (Benz’s) store, when in reality we only seized those two books after our officers received complaints from the public.”
Previously, Benz told Scoop that he has no immediate plan to initiate legal action against the ministry over the confiscation as he is instead committed to keeping the issue alive by raising awareness about the matter.
He had also argued that since the books are not listed as prohibited items, the ministry should not have seized them prior to conducting an investigation. – August 22, 2023