Letters
by Zainah Anwar
We have just been alerted to another round of book bannings by the Book Censhorhip DIvision of the INternal Security Ministry.
This time it includes a very important book by a very progressive religious scholar from Indonesia, Kyai Hussein Muhammad who runs a pesantren in Cirebon and sits on the Women’s Commission, appointed by the President of Indonesia.
This is really disgraceful as the govt is sending out the message that anything written about equality and justice for women in Islam is considered a threat to national security!
And yet the PM goes on and on talking about a rational and progressive Islam that is open to reinterpretation to meet the challenge of change; the 9th Malaysia Plan and the cabinet committee on gender equality has set a minimum quota of 30%women in decision making positions, Islam Hadhari promises to eliminate injustice agianst women – are these all empty words?
SIS has translated Kyai Hussein’s book into BM as we find it most useful to help Muslims understand that Islam stands for justice and equality and there is much within the tradition that is progressive and supportive of women’s rights.
The version banned is the original Indonesian version. I do hope you and your colleagues would be able to raise this issue in Parliament