FROM KUALA LUMPUR
On 2nd June 2009, the Publications & Quranic Texts Division of the Home Ministry raided my T-shirt stall in Central Market for the 3rd time and seized 83 shirts they claim are “obscene and contain Communist elements”. You can see the images they confiscated by following this link…
That the Ministry is clamping down on items they allege glorify (Chinese) Communism at the very moment our beloved leader is grinning for photocalls with the flatcaps in Beijing is flash-bulb irony so blinding it requires uncommon talent to miss it. The Ministry, of course, missed it by a mile.
Not many people know this but lightweight, low level officers of the Publications & Quranic Texts Division are entrusted with absolute power to make on-the-spot judgments about what is obscene, subversive, subliminally seditious, distasteful, inartistic, drug drenched, Communist, radical, Swedish. Er, ok, maybe not Swedish, but apart from that they can pass instant judgment on just about everything else under the sun. Worse, having judged, they are empowered to confiscate anything that offends their fragile sensibilities. They can say your cupboard is a badly disguised coffin, your toothbrush is a sex aid or that your plastic KL Tower statuette so thoughtfully bought for you by Aunt Mimi is plainly a male sexual organ. Having so proclaimed, they have the unchallengeable right to then cart everything away. In a blink of an eye one is judged, juried and executed by the same single entity. Issues of abuse of power loom large. You only have to click on the link above to realise that the Ministry tends towards irrational excitability in their interpretations, betraying the government’s impatience with the mildest satire and discomfort with the freedom of expression that is our guaranteed constitutional right.
What this means in practice is that the Ministry has a bunch of people running around seizing things under the flimsiest pretext. They took half my stock – 3 times – but they could just as easily have taken all. If you run a business selling things, they have an unquestionable right in law to do so and there is not much you can do about it. When a government deliberately denies a citizen his fundamental right to make a living, it had better have weighty, considered reasons for doing so. Here, we allow low level staffers to snatch away our rice bowls on a whim, without warning. Accountability, reason and judiciousness be damned.
By logical progression, since the images are now presumably “illegal”, are we to see enforcement squads jumping out from behind lampposts to rip T shirts bearing similar images off the backs of recalcitrant wearers? Will we have T shirt evaluators sitting alongside the H1N1 scanners at airports and entry points around the country? Will tourists be warned to leave their Viagra at home?
You may think that the images have no artistic or comedic merit. You may think them stupid and juvenile. But to say that they glorify Communism, are obscene and illegal, is really stretching it. And, surely, confiscation on those grounds is wholly unwarranted. Are we, as Malaysians, so sanguine that we accept the government has a right to intrude in such a way into our lives, compromise our professional integrity and devastate our businesses on nothing more than one person’s inadequate understanding of the word “obscene”??
You can read Malay Mail’s article about the raid here…
You can read the Malay Mail’s editorial about the issue here..
You can read the Star’s article about the raid here…
Rgds
Patrick Saw
#1 by ekompute on Sunday, 7 June 2009 - 10:16 pm
I think these people should arrest Najib for accepting a communist doctorate degree. What do you think?
#2 by OrangRojak on Sunday, 7 June 2009 - 10:29 pm
Put them in the book, tong2zhi4 – come the day of the Glorious Revolution, they are first against the wall!
#3 by Godfather on Sunday, 7 June 2009 - 10:46 pm
Najib is just like Badawi – cakap tak serupa bikin – and he is starting to make slogans and promises of better days. We all know UMNO can’t deliver on their promises. It’s all continuing to go downhill.
#4 by chengho on Sunday, 7 June 2009 - 11:00 pm
Unfortunately you are not in Beijing ……
#5 by boh-liao on Sunday, 7 June 2009 - 11:02 pm
What to do, times are hard for
low level officers of the Publications & Quranic Texts Division
Their bosses had jolly good time in Beijing
but they didn’t even get T-shirts as presents
Those T-shirts that declared
“My bosses went to Beijing and
All I got is this lousy sh!t T-shirt”
So, they gasak their own T-shirts lah
Power corrupts and absolute power corrupts absolutely
Yeah! What can you people do?
#6 by Godfather on Sunday, 7 June 2009 - 11:12 pm
I bet Hu Jintao knows what is going on in this country. He’s probably thinking as he shook Najib’s hand “Don’t think I don’t know what is going on in your own backyard….reneging on the agreement to let a former communist return to his own country…seizing t-shirts bearing the image of chairman Mao….instigating a movement against the purported rise of communism….wait till we start the trade talks.”
#7 by Hasbullah Pit on Sunday, 7 June 2009 - 11:15 pm
T-Shirt gambar daun ganja, mengapa tidak dirampas?
#8 by the reds on Sunday, 7 June 2009 - 11:48 pm
Home Ministry has nothing to do ahh???
#9 by boh-liao on Sunday, 7 June 2009 - 11:56 pm
Economic downturn, hard time ahead
Civil servants need to have a second career
Like selling T-shirts in pasar malam
No capital, no want to b chained up by Ah Long
So thank you Patrick
for donating 83 T-shirts
to some low level officers to start business
Treat it as a national service Patrick
to help to achieve the goals of NEP
Muhibbah
#10 by a2a on Monday, 8 June 2009 - 12:14 am
The Home Ministry should go tell PM that should ban the entry of CHINA PEOPLE to Malaysian, should band the TRADE WITH CHINA COMMUNNIST.
GO TELL CHINA ABOUT THESE SO THEY CAN TAKE ACTION ON THESE.
#11 by a2a on Monday, 8 June 2009 - 12:17 am
The HOME MINISTRY can know how to talk big to MALAYSIAN ONLY.
TO CHINA, THEY ACT LIKE A CHICKEN.
#12 by Young on Monday, 8 June 2009 - 12:51 am
Sigh.. This is really pathetic. The T-shirts were creative and eye-catching.
Now I have to worry if my “We Like Music That Kicks Butt” T-Shirt deemed offensive, obscene and illegal.
#13 by johnnypok on Monday, 8 June 2009 - 2:14 am
They are forcing people to go underground and back to the old days of subversive activities.
It seems they never learn, until they finally suffer what America had gone through during the Vietnam war!!!!!!!!
#14 by pky103 on Monday, 8 June 2009 - 3:02 am
– This is ridiculous! The Home Ministry under Kerishammudin seems worse than ever!
#15 by TomThumb on Monday, 8 June 2009 - 3:13 am
a2a Says:
Today at 00: 17.56 (2 hours ago)
TO CHINA, THEY ACT LIKE A CHICKEN.”
why do you think chickens cross the road??
#16 by frankyapp on Monday, 8 June 2009 - 7:15 am
Our PM Najib,is he a hypocrite or a pyscho ? While in China,praisinng the communist party leaders of to-day’s China and back home accusing people of having communist’s idea.Same time raided and confiscated T-shirt of communist arts or designs.Why’s the Home Ministry depriving the small time business men and women to earn a decent living ?. The deprivation is also done discriminately why?.I visited the new\ pasar malam \ in KAJANG and those stalls I visited,I found many hundreds of different T-shirt glorifing \ Osama ladan \ and \jahatist carrying arms glorifing Islam \. Why is it the Home Ministry not taking any action at all ?. I think this \Islamic T-Shirt is more communistic and dangerous than those confiscated recently by the Home Ministrry.Bearing in mind guys, this is just Kajang \pasar malam\ Perhaps one can find it in every malays dominated \pasar malam \ through the whole country.
#17 by mendela on Monday, 8 June 2009 - 7:34 am
Let’s print 1 Million T-shirts printed with Atlantuya picture and name and flood them all over the corners in this world.
Let’s see how the bast#rds react to it!
#18 by TomThumb on Monday, 8 June 2009 - 7:43 am
wonder if they’ll ban a t-shirt with the words “big kahuna”
#19 by catharsis on Monday, 8 June 2009 - 8:07 am
What do expect from a “ALI BABA and the 40 THIEVES” culture and administration- Mother Teresa!
#20 by catharsis on Monday, 8 June 2009 - 8:09 am
What do you expect from a ” ALI BABA and teh 40 THIEVES culture and administration- MOTHER TERESA
#21 by taiking on Monday, 8 June 2009 - 8:52 am
They thought GOD cant laugh and dont know how to. Isnt that a great insult to HIM. And isnt it strange for them to pass judgments on communism? They may take objection to the 7in seven eleven look alike logo for bearing an indirect (that is provided they look at it that way) reference to the male organ but come on maosy jokes are hardly objectionable.
Nothing better to do? Yeah more like that!
#22 by ctc537 on Monday, 8 June 2009 - 10:02 am
TomThumb,
Chickens cross the road because they are lured by something dangling (millions of M) from people on the other side of the road.
#23 by YK Leong on Monday, 8 June 2009 - 10:52 am
Will the Home Ministry ban T shirts with the imprinted words “HEAD HUNTERS?”
#24 by Jeffrey on Monday, 8 June 2009 - 12:16 pm
In relation to “low level” functionaries in the Ministry Patrick Saw said, “They can say your cupboard is a badly disguised coffin, your toothbrush is a sex aid or that your plastic KL Tower statuette so thoughtfully bought for you by Aunt Mimi is plainly a male sexual organ. Having so proclaimed, they have the unchallengeable right to then cart everything away. In a blink of an eye one is judged, juried and executed by the same single entity. Issues of abuse of power loom large….”
Huh??? You are assuming they have such imagination in the first place???
#25 by Jeffrey on Monday, 8 June 2009 - 12:34 pm
///That the Ministry is clamping down on items they allege glorify (Chinese) Communism at the very moment our beloved leader is grinning for photocalls with the flatcaps in Beijing is flash-bulb irony so blinding it requires uncommon talent to miss it. The Ministry, of course, missed it by a mile/// – Patrik Saw.
Good point (about this thing against Communism). So why is our country taking ties with a communist country like China further? Communism is Godless and contrary to spirit of our Rukun Negara, and China is the last surviving bastion of Communism today (at least officially) .
#26 by wanderer on Monday, 8 June 2009 - 12:48 pm
Home Ministry should ban all keris display in the public and lock up those who use it as a weapon of intimidation!
Home Minister, are you aware of anyone doing such lowly act?
Don’t you think the T-shirt is a more dangerous a weapon than a keris?
#27 by kevchua on Monday, 8 June 2009 - 2:10 pm
I’ve just checked out the YouTube link. The only thing which I found “offensive” was the Mao T-Shirt designs. Even so, it’s not really promoting communism, is it? Other than that, I find that the designer is very creative in his words and graphics. The extent of its offensiveness depends on what those blokes who confiscated your stuff was thinking. Like what the author has said, anything under the sun could be manipulated and projected as being offensive.
Yup, indeed that Malaysia is slowly but surely becoming not only a police state but an oppressive one. There’s only one way of stopping this – throw BN out of the system.
#28 by ekans on Monday, 8 June 2009 - 8:04 pm
On 7 June 2009 at 23:00.53, chengho said:
Unfortunately you are not in Beijing ……
But your glorious leader of UMNO’s BN was in Beijing not long ago, celebrating with the current leaders of China’s communist party the 35th anniversary of his late father’s first meeting with the most famous leader of China’s communists who once led his comrades on a long march.
And when that historic meeting took place in Beijing 35 years ago, Shamsiah Fakeh, the iron lady of the Malayan communist party, was also in that same city, living in exile as the guest of China’s communist party since 1956.
If he had lived much longer, would the father of your glorious leader of UMNO’s BN allow this female leader of the Malayan communist party to return to Malaysia 20 years later in 1994 while the other well known male leader of the Malayan communist party was not allowed to do so?
#29 by ekans on Monday, 8 June 2009 - 8:10 pm
Patrick Saw should do a T-shirt with Tunku Abdul Rahman’s & Chin Peng’s photos with the theme ‘Baling Talks’.
Wonder how would the home ministry react to that then???
#30 by ekans on Monday, 8 June 2009 - 8:16 pm
On 8th June 2009 at 12:34.24, Jeffrey said:
///That the Ministry is clamping down on items they allege glorify (Chinese) Communism at the very moment our beloved leader is grinning for photocalls with the flatcaps in Beijing is flash-bulb irony so blinding it requires uncommon talent to miss it. The Ministry, of course, missed it by a mile/// – Patrik Saw.
Good point (about this thing against Communism). So why is our country taking ties with a communist country like China further? Communism is Godless and contrary to spirit of our Rukun Negara, and China is the last surviving bastion of Communism today (at least officially) .
I think the first place should go to North Korea, followed far behind by Cuba…
#31 by johnnypok on Monday, 8 June 2009 - 10:05 pm
Communism is far better than what we are facing now ……
No discrimination
No corruption
No AP
No income tax
No toll
No gambling
No prostitution
No alcohol
No mat rempits
No snatch-thief
#32 by johnnypok on Monday, 8 June 2009 - 10:13 pm
Under communist rule, Najib will be the first to be executed, followed by the Kris-waving idiot.
#33 by kerishamuddinitis on Monday, 8 June 2009 - 11:12 pm
wonder if they will seize t-shirts with the words ‘tomdumbo, suck my tom’?
#34 by kerishamuddinitis on Monday, 8 June 2009 - 11:14 pm
wonder if they will seize t-shirts with the expression ‘altantuyaaaargh, BOOOM!’
#35 by kerishamuddinitis on Monday, 8 June 2009 - 11:17 pm
how about ‘new infectious disease discovered, najibishittyitis’
#36 by kerishamuddinitis on Monday, 8 June 2009 - 11:23 pm
how about ‘waving keris in the air shouting nonsense – MAD’
‘waving keris in the air, shouting nonsense and desensitising victims – MINISTER’
#37 by ekans on Tuesday, 9 June 2009 - 12:36 am
On 8th June 2009 at 22:05.10, johnnypok said:
Communism is far better than what we are facing now ……
No discrimination
No corruption
No AP
No income tax
No toll
No gambling
No prostitution
No alcohol
No mat rempits
No snatch-thief
Unfortunately, under communism, there’s also…
No democracy.
No freedom of speech & expression.
No private ownership of business & property.
Most of the time not enough food to go around (failure of the collective system).
Ask those who had once lived under the oppression of communism in those former communist countries.
That’s why 20 years ago, the old communist bloc in Europe fell (Remember Mikhail Gorbachev and his glasnost & pesteroika?) and communist nations in Asia (except stubborn North Korea) had begun to embrace capitalism (although not necessarily together with democracy).
History has already seen communism as a failed ideology…
#38 by storm62 on Tuesday, 9 June 2009 - 1:08 am
soon the word “NAJIS” will be banned too!!
#39 by TomThumb on Tuesday, 9 June 2009 - 5:05 am
kerishamuddinitis Says:
Yesterday at 23: 12.56
“wonder if they will seize t-shirts with the words ‘tomdumbo, suck my tom’?”
final notice. you’re not to trivialize this blog and show disrespect for its visitors or you’ll be placed on the Moderator List.
[Admin.]
#40 by kerishamuddinitis on Tuesday, 9 June 2009 - 7:20 am
the irony:
‘That the Ministry is clamping down on items they allege glorify (Chinese) Communism…’ blatant censorship! I saw the pictures – totally harmless.
By the same token, ‘trivialise this blog’? ‘show disrespect for its visitors’?
ever notice who wrote the phrase ‘suck my thumb?’ it’s not difficult to trace. so, what’s the difference between ‘suck my thumb’ and ‘suck my tom’?
and if we run a quick check, there are 3 visitors to this blog who are constantly irritating the heck out of the rest. the comments codemning them will tell. so, who is trivialising? who is showing disrespect?
final notice? hey what happened to notice 1, 2 and 3?
the irony.
#41 by catharsis on Tuesday, 9 June 2009 - 11:58 am
ekans Says: ……….”No private ownership of business & property.
Most of the time not enough food to go around (failure of the collective system)……..”
My friend if you are talking about Communist China your facts are outdated le –
you certainly can own a business and buy property……..and in most Chinese cities all supermarkets are well stocked with local and foreign goods. You can even buy BMW, Audi or Mercedes cars, KFC, Polo Ralph Lauren Apparel up to Chanel Perfume
#42 by johnnypok on Tuesday, 9 June 2009 - 2:58 pm
China = 3rd world’s biggest economy, and we should learn from China.
But we must make Chinese language compulsory like Singapore.
#43 by ekans on Tuesday, 9 June 2009 - 7:01 pm
On 9th June 2009 at 11:58.00, catharsis said:
ekans Says: ……….”No private ownership of business & property.
Most of the time not enough food to go around (failure of the collective system)……..”
My friend if you are talking about Communist China your facts are outdated le –
My friend, I was merely stating the historical facts about countries under actual communist rule, and I did mention about Asian communist nations who had started to follow the capitalist road twenty years ago, and of course, that also includes the People’s Republic of China…
On 9th June 2009 at 11:58.00, catharsis said:
you certainly can own a business and buy property……..and in most Chinese cities all supermarkets are well stocked with local and foreign goods. You can even buy BMW, Audi or Mercedes cars, KFC, Polo Ralph Lauren Apparel up to Chanel Perfume
Of course, that is what you get after twenty years of China’s communist government opening up the nation’s economy to capitalism. If you want to know how real communism was actually like over there, just ask any of China’s senior citizens who can still remember the times (including the so-called Cultural Revolution) when Chairman Mao was still in power…
#44 by johnnypok on Wednesday, 10 June 2009 - 5:23 am
The following should also be banned:
1. All forms of betting and gambling activities, including 4D, Toto, and Genting casino
2. All imported goods from China
3. Consumption of non-halal food
#45 by TomThumb on Wednesday, 10 June 2009 - 6:33 am
pas should be banned the way mcp was banned, declared illegal
#46 by pohsoonTan on Wednesday, 10 June 2009 - 8:24 am
Reading the news from Malay Mail and The Star, it was reported that even T-Shirt with Bruce Lee was confiscated, citing that it promote communism.
Hmm.. does those officer have any basic knowledge or sense at all? If they do have sense and basic knowledge, yet still confiscate T-Shirt with Bruce Lee and claiming that it promote communism, then there must be something fishy there.
The other thing that bemuse me is the claim that Mao in mickey mouse form tend to promote communism. If that is the case, probably we should have a T-Shirt with Najib protracted as mickey mouse, so that each malaysian should wear such a T-Shirt to promote UMNO?
#47 by TomThumb on Wednesday, 10 June 2009 - 6:18 pm
a mutt-faced regular visitor to this blog better known as limkamputt suggests that anti-dap views be banned and here you’re defending freedom of speech through the use of T-shirts??
#48 by ekin on Wednesday, 10 June 2009 - 8:14 pm
MR. PATHETIC LAKSAMANA(DISGUISED) CHENG HO AKA ONE OF 3 STOOGES,
“# chengho Says:
June 7th, 2009 (3 days ago) at 23: 00.53
Unfortunately you are not in Beijing ……” – WHY NOT SAY WE ARE NOT IN MALAYSIA? WHAT AN IDIOTIC COMMENT.
“# TomThumb Says:
June 8th, 2009 (2 days ago) at 03: 13.10
a2a Says:
Today at 00: 17.56 (2 hours ago)
TO CHINA, THEY ACT LIKE A CHICKEN.”
why do you think chickens cross the road??” – YOUR QUESTION WAS LIKE ‘WHY DO YOU EAT?’…PLAIN STUPIDITY.
“# TomThumb Says:
June 8th, 2009 (2 days ago) at 07: 43.17
wonder if they’ll ban a t-shirt with the words “big kahuna”” – WHY DON’T YOU TRY IT?
“# TomThumb Says:
Yesterday at 05: 05.12
kerishamuddinitis Says:
Yesterday at 23: 12.56
“wonder if they will seize t-shirts with the words ‘tomdumbo, suck my tom’?”
final notice. you’re not to trivialize this blog and show disrespect for its visitors or you’ll be placed on the Moderator List.
[Admin.]” – FINAL WARNING. A VISITOR(MR. PATHETIC TOMTHUMB AKA ONE OF 3 STOOGES) DISRESPECTED VISITORS WILL BE IN IGNORED LIST SOON AS BEING DISRESPECTFUL TOWARDS THE SITES AS WELL AS VISITORS.
“# TomThumb Says:
Today at 18: 18.07 (1 hour ago)
a mutt-faced regular visitor to this blog better known as limkamputt suggests that anti-dap views be banned and here you’re defending freedom of speech through the use of T-shirts??” – NO ONE SUGGESTED ANTI-DAP VIEWS BE BANNED. JUST BAN YOU CAUSE YOU ARE A TERRORIST.
#49 by TomThumb on Wednesday, 10 June 2009 - 9:12 pm
ok. i am a terrorist. what does that make you? a moron? visiting this blog has been a learning experience. thanks to you and those like you.
#50 by ekin on Wednesday, 10 June 2009 - 9:41 pm
MR. PATHETIC TOMTHUMB AKA ONE OF 3 STOOGES,
“# TomThumb Says:
Today at 21: 12.44 (26 minutes ago)
ok. i am a terrorist. what does that make you? a moron? visiting this blog has been a learning experience. thanks to you and those like you.” – SO YOU FEEL IT? I’M JUST SHOWING YOU HOW YOU WERE BUT PUT IT THIS WAY. YOU’RE STILL WAY HIGH UP A MORON THAN ME. I WISH I COULD BE AS DUMB AND MORON AS YOU..PATHETIC THAT MEANS..OH WELL, THANK GOD I’M NOT..
#51 by johnnypok on Thursday, 11 June 2009 - 1:26 pm
Najib should be banned for being implicated as a corrupt person and a murderer.
TDM should be banned for being a “batu api”
The kris-waving samseng should be banned for waving an out-moded weapon.
#52 by aimoe on Saturday, 13 June 2009 - 1:08 pm
Do I have to turn in my sex toys? Cucumbers, brinjals, vibrators, benwas… and that funky baggy silk pajama my wife wears that only seems to elicit a sexual response from me?
What the f is so wrong about a T shirt with a cannabis leaf? How do those that dont smoke it even know what it looks like? DOesnt this damn plant grow in our jungles? What about banning the cocoa leaf…. we all know where cocaine comes from.
Also.. contact glue should be sold as a controlled substance. Cobblers have to be registered with KDN. Damn….. think about it… all citizens must send in their laptops and hard disks for monthly screening.
I still think if they hit all hte damn 4d shops and just give tickets out to all the malay punters, they will have enough revenue to bail out Port Klang.
All this banning never seems to happen in Bangsar or in the ritzy night spots. I would like to see Bandaraya taking away some tables from elitist clubs or carting away Harley Davidsons from Hard Rock Cafe.
Come to think of it, Malays should be banned from leaving the country unless they have been vetted and declared immune from foreign influences. After all… that’s the root of the problem and the crux of their ethnocentricity. Heaven forbid they are influenced by the Indian culture…..