In February last year, it was confirmed that the film adaptation of “Fifty Shades of Grey” will not be shown in Malaysia. This was followed by a ban of the popular erotica “Fifty Shades of Grey” trilogy — “Fifty Shades of Grey”, “Fifty Shades Darker”, and “Fifty Shades Freed” — a few weeks later.
At that time, the books were already selling in bookstores throughout the country for about 3 years before its sales got axed.
Mid last year, “Grey”, a new version of the “Fifty Shades of Grey” story written from Christian Grey’s point of view, was released. “Grey”, by EL James (the same author who wrote the “Fifty Shades” trilogy) was published in paperback and as an eBook by Vintage Books, an imprint of the Knopf Doubleday Publishing Group, a division of Penguin Random House.
It didn’t take long for the novel to arrive in our bookstores and we knew that it was only a matter of time before it gets banned too.
True enough, the Home Ministry just announced that “Grey (Fifty Shades of Grey As Told By Christian)” has officially been banned on the grounds of being “prejudicial to morality as it contained pornographic elements”.
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Along with “Grey”, 5 other publications have also been banned including Alvin Tan‘s “Sex, Pork, And Persecution: How’s One Young Man’s Fight Against Conformity Led to Imprisonment and Vilification” and “Orang Ngomong Anjing Gong Gong” by Mutalib Uthman.
“Sex, Pork, And Persecution: How’s One Young Man’s Fight Against Conformity Led to Imprisonment and Vilification”was banned as it was likely to be prejudicial to morality as it contained pornographic elements while “Orang Ngomong Anjing Gong Gong” is believed to be detrimental to public order, security, and morality as it contained elements against the Malaysian norms and moral ethics.
Note: It is an offence under subsection 2 Section 8 of the Printing Presses and Publications Act 1984 for anyone to print, import, produce, reproduce, publish, sell, issue, circulate, offer for sale and distribution, as well as to possess such banned publications. Those convicted of the offence can be sentenced to a jail term of up to 3 years and a fine not exceeding RM20,000 or both.
Source: TRP / Featured image from Washington Post.
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