Ministry of Communications and Information asks NLB to review vetting process for divisive material following withdrawal of books
Series that seems to legitimise use of violence taken off shelves after member of public shares photos of books
By Kok Xing Hui and Zhaki Abdullah, The Straits Times, 9 Jun 2017
The National Library Board (NLB) has been asked by the Government to review the way it checks for divisive and sensitive materials, a day after it removed a controversial series available for loan to young people.
Copies of the Malay-language series - Agama, Tamadun Dan Arkeologi (Religion, Civilisation And Archaeology) - had been available in libraries since 2013, and placed in the junior non-fiction section.
Published in Malaysia by Penerbit Sinar Cemerlang, the series purported to give "factual" insights into several civilisations and religions, including Islam, Christianity and Judaism. Yet, it presented Jews in a negative light and seemed to legitimise the use of violence in the name of Islam.
One book in the series said a third world war would start in the Middle East between Israel and neighbouring Arab states. Another book had a picture of a Muslim boy, wearing what seemed to be a suicide vest, surrounded by masked adults.
The books came to light after a Twitter user here shared photos of them at the weekend.
The NLB had told The New Paper it would withdraw the books immediately, and "call upon the Library Consultative Panel to review the series". The independent panel is made up of 18 members and chaired by Mrs Mildred Tan, managing director at Ernst & Young Advisory.
At the same time, the NLB said it could not vet all titles thoroughly given its large collection, and "hence, we take seriously readers' feedback on titles added to our collections".
Yesterday, the Ministry of Communications and Information told The Straits Times that it has asked the NLB "to review its vetting process for potentially divisive and sensitive materials". "We thank the member of the public and The New Paper for raising this particular series to our attention," it said.
The ministry spokesman added: "As a multi-cultural and multiracial society, we do not condone materials that denigrate any racial or religious groups, or which promote intolerance or violence. The cultural and racial harmony that our people enjoy today has taken us generations to build. This must not be taken for granted."
The Association of Muslim Professionals (AMP) said it was worrying that such material was easily accessible to the public, especially children. AMP chairman Abdul Hamid Abdullah said: "Such books could potentially sow seeds of discord and prejudice among readers."
Ustaz Yusri Yusoff, executive director of the Singapore Islamic Scholars and Religious Teachers Association, urged the public to come forward if they find "materials that can affect our social fabric and inter-faith relations".
Series that seems to legitimise use of violence taken off shelves after member of public shares photos of books
By Kok Xing Hui and Zhaki Abdullah, The Straits Times, 9 Jun 2017
Copies of the Malay-language series - Agama, Tamadun Dan Arkeologi (Religion, Civilisation And Archaeology) - had been available in libraries since 2013, and placed in the junior non-fiction section.
Published in Malaysia by Penerbit Sinar Cemerlang, the series purported to give "factual" insights into several civilisations and religions, including Islam, Christianity and Judaism. Yet, it presented Jews in a negative light and seemed to legitimise the use of violence in the name of Islam.
One book in the series said a third world war would start in the Middle East between Israel and neighbouring Arab states. Another book had a picture of a Muslim boy, wearing what seemed to be a suicide vest, surrounded by masked adults.
The books came to light after a Twitter user here shared photos of them at the weekend.
The NLB had told The New Paper it would withdraw the books immediately, and "call upon the Library Consultative Panel to review the series". The independent panel is made up of 18 members and chaired by Mrs Mildred Tan, managing director at Ernst & Young Advisory.
At the same time, the NLB said it could not vet all titles thoroughly given its large collection, and "hence, we take seriously readers' feedback on titles added to our collections".
Yesterday, the Ministry of Communications and Information told The Straits Times that it has asked the NLB "to review its vetting process for potentially divisive and sensitive materials". "We thank the member of the public and The New Paper for raising this particular series to our attention," it said.
The ministry spokesman added: "As a multi-cultural and multiracial society, we do not condone materials that denigrate any racial or religious groups, or which promote intolerance or violence. The cultural and racial harmony that our people enjoy today has taken us generations to build. This must not be taken for granted."
The Association of Muslim Professionals (AMP) said it was worrying that such material was easily accessible to the public, especially children. AMP chairman Abdul Hamid Abdullah said: "Such books could potentially sow seeds of discord and prejudice among readers."
Ustaz Yusri Yusoff, executive director of the Singapore Islamic Scholars and Religious Teachers Association, urged the public to come forward if they find "materials that can affect our social fabric and inter-faith relations".
Singapore Chief Rabbi Mordechai Abergel said the books' presence in libraries was of "much concern" to the Jewish community, and was glad they had been taken off shelves.
The books had earlier also been reported to the authorities in Malaysia over their content.
The publisher did not respond to calls.
In explaining how the series ended up on its shelves, the NLB said librarians use tools such as pre-publication information from publishers and vendors and reviews from library journals to select materials. The series was selected based on the publisher's description of it as a "factual book series tracing the development of civilisations, archaeology and religions".
Additional reporting by Ng Jun Sen
The books had earlier also been reported to the authorities in Malaysia over their content.
The publisher did not respond to calls.
In explaining how the series ended up on its shelves, the NLB said librarians use tools such as pre-publication information from publishers and vendors and reviews from library journals to select materials. The series was selected based on the publisher's description of it as a "factual book series tracing the development of civilisations, archaeology and religions".
Additional reporting by Ng Jun Sen
Anti-Semitic rhetoric and suicide bombers
By Zhaki Abdullah, The Straits Times, 9 Jun 2017
Agama, Tamadun Dan Arkeologi (Religion, Civilisation And Archaeology) is a series of eight books which purports to provide a "factual" depiction of world religions and civilisations.
Published in Malaysia by Penerbit Sinar Cemerlang, the titles - dealing with topics such as Islam, Judaism, Buddhism, Christianity, ancient civilisations, Sikhism and Hinduism - were available for loan at 20 different libraries under the National Library Board.
The book titled Jews: Religion And Lineage, which has a picture of Jewish children in yarmulkes holding guns on the cover, includes anti-Semitic rhetoric. It claims that a third world war will start in the Middle East, between Israel and the Arab states.
Elsewhere, a photo of a boy wearing what appears to be a suicide bomber vest, surrounded by masked men wearing similar vests, is accompanied by the statement that "every Muslim is required to wholeheartedly defend his nation".
The imagery and content of the books "can be exploited to promote incitement and hatred", said Professor Rohan Gunaratna, head of the International Centre for Political Violence and Terrorism Research.
He added that it was a "concern and worry" that the books were found in the children's section.
By Zhaki Abdullah, The Straits Times, 9 Jun 2017
Published in Malaysia by Penerbit Sinar Cemerlang, the titles - dealing with topics such as Islam, Judaism, Buddhism, Christianity, ancient civilisations, Sikhism and Hinduism - were available for loan at 20 different libraries under the National Library Board.
The book titled Jews: Religion And Lineage, which has a picture of Jewish children in yarmulkes holding guns on the cover, includes anti-Semitic rhetoric. It claims that a third world war will start in the Middle East, between Israel and the Arab states.
Elsewhere, a photo of a boy wearing what appears to be a suicide bomber vest, surrounded by masked men wearing similar vests, is accompanied by the statement that "every Muslim is required to wholeheartedly defend his nation".
The imagery and content of the books "can be exploited to promote incitement and hatred", said Professor Rohan Gunaratna, head of the International Centre for Political Violence and Terrorism Research.
He added that it was a "concern and worry" that the books were found in the children's section.
NLB reviewing 130 titles by publisher of withdrawn book
Not possible for NLB to vet all books carefully, so readers' alerts taken seriously: Yaacob
By Sean Lim, The Straits Times, 10 Jun 2017
The National Library Board (NLB) has said that it is reviewing another 130 titles by the Malaysian publisher which produced a series on history and religion which contained anti-Semitic rhetoric and seemed to glorify violence in the name of Islam.
On Thursday, the NLB was asked by the Government to review its vetting process for sensitive and divisive content after concerns were raised on how copies of the Agama, Tamadun Dan Arkeologi (Religion, Civilisation And Archaeology) series had been available in the junior non-fiction section in libraries since 2013.
The Malay-language series was published in Malaysia by a publishing firm called Sinar Cemerlang.
NLB said yesterday that it has "130 other titles from the same publisher in our libraries".
It added: "We are conducting a review of all these titles. They will not be available for loan while the review is under way. We are reviewing other titles by the publisher to ensure that they are suitable for our readers."
Earlier yesterday, Minister for Communications and Information Yaacob Ibrahim said it is "not possible" for the authorities to go through every piece of reading material, so even if the Government imposes guidelines, it is "difficult to enforce".
But he said the Government and the NLB will learn from the episode.
The controversial series came to light after a Twitter user in Singapore shared photos of the series last weekend.
One book in the series had a picture of a Muslim boy wearing what seemed to be a suicide vest, surrounded by masked adults. The caption said Muslims had a duty to defend their country.
The NLB had told The New Paper earlier this week it would withdraw the books immediately and "call upon the Library Consultative Panel to review the series".
The independent panel is made up of 18 members.
The NLB added that it could not vet all titles thoroughly, given its large collection, and "hence, we take seriously readers' feedback on titles added to our collections".
Speaking on the sidelines of a reading event yesterday, Dr Yaacob said that he would leave the NLB to do the work it needed to do with its panel of experts, and that the Government "can tighten in some areas".
Asked if the NLB should have been more stringent about filtering what is acceptable for the public and whether all books should be made available to everyone, Dr Yaacob said that "there are some lines we need to draw".
"Some books that undermine national security and racial and religious harmony, we have to take (those) off. Because if you provoke one group to hate another group, then that is not something we would want to promote in Singapore," he said.
"So there should be some lines that we should not cross. Beyond that, I think that the boundaries are very wide for Singaporeans to decide for themselves."
Additional reporting by Ng Wei Kai
Not possible for NLB to vet all books carefully, so readers' alerts taken seriously: Yaacob
By Sean Lim, The Straits Times, 10 Jun 2017
The National Library Board (NLB) has said that it is reviewing another 130 titles by the Malaysian publisher which produced a series on history and religion which contained anti-Semitic rhetoric and seemed to glorify violence in the name of Islam.
On Thursday, the NLB was asked by the Government to review its vetting process for sensitive and divisive content after concerns were raised on how copies of the Agama, Tamadun Dan Arkeologi (Religion, Civilisation And Archaeology) series had been available in the junior non-fiction section in libraries since 2013.
The Malay-language series was published in Malaysia by a publishing firm called Sinar Cemerlang.
NLB said yesterday that it has "130 other titles from the same publisher in our libraries".
It added: "We are conducting a review of all these titles. They will not be available for loan while the review is under way. We are reviewing other titles by the publisher to ensure that they are suitable for our readers."
Earlier yesterday, Minister for Communications and Information Yaacob Ibrahim said it is "not possible" for the authorities to go through every piece of reading material, so even if the Government imposes guidelines, it is "difficult to enforce".
But he said the Government and the NLB will learn from the episode.
The controversial series came to light after a Twitter user in Singapore shared photos of the series last weekend.
One book in the series had a picture of a Muslim boy wearing what seemed to be a suicide vest, surrounded by masked adults. The caption said Muslims had a duty to defend their country.
The NLB had told The New Paper earlier this week it would withdraw the books immediately and "call upon the Library Consultative Panel to review the series".
The independent panel is made up of 18 members.
The NLB added that it could not vet all titles thoroughly, given its large collection, and "hence, we take seriously readers' feedback on titles added to our collections".
Speaking on the sidelines of a reading event yesterday, Dr Yaacob said that he would leave the NLB to do the work it needed to do with its panel of experts, and that the Government "can tighten in some areas".
Asked if the NLB should have been more stringent about filtering what is acceptable for the public and whether all books should be made available to everyone, Dr Yaacob said that "there are some lines we need to draw".
"Some books that undermine national security and racial and religious harmony, we have to take (those) off. Because if you provoke one group to hate another group, then that is not something we would want to promote in Singapore," he said.
"So there should be some lines that we should not cross. Beyond that, I think that the boundaries are very wide for Singaporeans to decide for themselves."
Additional reporting by Ng Wei Kai
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