Malaysia 'bans' Peter Mayle book "Where did I come from?"

In Malaysia, topics such as sex education are not easy to blend within the community.  The main purpose of sex education is to develop children or teenagers mind about birth and life.  Moreover, with sex education the young ones may make informed decisions about their life in whether to have pre-marital sex or not but most Malaysians could not accept this kind of education well. 

For instance, in Peter Mayle's sex education book titled "Where did I come from?" is one of the cases in Malaysia.  As Malaysia is a multiracial, religious and cultural nation the book is banned under section seven of the Printing Presses and Publication Act 1984 (BBC News, 2012). In this act the government has the authority to restrict and ban publications that are likely to endanger either the national security interest or social unrest (Malaysia Printers Association, 2012). Hence, the government in Malaysia considered this book to be immora and breaking moral ethics as the country is a Muslim country. 

The cover book also enclosed a statement "The facts of life without any nonsense and with illustrations".

source: http://www.betterworldbooks.com/where-did-i-come-from-id-0818402539.aspx      

This is one of the pages in the book with its "illustrations"

source: http://irenedahayu.blogspot.com/2012/02/where-did-i-come-from.html

It will be a never ending argument whether or not sex education books should be publicly sold to the families in Malaysia. Even though, its intention was to inform children and helping parents to educate them, the author of this book should not have publish and sell his books to Muslim countries. Even if the author would have wanted to sell his book in Malaysia, he should at least censor the  image content as it is more appropriate for cultured nations.

Under the Malaysian Communications and Multimedia Content Code (n.d), it is stated that "any written material or visual and/or audio representation that reflects sexual activity, whether explicit or not, with a minor is strictly prohibited". Hence, in my opinion and also by law, this book should be ban from Malaysia and I do not think that with this book it would help educate children properly as the representations of the book are rather immoral.

(329 words)

References

BBC News, 2012, 'Malaysia 'Bans' Peter mayle Book Where Did I come From?', online, viewed 8 June 2012, article retrieved from<http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-17112635 >.

CMCF, n.d, 'The Malaysian Communications and Multimedia Content Code', version 6, online, viewed 8 June 2012, content retrieved from <http://www.cmcf.my/download/CONTENT_CODE_(V6-Final).pdf>.

Malaysia Printers Association, 2012, 'The Printing Publications Act in Malaysia', online, viewed 8 June 2012, content retrieved from < http://www.malaysiaprinters.com/printing.php >.