Home Ministry lifts ban on Zaid Ibrahim's book

The Home Ministry has lifted a ban on a book by former law minister Zaid Ibrahim titled "Assalamualaikum (May Peace Be Upon You): Observations On The Islamisation Of Malaysia".

The ban was lifted through an order gazetted on Sept 18.

The book was published in 2015 and launched by Dr Mahathir Mohamad.

However, the previous BN government banned the book in December 2017, saying it was "likely to be prejudicial to public order, as well as public interest, and is likely to alarm public opinion".

Zaid had then told Malaysiakini that the reasons given were nonsense.

"Which is absolute nonsense. Islamisation is not about Islam, it's a public policy and anyone should be able to talk and express their views freely.

"This government also does not want Muslims to have their own minds; they rather have Muslims who just follow them blindly," he said.

When contacted today, Zaid said he was glad that his book was no longer banned.

"The government must not ban books. Now I am encouraged to write again, perhaps soon," he added.

Zaid said the book would possibly be on the "misguided economic policies of the last 50 years".

"The abject failure and neglect to help small businesses and nurture entrepreneurship are glaring.

"The rakyat never had it easy to start something on their own. Too much red tape; too few opportunities," he said, adding that too much focus had instead been given to helping big names and government agencies do business.