SE Asian writers say they censor themselves
SE Asian writers say they censor themselves
SINGAPORE (UPI): A panel of acclaimed Southeast Asian writers meeting in Singapore Friday said they struggle more with self- censorship than with direct government stifling of their work.
"We do it to ourselves before it can be done to us," Malaysian novelist Shirley Lim said, referring to Southeast Asian writers who use excessive caution for fear of government persecution.
The mostly Malaysian and Singaporean writers participating in the forum sponsored by the Singapore Foreign Correspondents Association hail from two countries that have worldwide reputations for curtailing freedom of expression.
Malaysian columnist Karim Raslan said the wide "inventory" of religions and cultures in Malaysia and Singapore -- from Syrian Christians to Indian Jews -- pressure some writers to avoid subjects that could spark ethnic strife.
"As you run through that inventory, you're constantly faced with the idea of self-censorship," he said.
Singapore novelist Philip Jeyaretnam said publishers also censor themselves, fearing financial losses if they publish controversial books that later might be banned by authorities.
"In Singapore there is a lot of self-censorship even before you get censorship," he said. "This self-censorship is often that of people with commercial interests, editors and publishers."
Jeyaretnam said a Singapore publisher that had agreed to publish his novel Abraham's Promise, which featured characters using racial epithets, had changed its mind just before printing and offered him financial compensation.
"I am one of the few writers who has been paid not to publish," he joked.
The novel was later published by another Singapore company and became one of the island republic's best-selling books.
Lim, a Malaysian-born U.S. citizen, won the Commonwealth Poetry Prize in 1980. Raslan, a popular columnist for Malaysia's Sun newspaper, recently published a collection of essays and short stories titled Cerita Malaysia in Translation.