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.