Malaysia bans 18 more books

The Malaysian Internal Security Ministry has banned 18 more books, according to a July 10 press release of Article 19. Six of the books are in English while the others are in Malaysian. The banned books include John Esposito’s What Everyone Needs to Know about Islam and Karen Armstrong’s The Battle for God: Fundamentalism in Judaism, Christianity and Islam. Malaysia has banned 45 books since 2003. The ministry is given wide discretion to regulate publications under the Printing Presses and Publications Act of 1984.