| By Ak Mohd Shahrom
The Censorship and Publication
Control Unit of the Islamic Dakwah Centre confiscated 3,810
items last year.
The department said that for
the months January till December last year, the month of January
recorded the highest items seized, a total of 1,003 items.
However, the following month
showed a slight decline in the number of items seized.
This showed that the public was
more aware that the items which they were bringing in, whether
for business or personal use, should not conflict with the
Islamic teachings or be able to influence Muslims in the
country.
Over 42 items were confiscated
including toothbrushes with the cross sign on them, ‘wafak’
accessories, ‘telkong ayat’, Christian watches, Buddha
frames, ‘Tabligh’ books, pictures of alcoholic drinks as
well as Hindu items.
The number of publications that
were stamped and signed for the year 2002 was 228,173 items,
including books, Yassin, cassettes/videos/VCDs, Calligraphy and
Al-Quran/Muqaddam. However, a total of 10,642 items from 419
categories were destroyed.
Other statistics show that the
number of Malay books which were screened was 753 books, of
which 596 were approved and 157 were disapproved. For the Arab
language books, 737 books were screened (733 approved, 4
disapproved) and for the English language books, 271 books were
screened (137 approved, 134 disapproved).
The number of electronic items
including cassette, CDs, VCDs, CD-Roms and videos screened were
409 items, of which 321 were approved and 88 failed to meet the
requirements.
However, the number of VCDs
that were censored according to their titles were 32 items, of
which 7 were approved and 25 were not approved.
The Censorship and Publication
Control Unit of the Islamic Dakwah Centre also made working
inspections for censorship to shops and exhibitions. These
amounted to 133 visits last year.
The senior religious education
officer as the head of the Censorship and Publication Control
Unit, Ustazah Hajah Rashidah Hj Md Hanifah said that efforts to
eradicate unwanted activities will be continued from time to
time to ensure that the Muslims in the country will not be
influence by other cultures and religions.
This is the only way to create
awareness to Muslims so that they do not deviate from their
religion.
She also thanked those who have
helped in providing information and support and hoped that more
will come forward in eradicating the problem.
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