PUTRAJAYA: Home Minister Datuk Seri Saifuddin Nasution Ismail has defended the ministry's raid on a bookshop in Kuala Lumpur last Friday, saying that officials only seized two books.
He said the action was taken based on complaints related to two books; Marx Sang Pendidik Revolusioner (Marx the Revolutionary Educator) by Robin Small and Benz Ali's poetry collection called 'Koleksi Puisi Masturbasi'.
Saifuddin said the Ministry's Regulatory and Enforcement Division confiscated the two books to conduct further research and scrutiny for elements that could threaten public order.
"The more accurate term is that we only went to take the two books, not the entire store, the connotation being made was as if all the books in the bookshop were being confiscated.
"So acting on the complaint, the team went to take the two books only and the purpose is for research, investigation and review to see if the contents are in accordance with the law," he said at a Press conference after the Ministry's Monthly Assembly, here, today.
Saifuddin said this when asked to comment on the complaint by bookshop owner known as Benz Ali who was disappointed by the Ministry's raid on his bookshop.
Benz had contested the seizure of the books, saying they were not banned.