Published on: Wednesday, November 11, 2009 |
Kuala Lumpur: "The Golden Son of the Kadazans", a biography on former State Local Government and Housing Minister Datuk Peter J. Mojuntin who died in the "Double 6" tragedy of June 1996, is among books still banned today.
Disclosing this in a written reply to Sepanggar MP Datuk Eric Majimbun in Parliament, the Home Ministry stated it was among 107 books by local authors banned by the Government within the last 10 years.
Apart from wanting to know the actual number of banned books Majimbun also asked what were the contents of "The Golden Son of the Kadazan" and whether it could be used as a historical reading material.
According to the Ministry, the book written by Bernard Sta Maria, was banned on June 22, 1978 because it contained elements that could threaten peace and order.
Firstly, the author mentioned that the late Tun Mustapha tried to stop the development of Christianity in Sabah and claimed that priests were ordered to go back to their place of origin, lest they be jailed.
Such allegation can create racial tension in Malaysia particularly among the Christians and Muslims, said the Ministry, adding the author also claimed the late Tun Fuad Stephen's dismissal as Chief Minister in 1965 contravened the Constitution and was made by the Federal Government simply because it was influenced by Mustapha who was then Head of State.
The Ministry said, hence, the book had been banned and cannot be used for historical reading.
Meanwhile, the Agriculture and Agro-based Industries Ministry in a written answer to Majimbun's question said the country has 656,602ha cultivated with paddy based on last year's statistics.
It said of this 503,290ha were in the peninsula and the remaining 153,312ha in Sabah and Sarawak.
The country's total paddy production last year was 2,353,032 metric tonnes, with an average production of 3.58 metric tonnes per hectare.
In the peninsula, the total average paddy production was 4.0 metric tonnes while in Sabah it was 3.55 metric tonnes and 1.78 metric tonnes per hectare in Sarawak.
The Ministry said by the end of the Ninth Malaysia Plan (9MP) period next year the total paddy production area is expected to increase by 2.61 per cent to 673,271ha, of which 510,474ha would be in the peninsula and 163,271ha in Sabah and Sarawak.
The total paddy production of this country is also predicted to increase to 2,548,309metric tonnes per hectare then, with the total average production of 3.78 metric tonnes per hectare.
The Ministry said it has allocated RM92.2million under the 9MP period for the development of idle land throughout the country, including Sabah and Sarawak through the Agriculture Concentrated Development Area (ACDA) project and the Idle Land Management Project under the Food Supply Guarantee Policy Programme among others.
Until this year some RM56.8million had been channelled including RM11.7 to Sabah and Sarawak.
With the allocation it said some 4,879ha of idle land in the country had been developed with 248 projects, involving 3,988 participants.
It said the idle land development project will continue under the 10MP to ensure more idle land can be developed.
