The Home Ministry has seized copies of the long-awaited memoirs of legendary communist leader Chin Peng - Malaysia's most wanted man for 40 years.

According to media reports today, ministry officials seized 17 copies of "My Side of History" from the MPH bookstore at the Mid-Valley Megamall on Wednesday.

Ministry officials said the book was still under review, but had refused to comment on the seizure.

The book, published by Singapore-based Media Masters, was released in the republic and Malaysia last Friday.

Copies confiscated

The Singapore Straits Times also reported that about 900 copies of the book was stopped by Johor Customs last week as it was brought into the country.

The daily quoted a Customs spokesperson as saying that printed material from outside the country must have a permit from the Home Ministry.

"We give the importers 14 days to get the permit," said the spokesperson.

MPH spokesperson was quoted in the Sun today as saying that they were told by the "author and publisher that they had gone through the proper channels and had shown the book to KDN and the police".

One of the authors of the book and managing director of the publisher, Ian Ward, was reported as saying that he was unaware that he had to first obtain permission from the authorities before distributing the book.

Chin Peng, a nom de guerre of Ong Boon Hua, 79, is the 11th secretary-general of the once powerful Communist Party of Malaya (CPM) which fought against British colonialism, the Japanese occupation and the newly independent governments of both Malaysia and Singapore for over half a century.

The party's armed struggle, which began in June 1948, ended with a peace agreement signed between CPM and the governments of Malaysia and Thailand in 1989.