Copies of the controversial book Khairy Jamaluddin - Future Prime Minister? have been taken off the shelves pending a government's decision on whether to ban it.

"We have yet to make a decision as we are still studying the matter," a spokesperson from the Internal Security Ministry's prohibiting order (perintah larangan) division said when contacted today.

She added that no time frame has been set for the ministry's deliberations on the book.

Although the government has not issued an official ban on Khairy - Future PM?, booksellers have nevertheless been 'advised' to take them off their shelves.

"Our enforcement team can confiscate the books if they continued to be sold in shops. This is because the book is controversial, especially with that title," she explained.

A staff at the Nile Bookshop at Kuala Lumpur's Sentral Station told malaysiakini that he had been asked by the police to remove the controversial book from his store recently. No reasons were given, he said.

"We were told not to sell the book three days after we took delivery. Now I'm stuck with 50 unsold copies," he decried.

The book, which is written in Bahasa Malaysia, hit the streets last December. However, it received more attention following several media reviews of it last month.

The 304-page Khairy - Future PM? - priced at RM29.90 - has been described as a 'must-read' by those in Malaysian political circles.

The book provides a titillating postulation on how 29-year-old Khairy - Umno's rising star and son-in-law of Prime Minister Abdullah Ahmad Badawi - becomes the country's No 1 political figure.

'Secret plan' underway

It alleges that former deputy premier Anwar Ibrahim and Abdullah have struck a deal to block Deputy Prime Minister Najib Abdul Razak from becoming premier.

The author, Yahaya Ismail, goes on to describe a 'secret plan' to bring Anwar back into the ruling Umno before party polls in 2007 in order for the former deputy premier to challenge Najib ( photo ) for the party's No 2 post.

The move is allegedly calculated to pave the way for Anwar to take over as premier after the general elections in 2008 or 2009, when Abdullah supposedly steps down.

Khairy, meanwhile, will be appointed as a cabinet minister before assuming the deputy prime minister's post when Anwar assumes power. He assumes the mantle of leadership when Anwar retires and everybody lives happily ever after, so the book concludes.

Khairy, who is Umno deputy Youth chief, dismissed the book as 'ridiculous'. He told Singapore's Straits Times recently that the book was a '... good way for people without any decency to make money'.

"I read a bit of it. It does not matter what is written. Who is to say who goes up? The prime minister is not in the business of promoting his children or anyone," he added.

No book banned before

Yahaya could not see any reason why the government would want to ban his book. Unlike newspapers and magazines, the publication of books in Malaysia does not require a government permit.

"I have been writing such books since 1977 and produced more than 30 books which were also deemed controversial. I was even labelled as a controversial writer but none of my books has ever been banned," he told malaysiakini .

"Even during (former premier Dr Mahathir Mohamad) Mahathir's era, I attacked him not once but four or five times in my books but they were never once banned.

Yahaya argued that his book did not contain sensitive elements involving religion or communism that could lead to a ban being imposed.

"I have yet to find someone who has criticised the book. In fact, I have received calls from various people, including Umno politicians and even a minister whom I do not want to name, and none of them said I had a political agenda," Yahaya said.

Should the book be banned, he said, it would be a bad reflection on Abdullah's government which promotes Islam Hadhari of which one of the pillars is 'fairness and justice'.

Yahaya refused to reveal how many Khairy - Future PM? had been sold or printed apart from saying he had sold enough to have made a small profit.