The author of bestseller Malaysian Maverick has attributed the rapidly climbing sales of his book partly to news of a possible ban by the Malaysian government.

" NONE The Malaysian government's delay in allowing Malaysian Maverick to enter the country initially increased awareness of the book and boosted sales in Singapore," said Barry Wain, a former editor of the Asian Wall Street Journal .

"There was intense curiosity about the book. The word spread online that it was frank and pulled no punches. People wanted to get their hands on a copy to see what was in it for themselves."

A shipment of the book - billed as a political biography of former prime minister Dr Mahathir Mohamad - was held up at the Port Klang Customs authority for four months since November.

The Home Ministry eventually cleared the book for sale in Malaysia late last month.

According to Wain, all 500 copies held at Port Klang were snapped up on April 23 - the day the title released for sale - when they reached the bookshops.

Financial scams stir interest

Wain told Malaysiakini via e-mail that the book’s chapter on government losses in financial scams had also stirred interest among Malaysians.

The book claims that Mahathir squandered RM100 billion on financial scandals during his 22-year tenure as premier.

"Based on incomplete public information, RM15 billion was a conservative estimate of Perwaja's losses. Similarly, Bank Bumiputra dropped at least RM10 billion. Bank Negara's foreign exchange forays drained perhaps RM23 billion from Malaysia's reserves. The cost of trying to push up the price of tin seemed paltry by comparison, maybe RM1 billion," said Wain.

"The total, RM50 billion or so, could have easily doubled if a professional accounting had been made, factoring in all the invisibles, from unrecorded writeoffs to blatant embezzlement and opportunity costs."

Wain also claims that the Putra World Trade Centre - Umno's headquarters - were funded by taxpayers after the party's loans were written off from a government-owned bank.

Mahathir has denied allegations about PWTC and threatened to sue Wain over the his claims of financial impropriety.

The opposition has jumped into the fray and demanded a royal commission of inquiry to probe Wain’s claims but this was rejected by Prime Minister Najib Abdul Razak.

Pent-up demand

Wain, however, added that the interest in Malaysian Maverick went beyond the threatened censorship.

"We saw this in Singapore, where the book was on the bestseller list for three months - unheard of for a hardback, academic publication. Sales in Singapore have topped 11,000 and it is still selling steadily."

The controversial book on Mahathir has since received rave reviews including from former Universiti Malaya vice-chancellor Royal Professor Ungku Abdul Aziz who found Malaysian Maverick "a very fascinating book".

"You can see that the focus has switched from the controversy about a possible ban to the actual contents. And I believe this is primarily why sales have exploded in Malaysia since the book's release," said Wain.

The author shared a few anecdotal accounts indicating the pent-up demand for the book.

"One woman on Singapore's east coast who visited her local library to borrow Malaysian Maverick found there were 64 library members registered to read it before her," he said.

"A banker based in KL bought 30 copies for his clients outside Malaysia, telling them they could understand the country better by reading the book."

May 20 reception

The book is selling so fast that publisher Palgrave Macmillan has decided on a fifth reprint with a run of 5,000 copies.

"The demand in Malaysia almost cleaned out the 1,300 copies in stock in Singapore so additional books will need to be sent to Singapore when they become available.

"According to sources in the book trade, the Singapore offices of some Malaysian bookshops snapped up some of the 1,300 copies for transshipment to KL."

Fresh from his success, Wain plans to begin work on another book on the emergence of Southeast Asia from the ruins of World War Two, tracing the evolution of the region’s countries "from mayhem to markets".

The author said that there will a reception at the Tropicana Golf and Country Club Resort on May 20 to celebrate Malaysian Maverick ’s entry to Malaysia.

 

'Malaysian Maverick' is available for sale online in Kinibooks .