Dr Farish A Noor's column 'The Other Malaysia', which first appeared on popular online daily malaysiakini three years ago, is "about a country that is here and real, and one that is yet to come".

So says Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia academic Sumit Mandal in his foreword of Farish's 354-page book which contains a selection of his controversial writings on issues ranging from Islam to politics.

"The very act of writing independently, often taking risks, and the substance of his articles together demonstrate the salience and power of freedom of expression," added Sumit.

Farish, who is a political scientist and human rights activist, was one of the writers alleged to have abused Islam in their writings last year.

Last January, the Muslim Scholars Association of Malaysia lodged a complaint with the National Fatwa Council and submitted a memorandum to the Conference of Rulers urging for action against Farish and five others for allegedly making offensive remarks on Islam.

However, the Fatwa Council decided against taking action against the writers as no directive was received from the Conference of Rulers, which has jurisdiction on matters relating to Islam.

Despite this threat, Farish continued with his style of writing for malaysiakini .

Defending free speech

But what goes around comes around.

A few months later, Islamic party PAS' spiritual leader Nik Aziz Nik Mat was accused of blasphemy for his alleged statement that God was a 'gangster'.

Farish wrote in support of Nik Aziz's right to free speech ('In defence of difference: Why freedom of speech matters most').

"In this instance, Farish clearly demonstrated his capacity not only to set rules of conduct, but to take responsibility for them enough so that he defended the rights of his nemesis," said Sumit.

"For this, he not only gained the admiration and respect of Malaysians but also Indonesian intellectuals championing a pluralist Islamic faith."

According to Farish, 'The Other Malaysia' aims "to bring to light aspects of Malaysia's marginalised and subaltern histories and narratives that had been buried for so long".

"Throughout my adult life, I have been struck by the lopsided and myopic perspective that is clearly evident in the collective imaginary of the Malaysian nation," he said.

"The contribution of 'Other' ethnic and racial groups, the role of women in the country's historical development and the pre-Islamic past of the country have been conveniently sidelined and relegated to the footnotes of history."

Prolific writer

Social activist Alijah Gordon, who motivated Farish to take up political science and philosophy, called him the enfant terrible of Malaysia "who pokes his brilliant mind into everybody's business".

In addition to giving a different perspective to historical events and individuals from the past, Farish also deals with contemporary issues in his writings.

Among his provocative articles which appeared in the book are 'How Mahathir became "Mahazalim", '"Progressive Islam" won't be born behind bars', 'Sex and the Asian woman', 'Porn and the Sheikh', and 'Why hudud (Why not?)'.

A prolific writer, Farish has also written for many other publications including English daily New Straits Times , Chinese daily Sin Chew Daily and international magazines Far Eastern Economic Review and Newsweek .

He has also written two books, Terrorising the Truth: The Demonisation of Islam and Muslims in Global Media and New Voices of Islam .

Farish is currently working on another book on the history of PAS entitled Islam Embedded .

You can meet Farish when he launches his book tomorrow between 5-7pm in Bangsar's Silverfish bookshop, Jalan Telawi 3.