A book containing a selection of Dr Farish A Noor's controversial writings, which first appeared in o­nline daily malaysiakini , has held the No 1 spot in a leading bookstore's bestseller list for the past three weeks.

According to Kinokuniya, Farish's The Other Malaysia shot up to the No 1 spot in the bookstore's Top 10 non-fiction bestseller list o­n Jan 25, a week after it was launched.

The book has since remained o­n the top spot in the list, compiled weekly based o­n the number of copies sold.

The 354-page book o­n issues ranging from Islam to politics were part of Farish's The Other Malaysia column which he wrote for malaysiakini in the past three years.

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?)'.

Lopsided perspective

Farish said The Other Malaysia

aimed "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," he added.

A prolific writer, Farish ( left) 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 . 'The Other Malaysia' is currently available in Kinokuniya and other major bookstores.