Police: Cops outside Gerakbudaya events just 'routine activity'

Summary

• Petaling Jaya police say patrols seen outside recent events organised by book publisher Gerakbudaya were “routine activity” and were not meant to be disruptive.

• The statement comes after Gerakbudaya posted pictures of armed police personnel at its events on social media.

Police patrols present at publisher Gerakbudaya’s recent events were “routine activity” and were not meant to be disruptive,” said Petaling Jaya district police chief Shahrulnizam Ja'afar.

This was after the publisher posted pictures of police presence at its events on social media.

“The presence of the police is not intended to disrupt any programme or activity of the community or any group that is organised legally,” he said in a statement yesterday.

Gerakbudaya had also posted pictures of two separate events, he added.

Shahrulnizam explained that one picture was from the police patrol on Feb 15 while the other was from the Home Ministry’s search on Feb 14.

He was referring to a visit by the Home Ministry in search of three books banned by the government the week before.

‘Valentine’s date’

On Saturday (Feb 15), Gerakbudaya posted on X a picture of two armed police officers outside a building where people were gathered for the publisher’s indoor event.

This post reshared another post on the Home Ministry check.

In an Instagram post, the shop well known for selling leftist books sarcastically described the checks as “our Valentine’s date” as it took place during the annual celebration.

On Feb 8, the Home Ministry stated that the government had prohibited three books deemed potentially harmful to public morality in Malaysia.

The three banned titles are “My Shadow Is Purple” by Scott Stuart, “Koleksi Puisi Masturbasi” by Amir Hamzah Akal Ali (Benz Ali), and “All That’s Left In The World” by Erik J Brown.

The ban was officially gazetted under the Printing Presses and Publications Act 1984 and took effect on Jan 21 and 22.

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