Malaysia Officials Seize 'Obscene' Material, Including 'Black Metal' Chains

September 28, 2003

Officers from Malaysia's Home Ministry's publication control and enforcement branch seized 277 obscene items from several shops in Penang during a raid recently, according to Malaysia's The Star Online. Among the items seized were chains that promoted black metal groups and cannabis, rings and pendants.

The northern zone chief of the branch, Mohd Shah Ismail, told reporters Saturday (September 27) that an enforcement team led by senior assistant publications officer Ooi Tiang Guan, raided 25 premises in Penang Road and Bukit Jambul on the island on Sept. 22.

He said the team seized cigarette lighters, T-shirts, bags and scarves with obscene depictions and also items that degraded religions and defamed religious leaders.

"The confiscated items were openly displayed and our investigations revealed that students and youth were attracted to these items, such as cigarette lighters, when lit, displayed nude pictures of women," he said.

Mohd Shah said another team of officers checked 12 premises in Penang's Little India following complaints from Malaysia Hindu Sangam and the public about statuettes of Lord Ganesha that have caused a public outcry.

He said they could not find any such statuettes in the shops, adding that the traders could have removed them in the wake of bad publicity.

Find more on

Prev More News Next

Comments Disclaimer And Information

BLABBERMOUTH.NET uses the Facebook Comments plugin to let people comment on content on the site using their Facebook account. The comments reside on Facebook servers and are not stored on BLABBERMOUTH.NET. To comment on a BLABBERMOUTH.NET story or review, you must be logged in to an active personal account on Facebook. Once you're logged in, you will be able to comment. User comments or postings do not reflect the viewpoint of BLABBERMOUTH.NET and BLABBERMOUTH.NET does not endorse, or guarantee the accuracy of, any user comment. To report spam or any abusive, obscene, defamatory, racist, homophobic or threatening comments, or anything that may violate any applicable laws, use the "Report to Facebook" and "Mark as spam" links that appear next to the comments themselves. To do so, click the downward arrow on the top-right corner of the Facebook comment (the arrow is invisible until you roll over it) and select the appropriate action. You can also send an e-mail to blabbermouthinbox(@)gmail.com with pertinent details. BLABBERMOUTH.NET reserves the right to "hide" comments that may be considered offensive, illegal or inappropriate and to "ban" users that violate the site's Terms Of Service. Hidden comments will still appear to the user and to the user's Facebook friends. If a new comment is published from a "banned" user or contains a blacklisted word, this comment will automatically have limited visibility (the "banned" user's comments will only be visible to the user and the user's Facebook friends).