MPs call for a more transparent book review process

SINGAPORE — Despite the strong public reaction to its recent moves to withdraw three children’s book titles — after receiving complaints that they did not promote family values — the National Library Board (NLB) has reiterated that the titles will not be reinstated and they will be pulped, in accordance with library policy.

However, some observers, including Members of Parliament (MPs), have called on the statutory board to put in place a more transparent and robust review process that would better stand up to scrutiny, and allow it to “defend (its) position”, in the words of MP for Tampines Baey Yam Keng, who is deputy chairman of the Government Parliamentary Committee for Communications and Information. “This is public money that is used to be make book purchases and it is public feedback that is received — both good and bad,” he said.

On Tuesday, following a complaint by a member of Facebook group We Are Against Pinkdot in Singapore, the NLB yanked And Tango Makes Three and The White Swan Express off its shelves. The Straits Times reported that a third title, Who’s In My Family? All About Our Families, was withdrawn in May.

The NLB said it had carried two copies of And Tango Makes Three and one copy of The White Swan Express. It was unable to provide information on the number of copies of Who’s In My Family? All About Our Families it had carried. It said the three titles — the only ones to be withdrawn from its children’s collection so far this year — were carried in the regional libraries at Tampines, Woodlands and Jurong, but declined to give more details.

The NLB said in reply to media queries that librarians from across its 24 branches and senior management of public libraries — led by the chief librarian — regularly discuss the titles in its collection. “As our librarians interact with thousands of visitors, they have a (sense) of the needs and concerns of the community that they serve at each library.”

Apart from complying with regulations from the Ministry of Communications and Information and the Media Development Authority of Singapore, the NLB also draws reference from its Collection Development Policy during such discussions, when public complaints are also looked into.

Under the policy, the NLB “excludes materials that are critical of any racial or religious groups, that contain derogatory stereotypes, promote intolerance, violence and any other insensitive material that is excessive”.

The NLB said: “The two copies of And Tango Makes Three, for instance, came in a few months ago. Not long after they came, they surfaced during our regular reviews by the librarians ... the parent’s feedback on these books was in line with our own concerns.”

Its collection policy “takes special care of our children’s collections to ensure they are age-appropriate”, the NLB said. “We take a cautious approach ... NLB’s understanding of family is consistent with that of the Ministry of Social and Family Development and the Ministry of Education.”

It noted that its adult collection contains titles with homosexual themes and its collection policy does not exclude materials on alternative lifestyles.

On average, the NLB receives about 20 requests a year to withdraw certain titles. “We withdraw less than a third of those requested, out of our collection of over five million items,” it said. For example, it received a request to remove Kill Me If You Can by James Patterson — which is carried in the adult collection — on the basis that it contains an incest theme. It decided to continue carrying the title.

Another book, The Embassy House: The Explosive Eyewitness Account of the Libyan Embassy Siege by the Soldier Who Was There, was removed from the adult collection after feedback from the book’s publisher that it was found to contain “inconsistent accounts of events of the 2012 Benghazi Consulate attack”.

At a media briefing held by the NLB at Toa Payoh Public Library to share how it selects its titles, reporters pressed the NLB for details of its review process, including the identities of librarians who make the call to remove certain titles. Ms Jasna Dhansukhlal, NLB’s assistant director of public library services, said yesterday that there is no specific committee or department that oversees this.

The move to pull And Tango Makes Three and The White Swan Express was purportedly made two days after Mr Teo Kai Loon had written to the NLB. Ms Jasna said it strives to respond to public requests as quickly as it can but may take longer sometimes.

Mr Baey suggested having a steering committee to advise the library on acquiring materials for its collection. This could be made up of people from a large cross-section of society, such as experts from libraries in other countries, parents and book enthusiasts.

Nominated MP Janice Koh agreed that a broad panel of assessors should review requests to withdraw books and the decisions should be made transparent to the public.

At least two petitions — garnering more than 5,000 signatures as of last night — have been set up to call for the withdrawn titles to be reinstated.

Ms Koh said the NLB’s “hasty” decision-making was “perplexing”. She added: “I am concerned that NLB has chosen to listen to complaints from a small group of people ... while ignoring others, including many parents, who want the right to choose.”

Chua Chu Kang GRC MP Zaqy Mohamad, who chairs the GPC for Communications and Information, said that NLB is in a tricky position. While a line must be drawn on the extent to which book content should be screened, “we should also be aware that for literary material, there is some level of ambiguity and subjectivity ... It is not that easy to draw that line”, he said.