It's been a peaceful morning until I came across a post shared by my cousin in Facebook today. The post showing screenshots of the process of these two person trying to file complains or you can say "giving feedback" to two bookstores, namely Kinokuniya and MPH, asking them to take down a book called Heartstopper by Alice Oseman, down from their shelves and their website. Surprisingly, both of this bookstores did took them down physically and also from their site. Knowing that they actually did kind kinda disappoint me at some point especially Kinokuniya because I would assume that Kinokuniya is the more "open-minded" one.
I've started working in a company which is based in Australia and New Zealand recently and I've learnt that companies nowadays are trying to embrace the concept of diversity and inclusion (D&I). Especially during the pandemic, D&I seems to be much significant to them. New job title such as Diversity & Inclusion Manager is a must in some of these companies. Talking about moving forward, how could Malaysia move forward when so many countries are embracing D&I but Malaysians are busy taking down LGBTQ+ theme books down the shelves of bookstores. I thought we already did moved a tiny step forward until today, I think we are actually moving a few steps backward. Not only we failed to move towards Vision 2020, I even doubt if we can make it to Vision 3030.
Talking about the two person who were featured in the post earlier, which I will not disclose their identity, one of them is actually a Prof Madya. She actually did make a few statements that she claimed to be facts, without any link or source that would support her facts. In my opinion, her statement actually contradict her own statement:
- Men-Sex-With-Men in Gay and Bisexual remains the group with the highest risk for HIV and is closely monitored in every countries of the world.
THIS IS NOT A STATEMENT OF HATRED. WE CARE ABOUT EVERYONE WHETHER YOU'RE MINORITY OR MAJORITY BUT WHEN IT COMES TO HEALTHCARE, IT'S A COLLECTIVE RESPONSIBLITY.
DON'T FAIL OUR CHILDREN. GUIDE THEM.
She stated that her concern is about the healthcare of everyone, particularly she wants to educate the young ones on HIV, but shouldn't she tackle the topic of HIV as a whole rather than picking it on the LGBTQ+ community? This is where we see her statement clearly contradict with her action. If she eradicate the LGBTQ+ communities in the world, it doesn't mean that she eradicate HIV as well. You can still get HIV from heterosexual, drug usage, etc, etc, etc! The right way to guide the children is not by keeping them away from the fact that LGBTQ+ exist but to show them. If they are part of the LGBTQ+ community, you still can do nothing to change that but you still can guide them to live a healthy life. Keeping them in the dark would make it worse. Imagine they would be curious and try to explore by themselves and the probability that they would stray to the wrong path would be even higher.
The other person who cooperate with the Prof Madya in this movement actually did make quit an offensive comment in the process of doing so:
- MPH CLICK Thank you. Let's work together in building a better society.
I don't know what would people think of that statement, but I do think it is very offensive to the LGBTQ+ community. To me it sounds like they are worthless and their existence kinda make the society not so good?
The question is, does it really need to be until the point of taking down these books from the shelves and the website of the bookstores? I do understand some religions do not support the LGBTQ+ community and with much respect, Kinokuniya and MPH are not religious bookstores that sells only religious books. They are actually bookstores for every skin colour, shapes, age and sexuality (Correct me if these bookstores are not D&I friendly).
In the end, we could still access to Heartstopper online. You can't stop your kids from browsing the web can you? Or you can even watch it in Netflix because there is a TV series based on these books!
In the end, we could still access to Heartstopper online. You can't stop your kids from browsing the web can you? Or you can even watch it in Netflix because there is a TV series based on these books!
(p/s: I'm not paid to promote Heartstopper!)
confession of emoboy...
