Curious.
A book from the Archie comic series has apparently been banned by the Media Development Authority (MDA), but the National Library Board (NLB), which has recently been under fire for its withdrawal and pulping of three ‘anti-family’ children’s titles, still has it in their catalogue.
In fact, the library has several copies of this banned book, and none of the others in the same series.
The news was broken today by The Independent Singapore, to whom comic artist Sonic Liew revealed his discovery of the banned book. He’d been making an enquiry at Books Kinokuniya in Singapore when he found out that Archie: The Married Life Book 3 had been removed from the bookstore.
Archie: The Married Life is a recent series consisting of five volumes. It features a gay character Kevin Keller, who gets married in Book 3.
According to The Independent Singapore, MDA has not provided a response — it’s not clear “if the ban was due to public complaints (as with the NLB) or a unilaterial decision by the MDA”, it says, but notes the Content Guidelines for Imported Publications:
“Publications that encourage, promote or glamourise sexually permissive and alternative lifestyles and deviant sexual practices are not allowed.”
In the same article, Liew also expressed his surprise over there not being a publicly accessible list of banned books in Singapore.
“There is no such list available — we can only find out what’s restricted by asking about specific title in an ad hoc manner,” he said.
At the start of the next series of the Archie comics called Life with Archie, Archie has been revealed to meet death while protecting Keller, a move that has just this week, shaken the world of pop culture.
Here’s what environmental activist and model Nadya Hutagalung’s had to say about the ban:
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