Looks like Singaporeans will soon have a lot of reading to catch up on — the Media Development Authority (MDA) has lifted their ban on 240 selected publications, some of them outlawed decades ago.
The now legal publications — varying from sexy/smutty stuff to anti-colonial material — were banned due to objectionable content in the past. Matters such as sex, violence, crime, cruelty, drug use, as well as matters of race and religion deemed injurious to the public good are all outlawed under the Undesirable Publications Act. Meaning you can’t import, sell or circulate the stuff here.
A recent periodical review of the list however has seen the “de-gazetting” of 240 publications, a decision made after discussions with government agencies and the Publications Consultative Panel.
Some of the now-legal publications you can enjoy include 1959 communist flick The Long March, adult novel The World of Sex, and Fanny Hill — considered the first original English prose pornography when it was published in 1748.
17 titles remain under strict prohibition, with most of them being smutty magazines such as Hustler, Playboy, Penthouse, Velvet, Swank and more. However, it’s unclear if MDA will ever lift up their banhammer on Playboy considering that the iconic men’s magazine will no longer feature fully nude women in their print editions. You know, because the internet makes it all accessible within seconds.
No luck for Jehovah’s Witnesses too — all publications by their Watch Tower Bible and Tract Society and the International Bible Students Association will remain gazetted as they were since 1994.
Local publishers who wish to import and sell them here are advised to check with the MDA content guidelines. Best see if they’re even in demand in the first place though; Cosmopolitan was finally allowed to here after a 22-year ban but its local edition shuttered after four years in running.
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