Thanks to May Billy for the headsup! I doubt they’ll publish this letter as it is nothing more than a rant, but I would rather do this than to write to the HMetro people in Malay, who, by the way, do not respond to email and administer their news site pretty horribly (They have the oddest spacings at the weirdest words and they love to backdate their RSS news stories even though it’s only updated after 11am).

I refer to the article you reprinted from the Harian Metro entitled: Young collectors with fetish for obscene dolls.

I’d like to ask both The Star and Harian Metro to define what they mean by pornographic dolls. Are these dolls doing actions that would be considered obscene by suggesting lewd acts, or are they merely models in revealing clothing?

I’m also worried by the statement of Home Ministry Quranic text control division central enforcement unit head Mohd Rizal Abidin that says that these dolls can affect society’s moral values. Pray tell, how can they do so?

In many cases, the dolls I believe they refer to are actually figurines, especially of popular anime characters. They are meant for display, much like how one would display a prized tea set or valuable trinkets. They have been around for quite some time, and are not “flooding” the market. I’d like to ask that if these dolls are considered pornographic as it’s said, why is action only being taken now? They’ve been around since circa 1998 or earlier.

It also seems unfair that action is being taken about dolls and works from the Japanese animation and comics industry whereas works from America and other Western nations with far more damaging qualities are being allowed to flood the market.

Regards
Naoko

It doesn’t seem fair, does it?