KUALA LUMPUR, March 24 — The High Court today reportedly overturned the government’s ban on When I Was A Kid 3, a graphic novel by Cheeming Boey, ruling in the artist’s favour.
According to a Free Malaysia Today report, Justice Amarjeet Singh did not provide grounds for the decision.
However, the judge is reported to have allowed Boey to obtain an assessment of losses in royalties caused by the ban, while dismissing his claim for damages. The court also reportedly ordered the government to pay Boey RM3,000 in costs.
Senior federal counsel Shahidah Nafisah Leman represented the home ministry, while Boey was represented by Gregory Das, assisted by Clinton Tan and Rachel Nyow.
Published in 2014, the book was banned by the home ministry in September 2023 under Section 7(1) of the Printing Presses and Publications Act 1984. Authorities said it contained material “likely to be prejudicial to morality”.
The ban followed complaints from an Indonesian non-governmental organisation over a chapter in which Boey described a childhood memory involving an Indonesian domestic worker. In the anecdote, she climbed a coconut tree with remarkable speed, prompting Boey’s father to make a comment comparing her agility to that of a monkey.
Boey later explained that the remark was not intended to offend but to highlight the woman’s skill, and that the book was drawn from personal memories.
