SINGAPORE — The Ministry of Communications and Information (MCI) has asked the National Library Board (NLB) to review its vetting process for “potentially divisive and sensitive materials”, after a series of Malay books was withdrawn for featuring controversial content.

One of the eight books withdrawn has, on its cover, children wearing yarmulkes (skullcaps), smiling as they hold machine guns. There are also declarations of how the Third World War will “start in the Middle East between Israel and the neighbouring countries, which are the Arab states”.

“As a multicultural and multiracial society, we do not condone materials that denigrate any racial or religious groups, or which promote intolerance or violence. The cultural and racial harmony that our people enjoy today has taken us generations to build. This must not be taken for granted,” said Ms Han Liang Yuan, press secretary to the Minister for Communications and Information, yesterday.

“The MCI therefore agrees with the NLB’s decision to withdraw the books from the shelves immediately and send them to the Library Consultative Panel for review. We have also asked NLB to review its vetting process for potentially divisive and sensitive materials,” she added.

The NLB’s move to withdraw the books from its libraries was first reported by The New Paper (TNP) yesterday.

The Malay books belong to a series called Agama, Tamadun Dan Arkeologi (Religion, Civilisation And Archeology). Each book focuses on a different religion or civilisation, and the series had been placed in the libraries’ junior non-fiction section.

TNP reported that the books were first discovered by a local Twitter user, who posted photos of them on Sunday. The account has since been deleted, following criticism from other users, it added.

This is not the first time that the NLB has withdrawn books from its libraries after receiving feedback.

In July 2014, the NLB yanked two children’s book titles off its shelves after complaints from a member of the public that the books did not promote family values.

The first book, And Tango Makes Three, features two male penguins that exhibit behaviours like a couple and successfully hatch and raise a young penguin, based on a true story of two male penguins in New York’s Central Park Zoo. The book had stirred a similar controversy in the United States, with repeated calls for it to be banned from libraries.

The second, The White Swan Express, revolves around the adoption of children and features a single mother and a lesbian couple among its characters. In explaining its decision then, the NLB said: “Young children are among our libraries’ most frequent visitors. Many of them browse books in our children’s sections on their own. As such, NLB takes a pro-family and cautious approach in identifying titles for our young visitors.”