Malaysia bans 'opium-idolising' song by Faye Wong
(Agencies)
Updated: 2004-09-24 09:36

Malaysia has banned a song by Hong Kong pop diva Faye Wong on the grounds that it idolizes opium-smoking, the internal security ministry said in reports published.

Malaysia has banned a song by Hong Kong pop diva Faye Wong, seen here in 2003, on the grounds that it idolizes opium-smoking, the internal security ministry said in reports published. [AFP]

The Cantonese song, entitled "In the name of Love", was among 33 items including 28 Chinese books published in Hong Kong and Taiwan to be banned because they were considered morally harmful, the official Bernama news agency said.

The Sun newspaper quoted a spokesman for distributor Sony Music as saying the song, which was the title track of Wong's latest album released early this year, was banned because of one line in the lyrics about opium-smoking.

The company would remove the offending track from the album before remarketing it, the spokesman said. So far more than 10,000 copies of the album have been sold locally, the newspaper said.

Wong, who is popular among Malaysia's six million ethnic Chinese, gave a sold-out concert in Kuala Lumpur last April.

Mainly-Muslim Malaysia has strict censorship laws, often banning songs with foul language and cutting or axing films deemed too sexy or touching on sensitive issues. It banned a total of 1,582 foreign films between 2000 and May 2004.

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