Banned In China / Malaysia

Malaysia is heavily conservative when it comes to censorship considering that most of the population is Muslim. This got worse in The New '10s as the conservative extremists became more vocal and started gaining favors with the government. While that government would be overthrown in the 2018 general elections, they managed to pull off a coup and clawed their way back into power in 2020. Even after the progressive government managed to regain power fairly in the 2022 general elections, the government is still peppered with moles from the corrupt government and conservative extremists, especially since they have to actually work together with the corrupt UMNO government^note who are now ejected from the opposing coalition to form a proper majority to be able to fully rule the country.

This list also includes Brunei (a Southeast Asian Islamic country located on Borneo, next to Sabah and Sarawak, two Malaysian states), which has a separate Islamic Sharia penal code law that is stricter than neighboring countries Malaysia and Singapore in terms of religious restrictions, etc.

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Examples

Comic Books

• 2015 Malaysian comic book "Sapuman: Man of Steal" by satire cartoonist Zulkiflee Anwar Ulhaque, who goes by the moniker Zunar, has illustrations of Prime Minister Najib Razak and allegations surrounding 1MDB, was banned in Malaysia, in fear that the book "could damage national interest." His other books, "Gedung Kartun", "1 Funny Malaysia", "Isu Dalam Kartun" (volumes one, two and three), "Conspiracy to Imprison (former deputy premier) Anwar", "Perak Darul Kartun (on corruption and abuse of power)" and "Pirates of Carry-BN (Barisan Nasional)", were also banned. The ban was lifted after the corrupt government was overthrown in 2018. However the comics remains unbanned when the corrupt government retook power via a cop in 2020, probably because Zunar is now protected by the party who won the elections in 2018.
• Since late 2019, the Malaysian controversial comic Belt and Road Initiative for Win Winism by "Superman Hew" has been banned from printing, importing, reproducing, publishing, selling, or distributing (even including to the schools) in Malaysia, even applies to Chinese, English and Malay language versions of the book. Even owning the book in Malaysia is a big no-no there. The reason? It was everything, but about China. China. And again, China. Among other things, such as (probably) negative depictions of race of Malay peoples, and etc. But Malaysia probably doesn't want to risk pissing off China. And in short: Belt and Road Initiative for Win Winism in Malaysia looks like it's almost reminiscent of Adolf Hitler's Mein Kampf in most of Europe (including Germany and Austria due to its No Swastikas law).

Film - Animated

• The DreamWorks Animation Film Abominable was informally banned due to the display of an offending map. Malaysia, who is also one of the Southeast Asian countries have territorial disputes with China over the maritime claims on the South China Sea and fresh from a similar dispute with Singapore^note Over an islet in the South China Sea which Singapore claims was sold to them by the Sultan of Johore, while Malaysia argued that the sale is null and void because the sultan of the states do not have the capacity to sell or repurpose land without federal government approval., initially chose to cut out the scene of the Nine-Dash Line. However later in the day the distributor decided that it would be in the country’s best interest that the movie is not shown instead, resulting in an informal ban. The movie would finally eventually be made available on streaming services with the offending scene cut in late 2020.
• Lightyear was banned in Malaysia over a 10-second scene of a same sex kissing scene (which could really mean anything). Unlike Singapore, which gave the movie an NC-16 rating, the rating board of Malaysia outright bans the movie. The movie was ultimately quietly made available on the Disney+ Hotstar Platform on August 3, 2022 with an 18 rating, made possible because the corrupt party had promised to continue the "no Internet censorship" policy made by the outed party in order to appease the public.

Film - Live Action

• Many films are edited or banned in Malaysia to appease the country's large and influential Muslim population:
  • Any family film featuring pigs will raise an outcry among Muslims, who see them as filthy scavengers (whether or not they're used as food). In the past, this has led to temporary or partial bans (e.g. a film may be delayed for months, or it will be forced to go Direct to Video). Both Babe films were delayed for several months while the parties hashed this one out, and the first film went straight to VHS (although several budget cinemas managed to get the reels for the first film and screen the film for several days albeit keeping things low-profile), while the second film had a much shorter run compared to other markets. Charlotte's Web nearly got the axe as well, but it was released on time.
  • Islamic tradition also prohibits the visual depiction of the religion's prophets; typically this is thought of as Muhammad, but even Jesus is a prophet in Islam, so Christian films depicting Jesus would cause controversy as well. Such films were banned in the 1990s; since then, films like The Passion of the Christ will be screened to non-Muslims only — and they do check IDs in the theater to make sure. It hasn't been consistent; Darren Aronofsky's film Noah was banned for depicting Noah, another Muslim prophet, but Evan Almighty got through okay.
  • Bruce Almighty, a film about a guy who gets to be God for a Day (and which implies that God is an Almighty Janitor played by Morgan Freeman), was nearly banned in Malaysia as Muslims protested the movie, considering it offensive. Weirdly, no other religious or secular groups thought it was offensive to any religion, so the film was eventually screened unedited. Its spinoff Evan Almighty, in which a character becomes a modern-day Noah, had a similar fate (despite its apparent depiction of a Muslim prophet).
  • The 2012 Indian comedy OMG, Oh My God! was banned for "sensitive religious content." The movie is about a shopkeeper who sues God Himself (depicted as a human) after his store is destroyed in a tornado. However, the Ally McBeal episode Angels and Blimps (where a child hires Ally's firm to sue God for crashing a blimp near him and injuring him) wasn't banned. It appears that the problem here isn't regarding the person suing God, but the depiction of God as a flawed human being.
• The 2009 Indonesian film Macabre is banned in Malaysia for excessive violence.
• Moonlight was banned due to its focus on sexuality.
• Zoolander was banned because one of the main plot points is the assassination of the country's fictional prime minister (which is ultimately what they were trying to prevent) and its depiction of Malaysia in overall (impoverished and fueled by sweatshops). Also banned in Singapore, but was lifted five years later. The sequel, however, isn't banned, due to it having little to do with the country. The ban has also apparently been lifted since it was available on several legit online streaming services in 2016.^note Mahathir Mohammad, the prime minister at the time, and the person the film's Prime Minister Hassan is supposed to be an Expy of, thought the film's depiction of Malaysia as a sweatshop nation was a criticism to his "New Economic Policy" edicts, which pretty much invites foreign companies to open factories in the country and use local labor with little regards to the wages paid to the laborers.
• Steven Spielberg famously refused to let Malaysia screen the edited version of his movie Schindler's List, since its Zionist theme is the main plot point. The movie was only released on DVD more than a decade later. Munich suffered the same fate.
• Borat was banned on release for its crude humor. The ban has since been lifted after the progressive opposition took over in 2018, being given the green light to screen on several streaming sites in the country. The sequel, Borat Subsequent Moviefilm, was allowed through uncut.
• Initially, it appeared that Brokeback Mountain will never stand a chance in Malaysia with its strong homosexual themes. However apparently the ban has been lifted in mid-2017, with the film appearing on several legit online streaming services.^note The ban was lifted after several high-ranking foreign powers accused the government of being hostile towards LGBT people. The government's response was "No we aren't!" followed by the movie being unbanned as "proof" that they have nothing against LGBT folks.
• The last few Saw films never saw the light of day in Malaysia due to their excessive violence. Later subverted when Lionsgate Play became available in Malaysia and the movies became exclusive to the platform.
• Sin City was banned for brutal violence and explicit sexual content.
• Daredevil was initially banned due to violence, but has been released on home video.
• Austin Powers: The Spy Who Shagged Me was initially banned due to crude humor, though it was eventually allowed on satellite TV and later home video.
• The American Pie trilogy was banned for its sexual content, although it was eventually released directly to DVD. The fourth movie of the trilogy, American Reunion, was initially banned from screening on pay TV — the Malaysian feed of the HBO premiere was forcibly replaced with a completely different movie. It eventually got a direct-to-DVD release, then was banned again for no good reason.
• The 40-Year-Old Virgin was banned due to sexual content, again finally released on DVD, and then re-banned for no good reason, and then unbanned again with several legit online streaming services now authorized to offer the show.
• Superbad was also banned due to sexual content, especially since the entire plot revolves around teenagers trying to obtain alcohol using a fake ID and other undesirable methods for a party so they can get laid.
• The Singaporean film Homerun was banned for political reasons; the film is a satire on Singapore-Malaysia relations set in 1965, the year the two countries split up.
• Platoon was initially banned due to its excessive profanity and violence, but was finally allowed a DVD release.
• Cannibal Holocaust was banned on its initial release.
• Independence Day: Resurgence had a notable scene where the Petronas Twin Towers, a crown jewel of the country, is dropped onto the Tower Bridge in London when the entirety of the planet is pulverised beyond repair. It wasn't banned.
• Ultimately subverted by Beauty and the Beast (2017), which was originally approved for screening by the censors after the controversial LeFou gay scene was cut from the reels meant for the Malaysian release, however Disney Malaysia suddenly decided to not distribute the movie in Malaysia anyway and demanded that the film be allowed to be screened uncut or it will never release the film in the country. Outcries ensued and Disney demanded a re-evaluation. Realizing that the film was smashing box offices overseas and the amount of potential tax money they're missing out^note Yes, they actually impose an "entertainment tax" on cinema-goers in Malaysia with each movie ticket sold, the film board ultimately allowed the film to be screened uncut but with a PG-13 rating.
• Shortly following the BatB remake example above, the Power Rangers film was also destined to the chopping board due to the Yellow Ranger being a lesbian. Again, after heavy barrages of lament and anger, the censors decided to leave it be, and the film was screened in full.
• The Hustle was quietly banned over "morality issues" by the national film board in late 2019 and information of the movie was hushed from Malaysians, made easier with the banning of Abominable overshadowing it's banning. However, the film now is scheduled to be reevaluated and hoped to be released in early 2020 after the director of the film board was fired due to a barrage of complaints over banning movies against the ruling party's no-censorship policy, and caught having a conflict of interest (he is in full support of a local conservative streaming service, and was using his power in the film board to cripple Netflix and other more liberal services, as well as to force his conservative view on the public).
• The Battle at Lake Changjin, a Chinese film about The Korean War from the Chinese perspective, caused a controversy among Malaysians who criticized the film for being pro-communist, and Malaysia banned the film for that reason. Similar to its neighboring countries Indonesia and Singapore, Malaysia has a policy of banning anything depicting communism and socialism in a neutral (or positive) light. The assassination of Kim Jong-nam in 2017 (which worsened relations between Malaysia and North Korea) and the fact that North Korea severed ties with Malaysia in 2021 over the latter country's extradition of a North Korean national to the United States doesn't help either.
• As many predicted after it was revealed that Thor: Love and Thunder had a scene where Chris Hemsworth mooned the audience while completely naked (It Makes Sense in Context), the movie was banned from cinemas in the country because Disney refused to comply with the government's demands that his butt be blurred or pixelated out. However, those who watched the movie thought that the character Gorr the God Butcher was the real reason why it was banned. Either that, or a scene where a pair of same-sex humanoid aliens kissed to produce a new offspring (again, It Makes Sense in Context). The movie is now scheduled for a quiet release on Disney+ Hotstar with an 18 rating sometime in September, again thanks to the no-internet-censorship rule.
• The Indian movie Kadaram Kondan was banned not only because it depicted the Royal Malaysian Police Force as corrupt, but also because the director had failed to obtain the necessary permits for filming in Malaysia.
• The Indian movie Kaduva wasn't banned in Malaysia, despite a character mentioning a Malaysian company offering a bribe for the importation of palm oil. Among the Malaysians who have seen the film, that scene is pretty controversial on the internet.
• A locally produced movie, Mentega Terbang (lit. Flying Butter) has been banned. The movie portrays the story of a girl wanting to denounce her faith in Islam, which is considered a highly taboo topic, as legally, Malaysian Muslims are not allowed to denounce their religion and freely change beliefs due to the lack of separation of state and religion, human rights be damned.

Literature

• A notable aversion: contrary to what you might expect, Adolf Hitler's Mein Kampf is readily available in major bookstores and can be found there. ^note This is largely due to influences from the governments of the Arab states, of which Malaysia joined the coalition, OIC, in 1989.
• Nudity in non-sexual contexts in magazines like National Geographic is censored. Much like prudish Western Moral Guardians, the censors accomplish this manually, by scribbling out the offending body parts with black markers. This includes pictures of artworks, like Michelangelo Buonarroti's famous sculpture of King David. And that's for the locally-printed Malaysian edition; imported versions are banned outright, unless they can be justified as "for research purposes".
• The book "Tantra: The Search for Ecstasy" was banned in Malaysia because it contained explicit drawings and images of sexual positions that contradicted the Islamic values.
• Malaysian book "Rebirth: Reform, Resistance, And Hope In New Malaysia" was banned in its home country for its unflattering depiction the "Jata Negara Malaysia" symbol on its book cover.
• Fifty Shades of Grey, its two sequels, and its film adaptation are all banned for their explicit sexual content. Unusually, the ban on the books was only placed after the film was banned, 3 years after their release. However, the fourth book, Grey, is not banned, even though it's a P.O.V. Sequel of the first book.

Live-Action TV

• The Jerry Springer Show was pulled off the air after only one episode due to its depraved content.
• According to The Other Wiki, "The Queen Bee" episode of Ally McBeal has been banned.
• Also according to The Other Wiki, the episode "The One With The Videotape" from Friends is also banned, at least from broadcast.
• A documentary on the MH370 plane crash was initially thought to be banned from screening on the Malaysian feed of the National Geographic channel. National Geographic themselves claim that the documentary was not banned, but was produced solely for the UK market and was not intended to be screened anywhere else in the world. However, many Malaysian expatriates in the UK who have seen it claims that the documentary features some rather controversial theories which would've gotten it banned in Malaysia nonetheless. Also, a leak of the documentary onto YouTube was taken down just ten minutes after it was posted.
• Gruff's Groove Box, a Nickelodeon music show, found itself banned because it had the misfortune of launching in Malaysia a day before the king's death, and local law outlawed upbeat music for a month after the king's death. It was never well-received anyway, even in countries where it could air, and it was cancelled within the same month. Nickelodeon now pretends it doesn't exist, and there's pretty much no way it will even be seen in Malaysia.
• Coverage of the Bersih protests in 2011 on the BBC World News network was partially blacked out in Malaysia. After revelations of the blackout were revealed, it was found that the satellite TV provider had purposely blacked out the channel themselves, despite this being against their terms of their contract with The BBC. The provider then claimed they had to do it to please the censors, which angered the BBC.
• Related to the Bersih coverage issue above, the same provider dropped BBC Entertainment Asia from its channel line-up and replaced it with ITV Granada after Jeremy Clarkson smashed up a Perodua Kelisa, a car from one of the two national car firms, on an episode of Top Gear. The satellite provider denied an upfront ban, citing that the channel had nothing new to offer, which is a very peculiar statement for a network that aired the award-winning Doctor Who, and was in the middle of a new season when it was dropped. The network remained unavailable until a rival Pay TV provider picked up the channel two years later (and Top Gear had been moved to its sister channel, BBC Knowledge — and also by strange coincidence, shortly after the manufacturer announced the retirement of the Kancil car line the Kelisa was part of). Local fans of the channel and its shows speculated that foul play was going on. Said incident did not stop a terrestrial station from airing the show though, or Malaysian versions of the Top Gear magazine from being printed (although there is no doubt that the articles in the magazine are censored and any article criticizing local cars are removed anyway).
• Season 10 of Doctor Who was initially thought to be this because the companion character Pearl Mackie was to be portrayed as a lesbian. Semi-averted in that the show is made available uncut on the BBC Player service, but is delayed three weeks and has any questionable scenes cut before being made available on the BBC First Video-on-Demand service.

Music

• Many music performances are banned in Malaysia due to not conforming with Islamic values. The censors particularly target female singers who might dress a little more revealingly than they would like. Then again, if a group or genre is really popular in Malaysia (like K-Pop), they can get away with more. This policy also has slowly gone away with the new government being elected in May 2018.
  • Madonna, due to her long, risqué resume, is not allowed to perform in Malaysia.
  • Linkin Park was not allowed to wear short pants, spit, curse, throw things into the crowd, jump around, or "scream excessively" during their concert. Their live routine typically involves all of the above, except for wearing shorts.
  • In his autobiography, Meat Loaf lamented how hard it was to perform his "Paradise by the Dashboard Light" number in Muslim countries, since he was not allowed to touch any of his female back up singers on stage. Also, the female back up singers had to cover their shoulders and midriffs to conform with Islamic Dress.
  • Beyoncé cancelled a gig in Kuala Lumpur and moved it to Jakarta, the Indonesian capital, after the Malaysian government told her she couldn't wear what she planned to because it didn't conform to Islamic Dress. Strangely, Indonesia thought it was okay even though it has more Muslims than Malaysia; the Moral Guardians there just aren't as powerful.
  • How The Pussycat Dolls managed to be allowed to perform in the country is a Riddle for the Ages. The organizers were fined, and the Cats wore less sexy outfits when they returned to the country for the 2008 MTV Asia Awards.
  • Michael Jackson's first concert in Malaysia was cancelled and he was banned from performing live in the country because of his infamous crotch-grab dance move. The concert was Un-Cancelled a few days later and the ban removed when Jackson promised not to do the crotch-grab for his Malaysian audience (although this had the unfortunate side-effect of changing the venue at the last minute).
  • In 2009, the Malaysian government declared that Muslim citizens would be prohibited from attending the Black Eyed Peas' concert there on the grounds that it was being sponsored by Guinness, a beer company (Islam prohibits alcohol in any form). The government later rescinded the ban and allowed Muslims to buy tickets.
  • In 2012, Erykah Badu was banned from performing in Malaysia due to accidental publication in a local newspaper of an image of her wearing a temporary tattoo of Allah's name, which is blasphemous in Islam. The problem was (a) the tattoo, we should reiterate, was temporary ^note as in, the rub-on kind usually handed out at kids' parties and has since been removed and (b) the image was not meant for publication in Malaysia, but rather just pulled off the Internet somewhere. Her Malaysian fans are not pleased of the ban.
  • In 2013, the Malaysian government tried to appease the extremist conservatives^note Most of the population in Malaysia do not care about Elton John's sexual standings at all by attempting to ban Elton John on the grounds of his homosexuality. However, the concert was in the state of Pahang, whose own sultan was a big fan of Elton John and vetoed the ban on his own.
  • In 2013, American metal band Lamb of God was forbidden from playing any shows in the country after accusations of infringing on religious sensitivities.
  • In 2015, British band Carcass was banned from performing in Malaysia over objectionable lyrical content.
  • Spacehog's album "The Chinese Album" has a cover with a girl holding a pig, something Malaysian Muslims would take exception to. But it wasn't censored, and the cassette release just covers the offending animal with a sticker. This article explains why.
• Malaysia bans a classical number called Mamula Moon and any other songs that share its tune because it's also the tune of the country's National Anthem.
• The national broadcaster stopped playing Luis Fonzi's Despacito (especially the English version featuring Justin Bieber) on its radio stations due to the lyrics containing suggestive context. Good news: Private-run radio still play the song, and YouTube is always available.
• There were calls to ban Billie Eilish's live tour from reaching Malaysia by the same soccer moms who meddled with the title of Power Rangers and caused the ban of both Lightyear and Thor: Love And Thunder, backed by a religious officer from the Prime Minister's office. Thankfully, the concert wasn't banned and went on. However, there were suspicions that it was sabotaged as when the concert started, they found that some of the sound equipment (specifically, the loudspeakers that are further away from the stage) weren't working. These soccer moms later also started calling for a ban on concerts in general...
• With the Pakatan Harapan government regaining control of the country in 2022 (after being outed by a coup in 2020), they now have decreed that concerts will not be banned. They demonstrated this by standing their ground when the extremists and soccer moms started demanding that Coldplay not be allowed to perform in the country. Unfortunately the damage has been done and Taylor Swift and Shakira, alongside two anonymous boy bands, has both choose to skip over Malaysia for their 2023 world tours.
• Owing to a stunt pulled on stage during the Good Vibes music festival and that there are still Islamic extremist moles in the government, The 1975 has become banned after Matty Healy stopped the performance halfway and tried to turn the festival into a pro-LGBTQ rally. The band left on their own accord early the next morning, but Islamist extremist moles in the information ministry then blacklisted individuals in the group from ever entering the country ever again. When asked, the information minister claimed that the blacklist was made without his permission.
  • After that stunt, Blink-182 has outright said that they will no longer consider visiting Malaysia.

Newspaper Comics

• U.S. Acres comics are never available in print in newspapers in Malaysia unless the paper needs a strip as filler for Garfield, and even then the strip is censored when shown. The main character, Orson, is a pig — and although there's no requirement not to show pigs, any paper stuck with him will edit him out anyway.

Stand-up Comedy

• While professional ventriloquist Jeff Dunham was not outright banned from performing there, the Malaysian government had strong reservations regarding his (in)famous puppet character Achmed the Dead Terrorist, as seen in his world tour special All Over The Map. His way of getting around this? Bring in his "cousin", Jacque Merde, the Dead French Terrorist. Which is just Achmed with a beret and curly mustache. Of course, Dunham slips when he begins to read off fan mail that was addressed to Achmed, leading to prompt Lampshade Hanging ("Eet has been nice knowing you.").

Technology

• Color photocopiers and high-resolution color printers required a license and were banned from being owned by the general public up until the mid-90s, the reason being because they could be used to produce counterfeit money. The ban was lifted in the mid-90s when Malaysia finally adopted better anti-counterfeiting technology.
• Up until 1994, ownership of a TV required a license. When handheld TVs were introduced, they were immediately banned in the country because of fear that they would be used to watch TV without a license (Malaysia wasn't that apt in technology propaganda and thus didn't have the "TV detector vans" Singapore and The UK has). The ban was rescinded in 1994 once the government declared TV ownership as a right and TV broadcasts as a utility, and retired the license system. Ironically the license also covered radio, but the government wasn't concerned about people owning walkmans and handheld transistor radios without having a license.

Video Games

• Electronic gambling, such as slot machines, is limited only to "licensed" premises. At present, there's only one such place, Genting Highlands; and you can read news about police raiding illegal computer gambling parlours every week. Acquiring a license is impossible as the government has outright refused to issue further licenses.
• Arcade licenses are just a bit more lax; but the police has the power to raid arcades, revoke licenses, confiscate all machines on the premises and shut the business down if it finds a single gambling machine, which is enforced through tip-offs. Arcades will get around this by (a) using machines that don't pay out cash, but rather tokens, tickets or prizes, which aren't regulated as strictly^note the logic of the Malaysian government regarding gambling is "as long as it doesn't involve paying out real money, it's not gambling", or (b) modifying a gambling machine to look like a legal arcade machine^note which normally doesn't end well for the arcade. In 2001, the government attempted to ban arcades as a whole, partly due to how students were often caught Skipping School to visit the joints, partly for being a gathering place for gangsters and delinquents, and partly for being addictive, in addition to all the negative presses from arcades who disguised their gambling machines to look like legal arcade machines. But the ban only lasted several weeks because most arcades found a loophole and started including claw machines, kiddie rides and/or small fairground rides on their premises, leading to them to be reclassified as "amusement parks".
• The Taiwanese indie fighting game Fight Of Gods has become the first game to be banned in Malaysia since Postal as various religious leaders in the country demand that the government ban it for being disrespectful towards religion as a whole. Gamers are of course generally not pleased and backlash is brewing. The government then decided to block Steam as a whole when Valve did not respond to their e-mails. In a rather idiotic move, the Steam ban came into effect 4 hours after Valve quietly removed the game from the Malaysian store, and while most people claim that their Steam library wasn't blocked and that they could still get to their already downloaded games, people who were in the midst of reformatting their PC were suddenly locked out of getting the Steam installer, which in effect locked them out of the games they bought. Additionally there were reports that those using the Steam Mobile App for two-factor authentication were also locked out as they couldn't launch the app to validate their login on their PC, also locking them out of their games. The ban was rescinded at noon the next day, but the MCMC refused to acknowledge the guffaw and instead threatened Valve that they would block Steam again if they should allow anyone who try to publish games like these in Malaysia again, as well as threatening to jail and fine gamers who dare to try to import the game. This along with all the insult and mockery Malaysian gamers received from those in other countries. This is widely believed to be one of the points that caused the corrupt Najib regime to be toppled in the next general election.
• The Grand Theft Auto series was often banned during Muhammed Idris' rule, likely due to the violence and sexual content depicted in the games. However, due to the Internet being young at the time, again only physical copies were banned and people could still get the game off Steam.
• The Postal series is banned from being sold in stores due to accusations of over-the-top violence. Thankfully, the ban is only for physical copies, so you can still buy them over Steam.
• Notably not banned are Hitman 2: Silent Assassin (depicting an assassination done by 47 inside the Petronas Twin Towers), Just Cause 2 (Panau is a mishmash of various Southeast Asian countries, including Malaysia), SOCOM 4: US Navy SEALS (where the capital city is turned into a warzone), and Uncharted 4: A Thief's End (one of the characters mention how the Malaysian permit office was bribed).
• The publisher for Fate/Grand Order suddenly decided not to launch their game in Malaysia at the last minute in 2018; prior to that they were advertising that the game would be available in Malaysia. The game was only launched in Singapore, Thailand and The Philippines in Asia. In practice, one could use a third party App repository such as Qooapp or Apkpure to download and play the Japanese or American version of the game, but this is hardly optimal as the third party app stores seldom have auto-update functionality built into the app. Furthermore not being able to buy in game currency makes the game harder to play.

Web Original

• Since 2011, The Malaysian government will block access to any websites it feels contains illegal content per Malaysian law. Ironically, this has the effect of superseding a "Bill of Guarantees" and other legislation that generally grants Internet access as a right. However, every time the government has tried to go further (like a 2014 proposal to implement something similar to China's "Great Firewall"), public outcry leads them to back down. ^note While the blockage is trivial to bypass as it relies on DNS poisoning and hijacking (which means people who subscribe to OpenDNS or use Google DNS end up bypassing it anyway), many mobile devices can not bypass the blockage without being jailbroken or rooted. Likewise, most mobile broadband dongles and Mi-Fi pebbles have the settings locked down by the provider and cannot be overwritten. It's no wonder then that the government is also screwing with the price of computers to make them unaffordable and obstructing high speed broadband rollout, as well as encouraging use of the internet over smartphones, instead.
  • An independent inquiry revealed that over 6500 websites have been blocked. Most of them pertain to online gambling, pornography, or criticism of the (former) government. Internet freedom increased after the 2018 elections where the Barisan Nasional Government was unseated by the Pakatan Harapan Coalition after 61 years of rule, but unravelled when the Barisan Nasional Government pulled a coup and forced their way back into power (with help of the traitorous BERSATU party).
  • In 2014, ex-Prime Minister Mahathir Mohamad tried to convince the government to ban Facebook; public outcry led him to back down, and the government had to assure the populace that they wouldn't ban it. Oddly, the reason he wanted Facebook banned was that it wouldn't let him post a link to his website because it was hosted in the Cocos Islands, which is notorious for hosting scam sites. Four years later, strangely enough, Facebook became one of the reasons why his newly formed political coalition won the 2018 general elections.
  • The former government blocked independent news site The Sarawak Report for being critical of the government and exposing corruption. The site defied the ban by mirroring its content on blogging site medium.com, who refused to stop them — and got banned in Malaysia itself. However the ban was rescinded after the despotic Najib regime was overthrown in the 2018 elections.
  • Malaysia became the second country after Indonesia to block FanFiction.Net, after a group of Moral Guardians petitioned to block the site on the ground of containing objectionable material (spoiler: it contained no such thing). The Epic Fail lies in the fact that the block was enforced without any validation (read: fact-checking) by the body whatsoever, nor was there any referendum held to gauge public opinion. This in turn angered local fanfiction writers and even educators, who started a counter-petition calling for the site to be unbanned. Sadly, unlike Medium, the site was never unblocked after the despotic Najib regime was overthrown, probably because there is a petition behind it.
  • Like Indonesia, Tumblr used to be blocked in Malaysia due to the sheer amount of NSFW content on the site. The ban was rescinded when Tumblr restructured, declared that such content are no longer allowed, and purged them from the site.
  • All ISPs block access to "in-the-clear" email servers, ostensibly to stop spammers and scammers.
  • Peer-to-peer clients like BitTorrent tend to fail to connect to peers from outside the country on many ISPs. This makes it a hassle for those who have a valid use for such networks, such as updating Starcraft II.
  • One ISP is blocking access to IRC (ports 6667-6670), falsely claiming it a dangerous security exploit. Aside from that, said ISP also blocks SSH (port 22) for no good reason other than a false claim that it facilitates hacking.
  • Mega Man Maker. Though the entire game was not banned there, only its forums have been denied access to Malaysia since March 18, 2019 due to the fact that infamous forum troll Fanduber is from Malaysia. Although the country has never officially banned the forums, Goldstorm, one of the developers of the game, did BAN almost every single Malaysian IP address there. However, it didn't work (though it backfired, almost literally), as the ban can be bypassed by way of a VPN or a "loophole". The ban was finally "lifted", but only after the forums were shut down permanently (in favor of focusing on the official Reddit channel) due to a server leakage in 2021 and Fanduber disappearing from the fandom after his last appearance in the official Discord server in the same year, but that was it.
  • After the corrupt government that Najib Razak was previously part of pulled a coup and forcefully came back into power in early 2020, the censorship stupidity resumed. This time, they are using IP black-holing, meaning using an alternative DNS no longer works. As of early 2021, most major pornography and online gambling sites, including PornHub, are once again no longer accessible short of using a VPN.
  • In Ferbuary 16, 2021, The Malaysian Communications and Multimedia Commission (MCMC) has banned the access to Sugarbook website and its app on Malaysia. It is understood that the website violated Section 233 of the Multimedia and Communications Act 1998 for improper use of network facilities or network service, and its supposed bad influence among Malaysian peoples. However, it was learned that the Sugarbook developer has set up an alternative site to enable its Malaysian users to access the blocked webpage. See here and here for further information. Rightfully, many are angered by this move along by the reenaction of internet censorship, not because they support prostution, but because it sets a dangerous precident of the country going back into censorship and blocking the flow of information and free speech.
  • It also seems that the corrupt government are trying to ban the use of Tor, as the Tor browser will intermittently report inability to link up to the Tor network even with bridges that worked the night before. However, given that Tor is a decentralized network, expect this to be a futile attempt, albeit one that inconveniences the users into changing bridges very frequently.
  • Image Board websites like 4chan weren't made inaccesible in Malaysia, despite featuring sexual and pornographic artwork which were posted there by the users, as well as sexual and pornographic ads featured on the website.
  • Things came to a head when the website of a local Malay newspaper got blocked for no reason when the Internet filter should no longer exist, exposing the fact that there are Islamic extremist moles in the information ministry that is working against the ruling government. The government immediately promised to investigate the matter.
• Ultimately the home minister put forward a proposal to censor all legal streaming sites, specifically for pro-LGBTQ content, in 2024. Judging from the feedback to the news article, people aren’t pleased.

Western Animation

• South Park is a weird case. Two providers carry Comedy Central; one outright blocks it and replaces it with other shows, while the other not only shows it with minimal edits, but also outright advertises the fact that it's the only carrier to show South Park in Malaysia. You can also find some episodes and the movie on DVD in certain video outlets. This is in spite of South Park perhaps being one of the most hostile shows to Islam the West has ever produced.
• Family Guy was briefly banned in Malaysia after complaints from Muslim viewers. The ban has since been lifted, but episodes are now heavily cut, and it can only be seen on satellite TV because the terrestrial channel that aired the show refuses to carry it anymore.
• The BBC refuses to screen Huxley Pig and Wibbly Pig on its Malaysian feed of CBeebies. The reason for this is unknown, since they do screen Big Barn Farm and Tilly and Friends, both of which contain pigs as supporting characters, uncut in the country.
• NTV7 cancelled their plans to air Magic Adventures of Mumfie upon realizing that one of the main characters is a flying pig. No other channels have stepped up to pick up the show. Thankfully, however, the CGI Reboot is available over the HBO Go streaming platform.
• Nick Jr. does air Peppa Pig; a group of parents and educators even demanded it to appear there. But they scheduled it at a time when no one in the show's demographic will be able to watch it (i.e. during kindergarten hours). It also refuses to show Toot & Puddle, although its spinoff Olivia is airing on a different channel. It is also not showing Peppa on the dedicated Nick Jr channel but only on the Nick Jr segment of the main Nickelodeon channel.
• Garfield and Friends has all of its U.S. Acres segments cut from the late 90s onwards, mostly because the protagonist of the segment is a pig. The segments are usually replaced with a "Garfield" segment from an older episode of the show.
  • This practice actually lead to an episode featuring a voiced cameo from Orson Pig being scrapped in The Garfield Show.
• It appears that Vida The Vet has received the banhammer as the show was supposed to premier on CBeebies on January 2024 but is no-show on the Malaysian feed of the channel, nor is it on BBC Player Asia in the region. Additionally the show is also supposed to be on Netflix but is absent from the service in Malaysia. Allegedly, the reason for the ban was because Vida has two dads, which puts it in the crosshair of the home minister's^note the very same one who tried to ban Swatch watches as mentioned below, and wants to censor online streaming services as mentioned above. It's a riddle of the ages why the Prime Minister, who himself is LGBTQ-friendly, has not yet demoted him or even fired him after the entire Swatch guffaw extremist-conservative beliefs.

Others

• Any Hebrew and Yiddish-language movies (though, owing to All Jews Are Ashkenazi, not Ladino-language^note a variant of Spanish spoken by Sephardic Jews, who used to live in the Iberian peninsula until they were expelled and resettled in the Balkans and North Africa, Judæo-Arabic, etc. movies) and movies from Israel are not allowed to be shown in Malaysian cinemas due to Israel not being recognized by the Malaysian government, instead favoring for Palestine's legal recognition at Israel's expense (as opposed to a two-state solution where both would be recognized), largely due to the Gaza Strip Crisis. Israel doesn't return the favor, and Malaysian stuff can be freely consumed there. However, Wonder Woman (2017) does avert this, despite the fact that the lead actress Gal Gadot is Israeli and was a former IDF soldier; although this is largely due to a loophole (the movie was produced by an American company).
• The Bible was one of many non-Sunni Islamic religious materials that were restricted and subjected to confiscation in Brunei.
• Bon Odori Festival, a Japanese folk festival, wasn't always forbidden to anyone in Malaysia. Then in 2022, the religious affairs minister advised Malaysian Muslims not to participate in the festival, citing reasons that the festival has non-Islamic religious elements that could affect Islamic religion and beliefs. Also, shirking (worshipping gods of other religions besides Allah) is a major problem in Islam. This actually caused the Sultan of the Selangor state to step up and gave the religious officers who were calling for the ban a good bashing after many Japanese companies threatened to pull their investment out of the state. In the end, because the festival is held only in Selangor and Penang (the latter who is ruled by a secular state government and whose population majority is Chinese), the festival was able to continue unimpeded.
• And now the extremist Islamic nutjob officers are calling for a ban on Oktoberfest. As expected, many German companies threatened to take their investment monies elsewhere, and the Sultan of the Selangor state again steps forward and gives the religious officers another good bashing, and has decreed that Oktoberfest will be allowed to be celebrated in the Selangor state when October comes around.
• Sky Kingdom, a Malaysian cult founded by Ariffin Mohammed, also known as Ayah Pin, was banned and officially declared an illegal cult, with most of its members arrested and charged under the blasphemy law. The Other Wiki has further details about the cult.
• Specific Swatch watches with rainbow prints on them are now banned after a post about them being pro-LGBTQ+ propaganda pieces blew up on social media. Swatch has came out and not only denied the connection, but also correctly saying that the government has overreacted and that they’re going to initiate legal proceedings to retrieve the watches. Things came to a head when the home minister eventually tried to declare all Swatch watches illegal... And ended up with eggs on his face.

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