“WHAT NEXT, THEN?”
Similarly, Ms Hidayah Amin, local author and publisher at Helang books, says Dahl’s works are classics and were written in his own voice – a reflection of his thoughts, opinions, imagination and philosophies.
“To rewrite them would be insensitive and disrespectful to the author as the original creator of the work … Who are we to replace the words which were chosen by the author who obviously had reasons for writing those particular words and not use others,” she said.
She also questioned the decision to rewrite the books.
“Why shouldn’t readers learn the meaning of ‘fat’ or ‘ugly’? How else will children learn new vocabulary? What next, then?”
“Why should we cater to the ‘woke-ism’ movement just because certain groups are overly loud when advocating their stand,” added Ms Hidayah.
As a publisher herself at Helang Books, Ms Hidayah said that, in general, authors are encouraged to use language that is simple and suitable for the target audience.
For all books published by Helang Books, the sensitivities of the content of a book will be looked at so as to not incite racial, religious and political discord, she said.
“However, creativity and imagination are also important in the way we write.”
“We publish books which we deem are important … and deserve to be read. We don’t publish books that are deemed ‘popular’ or on trend with the woke generation,” said Ms Hidayah.