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THE Media Development Authority (MDA) is now in the midst of investigating how a raunchy calendar, featuring women in the nude and in suggestive poses, could have landed in the hands of some people here.
Earlier this month, calendars featuring naked or scantily-clad women were found in a taxi and now, another version of these calendars have also been given out to customers of a printing company.
Some of the recipients are angry and feel embarrassed that they have been given the items.
When contacted, senior assistant director of the MDA Mr A. R. Madeei said that publications, including calendars, are largely self-regulated by the industry.
He said: "While no prior approval is needed, publishers should ensure that the calendars do not offend good taste and decency as they are intended for public display".
A spokesman for the printing company told my paper that it had given out the calendars because its clients requested specifically for such raunchy images.
The company is usually engaged by engineering firms.
The spokesman, who declined to be named, said he obtained the calendars from an agent and merely added his company stamp to it.
Ms Tan Lay Ching, who received one such calendar from the company, was outraged, and she sent a picture of it to online news portal, Stomp.
She asked: "Why would the company want to do that? It's disgusting and uncomfortable".
The woman in the calendar's picture is topless, except for a string barely covering her nipples.
In another case involving a similarly raunchy calendar, two people found it in the back seat of the taxi they were in.
The company's spokesman said: "I thought there would be no problem in giving them if the manufacturer could sell such stuff openly".
He added that the company had given out fewer than 10 such calendars.
The calendar agent, from whom the printing company said it had obtained the calendars, denied having sold such calendars.
In 2005, modelling agency Jeffrey Chung Models raised a public outcry when it published a calendar with nearly nude photos of its models.
Under the Undesirable Publications Act, it is an offence to make, sell or distribute objectionable publications, including calendars.
Offenders can be fined up to $5,000, jailed up to one year, or both.
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