KUALA LUMPUR – Putrajaya must work on reinstating the recently lifted ban on controversial comic book “Belt and Road Initiative for Win-Winism” as the publication “promotes communism,” said a Umno Supreme Council member.
In a Facebook post today, Datuk Mohd Puad Zarkashi claimed that citizens are disappointed with the Home Ministry’s move to revoke the ban against the book authored by former DAP member Hew Kuan Yau, popularly known as “Superman Hew.”
“It is wajib (obligatory) for the government to find a way for the ban to be continued (as) the comic book clearly glorifies former Malayan Communist Party leader Chin Peng.
“(The book) is a subtle way to spread communism ideology, (which) rejects the Malay Rulers and threatens our national stability,” he added.
Puad also called for Umno to strongly oppose the ban revocation.
Yesterday, it was reported that the decision to revoke the ban, first imposed in 2019, was documented in a federal government gazette dated August 12, following an order signed by Home Minister Datuk Seri Saifuddin Nasution Ismail on August 6.
The revocation comes two years after a 2022 Federal Court ruling dismissing the Home Ministry’s attempt to appeal the appellate court’s quashing of the book ban earlier that year.
Last night, Umno Youth chief Dr Muhamad Akmal Saleh urged the government to seek a review of the apex court’s decision, asserting that the sensitivities of the country’s Malay-Muslim majority must be prioritised and preserved to guarantee national stability.
Similarly, PAS Youth deputy chief Muhammad Hanif Jamaluddin had also taken Saifuddin to task for the Home Ministry’s lifting of the ban, raising concerns on how the book might affect the younger generations’ perception of Malaysian history.
The lifting of the ban this month allowed the printing, importation, production, reproduction, publishing, sale, issue, circulation, distribution, or possession of the comic book, which was available in three languages: Malay, English, and Mandarin.
The comic book, co-authored by Hew and published in 2019 by the Asia Comic Cultural Museum, was released to commemorate the 45th anniversary of diplomatic relations between China and Malaysia.
The publication was previously criticised by several quarters, who accused Hew of racism by labelling those who sympathised with the plight of the persecuted Uyghur minority in China as “extremists.”
Following widespread backlash, the Home Ministry banned the book in October 2019 on grounds that it promoted communism and socialism, going on to confiscate copies of the books. – August 14, 2024