Ban stays on the comic book of 'Superman Hew'
The comic book Belt and Road Initiative for Win Winism by "Superman Hew" will remain banned in Malaysia.
The High Court in Kuala Lumpur today dismissed former DAP member Hew Kuan Yau's judicial review to quash the ban by the Home Ministry.
Following the ruling by judge Noorin Badaruddin, the ministry will also get to...
The comic book Belt and Road Initiative for Win Winism by "Superman Hew" will remain banned in Malaysia.
The Kuala Lumpur High Court today dismissed former DAP member Hew Kuan Yau's judicial review to quash the ban by the Home Ministry.
Following the ruling by judge Noorin Badaruddin, the ministry will also get to keep all seized copies of the book.
The judicial review application seeks to quash the home minister's ban order and the Attorney-General's Chambers' gazette of the ban order, dated Oct 23, 2019.
According to the judicial review application filed on Nov 26, 2019, the home minister (who is not named), the Home Ministry, the AGC and the government of Malaysia are named as respondents.
Hew, who is known by his moniker "Superman Hew", is the co-author of the comic book published by the Asia Comic Cultural Museum in three languages - Malay, English and Chinese. The prohibition order applies to all three languages it was published in.
The book purportedly paints a glowing picture of China and its Belt and Road Initiative (BRI), while allegedly putting the Western world in a negative light.
Other controversial parts include the alleged description of Malays sympathising with the ethnic Uyghurs in China - who are allegedly being put in "re-education camps" by Beijing - as "radicals".
Then prime minister Dr Mahathir Mohamad reportedly said on Oct 21, 2019, that while Malaysia regarded China as a friend and the BRI has benefited the country, it is not for Malaysia to promote Beijing’s ideology to our children.
Mahathir was referring to attempts to circulate Hew’s comic book in schools, which the Education Ministry then had put a stop to.
Then, two days later, the Home Ministry announced the ban on the comic book for its alleged promotion of communism and socialism under Section 7(1) of the Printing Presses and Publications Act 1984.
On Jan 6 last year, the high court granted leave to Hew to proceed with the judicial review against the comic book ban. The court later heard submissions from parties over the merits of the legal action.
In delivering her decision, Noorin ruled that the minister’s decision to ban the book was legal, reasonable and ought not to be disturbed by the court.
The judge said this is because the minister’s decision was rightly exercised upon his examination of the book’s content, which has the potential likelihood of disrupting the public order in multi-racial and multi-religious Malaysia.
She noted that the minister’s decision was also made after considering social media comments and police reports lodged by the public over the book.
She also said the court did not find the minister’s decision to be outrageous in logic, and noted that certain situations require the curtailing of constitutional freedom to assist in the maintaining of public order.
“In balancing the discretion exercised by the minister and the requirement of public order, with the interest and freedom of the applicant (Hew), this court gives more weight to the views of the executive on matters of public order.
“It is obvious that for the minister in charge of home affairs and internal security, public order and safety must be of primary concern,” she said.
“This court finds no merit in the (judicial review) application and dismisses it with RM5,000 in costs,” Noorin ruled.
In her oral ruling, the judge added that Section 7 of the Printing Presses and Publications Act was constitutional and valid.
Besides seeking to quash the ban, the judicial review had also sought a court ruling that Section 7(1) of the act to be unconstitutional, null and void.
When met by the media after proceedings this morning, Hew’s counsel J Shamesh said he would discuss with his client whether to appeal the decision. Hew was not seen at court today.
Senior federal counsel Ahmad Hanir Hambaly @ Arwi appeared for the respondents in the proceedings.
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