I can’t believe Dr M had no knowledge of comic book contents, says Wee

© Provided by FMT MEDIA SDN BHD MCA president Wee Ka Siong says it is ’embarrassing’ for Dr Mahathir Mohamad to say that he is in the dark about the comic book.

KUALA LUMPUR: MCA president Wee Ka Siong expressed disbelief that Prime Minister Dr Mahathir Mohamad had no previous knowledge of the contents of the controversial comic book “Belt & Road Initiative for Win and Winism”.

“It was Mahathir who first presented the comic book to Chinese President Xi Jinping,” the Ayer Hitam MP reporters at the Parliament lobby today, referring to their meeting at the Belt and Road Summit and Forum in Beijing in April.

“It bypassed all the protocol and standard operating procedures. There is no reason for Wisma Putra to say they were not informed as they were the coordination agency in charge of the visit during the conference.”

In a statement on Oct 18, the Prime Minister’s Office clarified that Mahathir was not involved in publishing the comic book and did not know its contents.

It said the comic book was not an official souvenir during the meeting between Mahathir and Xi and was brought in without following procedures.

Wee said “it is impossible to just present a leader of a country something like a book without going through a screening process”.

He said “it is very embarrassing for the prime minister to just say they were in the dark”.

Wee also criticised Education Minister Maszlee Malik for his “carelessness” over the matter.

“It is normal procedure to apply (for distribution of a book) to the school management and at least perform a screening procedure to check the content of any comic or book.

“You must get consent from the ministry and only can you place the material in the library,” he said.

The education ministry had also issued a statement saying it had not approved the distribution of the comic book.

It said it had instructed all schools to not distribute or accept the comic book from any supplier.