Why did our ministers get duped into endorsing foreign propaganda?

Controversial figure Hew Kuan Yau (above) may try to sell his comic as “a good analysis of the Belt and Road initiative”, but after going through all 161 pages, I cannot describe it any other way - the comic is propaganda.

It is not even subtle propaganda like the nine-dash line on a world map in the background of a completely unrelated film about the mythical Yeti.

It is bald-faced, blatant propaganda featuring an evil Donald Trump styled as King Kong (photo, above) and an ever-smiling Xi Jinping bestowing the world with Chinese socialist goodness.

Going by this comic, narrated by two very cute cats, China is the saviour of the world, and the belt and road initiative (BRI) is its medium.

In fact, Hew likened the BRI as blood donation (photo, below) to an ailing world. Aren’t we lucky, and shouldn’t we be grateful?

I cringed.

I am most likely not the only person who cringed after reading the comic, which is translated into Bahasa Malaysia and printed in full colour.

Instead of winning over non-Chinese readers to the glory of China’s BRI, the effects of the Bahasa Malaysia translation is likely the opposite.

Obviously, likening those who sympathise with the plight of the Uyghur Muslims, now held in China government internment camps, to “radicals” doesn’t help sway opinion towards China.

In response, Hew said “radicals” in this context doesn’t mean extremists, but somehow they are depicted on the same page as IS terrorists and Osama Bin Laden, so go figure.

On its own, that one page on the Uyghur Muslims prompted many to seek for the comic book to be banned.

Of course, it does not help that the comic claims only a small minority of Uyghurs are punished by the Chinese authorities for “threatening unity and harmony”.

Neither does it help that the next pages stereotypes older Malays and ethnic Indian Malaysians as being anti-China because they are either unquestioning recipients of Umno propaganda or influenced by India’s policies.

Freedom of speech

Unfortunately for those seeking a ban, the Federal Constitution disagrees with them.

The constitution doesn’t say you have freedom of speech as long as your speech or opinions are not cringey - which is the general vibe of the comic - or offensive, which that part on Uyghur Muslims and general stereotyping of different Malaysian communities most certainly is.

Despite my misgivings, Hew’s odious China-worshipping comic book has a right, enshrined by our constitution, to remain in circulation and be sold to the public, ‘free marketplace of ideas’ and all that jazz.

In fact, just a few weeks ago I saw a book titled something along the lines of ‘Virus LGBT’ at a bookstore, and Hew’s book would probably be comfortable on the same shelf.

Here’s where it gets complicated.

Is saying it has the right to be sold in public the same as agreeing for it to be stocked in school libraries?

I have struggled with this question.

Having been that 14-year-old who read the Christian literature labeled “For non-Muslims only” placed in the corner shelf of our school library, I don’t necessarily believe that children are really susceptible to conversion - in the religious or non-religious sense.

So I don’t necessarily think that schoolchildren who read Hew’s unabashed propaganda comic would suddenly be converted into the righteous ways of China and be proponents of the BRI.

(I don’t even know if the schoolchildren will actually get past the super-wordy format, to be honest.)

What doesn’t sit right with me is the fact that loathsome propaganda is presented as if it is a balanced, scholarly view.

Worse is the fact that the author is making it seem like the Malaysian government has endorsed this publication.

Tricked into endorsing?

This is what makes me most uncomfortable.

It makes me very uneasy to learn that Hew had used his political connections to access those in the corridors of power, and to use his visits to take photographs of them with this foreign propaganda in their hands.

It really isn’t just innocent photographs, is it? He then used those photographs as endorsement to do the bidding of a foreign power, to shape the hearts and minds of Malaysians about a foreign policy.

In fact, in the letter sent to schools, it mentions specifically the fact that prime minister Dr Mahathir Mohamad had presented the comic as a gift to China president Xi Jinping during his visit in April.

There are two questions to ask at this juncture.

1. Why did our PM endorse foreign propaganda?

2. Why did the school librarians allow this foreign propaganda onto library shelves?

According to the Prime Minister’s Office, the gift did not go through “official selection”, and the PM never agreed to the picture being used in the comic as an endorsement.

The answer to the second question is probably related to the first.

It is likely because our culture of subservience - our saya menurut perintah (I obey orders) culture - is so ingrained that most school librarians did not consider it their place to oppose the entrance of a book seemingly endorsed by the prime minister.

In fact, the book carried a foreword from Finance Minister Lim Guan Eng. Surely such senior members of government would not be endorsing foreign propaganda?

But they did. On Mahathir’s end, the PMO argues this was an oversight. This suggests his minders were silly enough not to vet everything that he handed over to a foreign power - and the PM, for all his decades of experience, never thought to do so himself.

Why Lim decided to pen a foreword for the comic though, is a question that remains unanswered. Maybe he just did not read the comic, or maybe he did it as a favour for the artist, Tomato, who before this had drawn a comic about Lim. Either of this possibilities does not do him any favour, and his silence in the face of the controversy is deafening.

Propaganda is everywhere

Make no mistake - only the naive would think that this comic is the only form of foreign propaganda in our lives. Adult or children, we are inundated with it in some shape or form.

In this regard, Hew’s comic is correct in saying that your Captain America comic and Avengers films are not all that innocent.

Foreign powers are constantly trying to influence how we view them. It takes many forms - through entertainment, through diplomatic visits, trade, aid, grants, scholarships, there is no lack of measures taken for “soft” diplomacy.

But this is not unexpected. It is their job to do so and it would be remiss if they did not at least try.

In fact, I hope our diplomats and authorities are doing the same to sell Malaysia and its policies to the world.

Because this would be our role as Malaysians, to represent Malaysian views - not to bend over backwards to disseminate foreign propaganda to Malaysian children.

Why, indeed, did Hew bend over backwards to become chief advocate of the BRI and China in general, by printing so many of these books and providing them to schools for free?

Perhaps the answer is Hew paid for them out of his own pocket because he truly believes China is the benevolent superpower who is here to save the ailing world.

He certainly is not shy about his views. After all, he believes the South China Sea belongs to China. (He says this is from a historical perspective.)

It is certainly not illegal for a Malaysian to hold this view, but it begs this question:

Given all that we know about Hew, most of which came from his own admission, why are our government leaders so eager to associate with him?

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AIDILA RAZAK is a member of the Malaysiakini team.