“Superman Hew” will know on May 25 whether he succeeds in his court appeal to quash the Malaysian government ban against his comic book Belt and Road Initiative.
Lawyer J Shamesh, who acts for former DAP member Hew Kuan Yau known via the popular moniker, confirmed the Court of Appeal set the decision date for the appeal.
The counsel said the appeal came up for hearing yesterday before a three-person bench chaired by Hanipah Farikullah, along with bench members P Ravinthran and Ahmad Nasfy Yasin.
“The court set May 25 for decision,” Shamesh said when contacted by Malaysiakini.
Senior federal counsel Ahmad Hanir Hambaly @ Arwi, who represented the government as respondent in the appeal, also confirmed this morning that the Court of Appeal fixed the decision date.
Hew is appealing against a Kuala Lumpur High Court ruling on April 26 last year which dismissed his judicial review against the Home Ministry’s ban.
The judicial review application sought to quash the home minister's ban order and the Attorney General's Chambers' gazette of the ban order, dated Oct 23, 2019.
The prohibitory order was made under Section 7(1) of the Printing Presses and Publications Act 1984.
In the High Court decision, judge Noorin Badaruddin ruled that the minister’s decision to ban the book was legal, reasonable and ought not to be disturbed by the court.
She said 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.
Minister’s decision
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.
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 be unconstitutional, null and void.
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 is the co-author of the comic book, published by the Asia Comic Cultural Museum in three languages - Malay, English and Chinese. The ministry’s prohibition order applies to all three languages it was published in.
Glowing picture
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 alleged 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.
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. - Mkini
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