PETALING JAYA: The ban on the comic book titled “Belt and Road Initiative for Win-Winism” by former DAP member Hew Kuan Yau has been lifted by the Home Ministry.
The revocation was signed by Home Minister Datuk Seri Saifuddin Nasution Ismail and was placed in a federal government gazette dated Aug 12.
In the gazatte, the revocation was made under Section 7(1) of the Printing Presses and Publications Act 1984 and will apply to the publication which was published in Malay, English and Mandarin.
According to Section 7(1), the Home Minister has the prerogative to ban any publication deemed to harm public order, morality, security, public interest or cause public alarm.
In 2019, Yau’s publication titled “Belt and Road Initiative for Win-Winism” was banned by the government as it was claimed to have content promoting communism and socialism.
In it, Yau is said to have promoted China’s successes and its Belt and Road initiative.
Yau had appealed against the ban on July 6, 2022, and won but the then government tried to reinstate the ban.
However, on Dec 8 that same year, the Federal Court turned down the Federal Government’s application for leave to reinstate the ban on the comics.
