KUALA LUMPUR, Aug 13 – The Home Ministry has lifted its 2019 ban on the comic book co-authored by Hew Kuan Yau, popularly known as “Superman Hew”, two years after the Federal Court’s ruling.
The revocation was announced in the Federal Government Gazette on 12 August and is based on a decree issued by Home Minister Datuk Seri Saifuddin Nasution Ismail on 6 August.
“In exercise of the powers conferred by subsection 7(1) of the Printing Presses and Publications Act 1984 (Act 301), the Minister revokes the Printing Presses and Publications (Control of Inesirable Publications) (No. 3) Order 2019 (PU (A) 288/2019) published in the Gazette on 23 October 2019 prohibiting the printing, importation, manufacture, reproduction, publication, sale, issue, circulation, distribution or possession of the publications listed in the Schedule,” the Gazette said.
The revocation follows the federal government’s failed appeal to reinstate the ban on Hew’s book after the Federal Court in 2022 dismissed the Home Office’s appeal and upheld an appeals court ruling that overturned the ban.
A screenshot of former DAP member Hew Kuan Yau during a speech in Bercham, Ipoh in 2018.
Hew co-authored a book entitled Belt and Road Initiative for Win-Win Islamism Published in 2019 by the Asia Comic Cultural Museum and available in three languages – Malay, English and Mandarin.
The book was published to mark the 45th anniversary of the establishment of diplomatic relations between China and Malaysia.
The Home Office banned all editions of the book in the same year under Section 7(1) of the Printing Presses and Publications Act on the grounds that its contents could endanger public order and disturb people’s thoughts.
Hew then challenged the ban through a judicial review before the Supreme Court.
In April 2021, the Supreme Court ruled that the Interior Ministry had the right to ban the book and confiscate all seized copies.
But Hew again challenged the Supreme Court’s decision and requested a review by the Court of Appeal.
In July 2022, the Court of Appeal overturned the Supreme Court’s decision and ordered the Home Office to return all previously seized copies of Hew’s book.
