KUALA LUMPUR: DAP secretary-general Lim Guan Eng today decided not to comment on his alleged involvement in the controversial ‘Belt and Road Initiative (BRI) for Win Winism' comic book.
This, he said was due to a possible legal action to be taken by the author of the publication against the ban by the Home Ministry.
It has been revealed that Lim, who is also Bagan MP, has penned the foreword of the comic book.
“I was made to understand that there's still a legal process that he (Hew Kuan Yau) wants to undertake and I think those who are writing the book will also be following this legal process.
“Until then, I do not want to comment so we can allow this legal process to take place and also not to give any appearance of interference,” he told reporters at the Parliament lobby.
The comic book was a collaboration between Asian Comic Cultural Museum curator and former DAP member Hew, also known as Superman Hew, and local artist Chong Po Ling, also known as Tomato.
The publication, available in three languages, English, Bahasa Melayu and Mandarin courted controversy after it was distributed to several schools.
Some quarters claimed the publisher was promoting the ideology of communism and socialism.
On Oct 23, the Home Ministry gazetted a prohibition order on the comic book and deemed that the content may "endanger public order and security" and also "distort the mind of the public".
The order was gazetted according to Section 7(1) of the Printing Presses and Publications Act 1984 (Act 301), which is applicable to the Bahasa Malaysia and Chinese versions of the comic book.