PUTRAJAYA: The government has failed to convince the Federal Court that there are merits in its proposed appeal to restore a ban on a comic book by “Superman” Hew Kuan Yew on China’s Belt and Road initiative.
A three-member Federal Court bench chaired by Justice Nallini Pathmanathan Thursday refused the government’s leave to appeal a Court of Appeal ruling which overturned the ban.
Nallini, who sat with Justices Zabariah Yusof and Rhodzariah Bujang in online proceedings, said the court found that there were no novel issues of public importance in the questions posed by the government.
However, no award of costs was made in Hew’s favour.
The government had put forward four questions of law which it said warranted an appeal before the apex court.
One was whether the home minister’s finding that the book could bring disharmony and incite racial tensions was the correct yardstick to measure whether its publication would be detrimental to public order.
Hew, a former DAP strongman, was represented by lawyer Vince Tan, who appeared with J Shamesh.
Commenting on the decision, Tan said: “The Court of Appeal’s decision has been sustained. A case management has been fixed before a Kuala Lumpur High Court deputy registrar on Monday.”
The High Court proceedings are in respect of Hew’s claim for damages against the government for wrongful disposal of the books, and for loss of reputation and opportunity.
The book, titled “Belt and Road Initiative for Win-Winism”, was published in Malay, English and Chinese in 2019.
It was alleged to have painted a glowing picture of China and its “Belt and Road” initiative, while putting the western world in a negative light.
In October 2019, the home ministry banned the book under the Printing Presses and Publications Act 1984, claiming that its contents could be detrimental to public order.
Hew then filed an application for the High Court to review the ban.
In April last year, the High Court upheld the ban and gave the home ministry the right to keep copies of the book it had seized after the ban.
In June, the Court of Appeal quashed the High Court decision, revoked the ban and ordered the ministry to return all copies of the book.
