KUALA LUMPUR: DAP’s “Superman” Hew Kuan Yau has resigned from the party following criticism over his comments concerning the dispute over the South China Sea claims.
Hew had recently wrote in Mandarin on his Facebook page, that "The South China Sea belongs to China! Don’t oppose China just because you are anti-communist.”
He was referring to a decision by an international tribunal in The Hague which renounced Beijing's claim as anti-communist and anti-China.
Hew, also known as ‘Superman’ for wearing Superman-motif T-shirts, was criticised as unpatriotic since Malaysia is one of the claimants to parts of the South China Sea.
He announced his resignation in Facebook page on Thursday night, saying that it was to spare DAP from being attacked over his controversial remarks.
“For the interest of DAP, I have decided to leave the party from today,” he wrote.
Hew maintained that he was merely expressing his own views but political opponents had twisted his words as an excuse to attack DAP.
Hew, who is curator of the Asia Comic Cultural Museum in George Town, had been labelled by critics as rude and racist for his vicious profanities in running down political opponents.
Hew was previously slammed over his Sarawak election campaign speech, in which he had asked Sarawak’s Chinese voters to vote for DAP’s Batu Kitang candidate, Abdul Aziz Isa, to “screw” the Malays.