KUALA LUMPUR: Umno must object to the Home Ministry's decision to lift the ban on a comic book about the Belt and Road Initiative authored by a former DAP member, says a party leader.
Umno Supreme Council member Datuk Mohd Puad Zarkashi said he was disappointed with the ministry's decision to lift the ban on the book.
It was reported that the order to lift the ban on the book was signed on Aug 6. On Dec 8, 2022, Putrajaya failed to get leave from the Federal Court to reinstate a ban on the comic book.
"The comic glorifies former Communist Party of Malaya leader Chin Peng," Puad said in a Facebook post.
He said the book subtly promotes communism.
"Many members of security forces lost their lives (battling the communists)," he said.
Meanwhile, Umno Youth chief Dr Akmal Saleh said the government should consider filing an appeal against the court's decision to get the book ban reinstated.
In October 2019, the Home Ministry under the then Pakatan Harapan administration banned the trilingual comic titled "Belt and Road Initiative for Win-Winism".
Then, the government said the book, authored by former DAP member Hew Kuan Yau, also known as Superman Hew, promoted communism and socialism and contained factual errors.