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PMO: No involvement in publication of controversial comic book
Friday, 18 Oct 201911:24 PM MYT
By Bernard Cheah
PETALING JAYA: Prime Minister Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad has denied involvement over the publication of the controversial comic book which made headlines recently.
The Prime Minister's Office clarified that Dr Mahathir did not present China president Xi Jinping with the book titled "Belt and Road Initiative for Win Winism" as an official gift during their meeting at the Second Belt and Road Forum for International Cooperation in Beijing, China in April this year.
"The Prime Minister's Office which to clarify that the book was not an official gift during the meeting, and the book was brought in without the proper procedure and channel.
"The Prime Minister is not involved in the publication of the comic book, or is aware of its content," it said in a statement Friday (Oct 18).
It said that Dr Mahathir did not provide permission for the pictures to be used for any reason, or for the comic books to be distributed in schools.
A picture of Dr Mahathir together with Xi, who was reading a comic book, has gone viral on social media.
The distribution of the comic went viral on Twitter, with former Umno Youth exco member Tun Faisal Ismail Aziz calling for teachers, parents and students to collect the books to be destroyed.
He tweeted, "our volunteers will collect these useless comic books and we will make a protest and destroy them."
On Thursday (Oct 17), the Ministry of Education stressed that it never gave any approval or permission to distribute comic books to all educational institutions including schools.
In a Facebook post on Wednesday (Oct 16), former prime minister Datuk Seri Najib Razak had asked Education Minister Dr Maszlee Malik if his ministry had allowed for the comic books to be distributed to schools.
Najib alleged that a museum funded by the Penang government was spreading propaganda in secondary schools through the comic books.
Bernama reported that Penang Chief Minister Chow Kon Yeow dismissed Najib's claim that DAP was attempting to spread its propaganda through comic books.
Chow said the state government only undertook the responsibility of paying the rental for the museum located in Komtar but was not involved in its management or operations.
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