KUALA LUMPUR, July 15 — DAP veteran member Hew Kuan Yau has decided to quit the opposition party to avoid being used as fodder by political foes.
Hew, popularly known as “Superman”, said his decision would free DAP from being embroiled in controversies over his remarks.
“For the sake of the big picture for DAP, I have decided to quit the party from today onwards,” he wrote in a Facebook post late last night.
Hew stressed that he has no political ambitions and has repeatedly rejected the notion of contesting in polls despite helping out in election campaigns since 2010.
“My interest is in comics, I only want to operate a professional comics museum,” he said, insisting that he had on several occasions disavowed interest in Penang DAP’s politics and only went to the state this year to manage the Asia Comic Cultural Museum there.
He claimed that his political enemies have, however, sought to pressure DAP to take disciplinary action or sack him, accusing them of twisting his words.
“But my political foes have all this while continuously exaggerated, misrepresented my words and influence, and have presented my personal political views as DAP’s official stand, this has caused a predicament to my party, comrades and supporters,” he said.
Hew also said that he defends both his freedom of speech and DAP’s interests in elections, but would not resort to issuing denials or claims that his controversial remarks are false or that he has been hacked.
“To end these predicaments once and for all, I believe quitting the party is the best choice,” he said.
He also said that no one within DAP had pressured him to quit the party and that it was his personal choice to do so.
Hew, who said he had joined DAP since the age of 19, recounted all the nurturing and opportunities afforded to him by the party and party veteran Lim Kit Siang, including the drawing of comics, writing statements and training to deliver speeches.
Hew was criticised after his brief Facebook remark in Mandarin on Wednesday, where he asserted that the South China Sea belongs to China and said China should not be opposed merely because one is anti-communist.
Earlier this year, Hew was also accused of making racist remarks in Mandarin where he allegedly urged a DAP candidate in Sarawak to “screw” the Malays, but he later said that the video clip had carried inaccurate subtitles by Umno cybertroopers and that he was instead attacking Sarawak’s main party PBB for its alleged corruption.
