DAP’s Superman crashes after making costly mistake
DAP was put under great pressure by his latest comment. The party could not bring itself to condemn Hew because he is too popular among the DAP grassroots. There are many DAP members and supporters who think like Hew.
Joceline Tan, The Star
HEW Kuan Yau was not known as the Superman of DAP for nothing. For many years, he did seem to have super powers given the way he survived controversy after controversy.
But on Thursday night, DAP’s Superman crashed to earth, brought down by a blizzard of criticism over his Facebook posting in which he insisted the South China Sea belongs to China.
Hew had become the latest big-name casualty of social media. He flew into a storm on Facebook and he decided to fly out of DAP also on Facebook. It was quite an ignoble exit, to be accused of being disloyal to one’s country and to be called names like “Super Stupid Man”.
Timing is everything and Hew was out of sync when he said on Facebook: “South China Sea is China’s. Don’t oppose China just because you are anti-Communist.”
This was a day after the arbitral tribunal in The Hague ruled in favour of the Philippines over the South China Sea dispute.
His supporters defended his stand as right of speech but he came across as unpatriotic given that Malaysia is a competing party to the dispute.
Netizens accused him of being a Chinese chauvinist and said this was why DAP cannot get the Malay vote.
There has been utter silence on the part of DAP leaders, including Lim Kit Siang whom Hew looks up to and regards as some kind of mentor figure.
Hew did the right thing by parachuting out of DAP. He had become a liability and an embarrassment to his party.
DAP was put under great pressure by his latest comment. The party could not bring itself to condemn Hew because he is too popular among the DAP grassroots. There are many DAP members and supporters who think like Hew.
In an attempt to disassociate from Hew’s stand, the party issued a statement committing to uphold Malaysia’s sovereignty and expressing support for Wisma Putra’s effort to seek a peaceful resolution and to de-escalate tensions in the South China Sea.
Hew was a super star on the DAP ceramah circuit and was almost picked as the candidate for the Teluk Intan by-election.
He has a big and devoted following in the party and his opinions have been known to make or break a leader.
He has always been like this and he does not pretend to be otherwise. Unfortunately, his opinions on issues also represent the right-wing and chauvinistic segment of DAP.
A large number of the DAP grassroots and a fair number of the party’s YBs identify with him.
He is a sort of DAP version of Perkasa president Datuk Ibrahim Ali – loud, insensitive and unafraid to voice extremist views.
Hew, said a former think-tank chief, is a product of the way Chinese society has evolved over the last few decades. They attend Chinese schools, fraternise mainly among Chinese friends, speak Chinese, read Chinese newspapers and watch Chinese programmes on Astro.
In short, they live in a “Chinese world” that is quite removed from other communities and many of them tend to think they are cleverer, more superior and deserve better. This “Chinese world” also tends to revolve around China and Taiwan and to a lesser extent, Singapore.
DAP has been tapping into this kind of sentiments through the years. The sentiments from this segment is the driving reason for the party cutting ties with PAS.
Hew’s dilemma underscores the contradiction in DAP, whose leaders are quick to accuse others of extremist views and chauvinism but turn a blind eye to similar elements in their ranks.
The Chinese have also been quick to jump up and condemn Malay extremists who have insulted the non-Malays mainly because the Chinese media are able to report on them.
But the Malay and English language media have been slow to pick up on what is happening in this “Chinese world” and personalities like Hew have been able to get away with some pretty outrageous things.
During the general election, he was photographed posing next to a Barisan Nasional billboard, showing the middle finger. His crude act was applauded by netizens.
Had Perkasa’s Ibrahim done the same thing next to a DAP billboard, the same netizens would have pilloried him.
Earlier this year, Hew came under fire for his anti-gay attacks against a well-known activist and had to apologise for it.
One reason why DAP leaders have not reprimanded Hew is because he has a big following in the party and there is speculation that his exit will cause ripples in the party.
He is reflective of the traditional and conservative camp which is critical of DAP’s push to recruit Malays. This camp is opposed to the group led by Tony Pua who wants to make the party more broad-based and multi-racial.
In his exit statement on Facebook, Hew posted a picture of himself with Penang Chief Minister Lim Guan Eng.
A talented caricaturist, he said he intends to devote his time to the Asia Comics Cultural Museum in Penang where he is the curator.
He is lucky the Penang government is a stakeholder in the museum because an international-class museum would have been less than comfortable with someone of his reputation.
