Facebook post may have been vulgar and vicious, but that is no grounds to detain Hew Kuan Yew, says the DAP leader
PETALING JAYA: DAP has weighed in on the arrest of former party member Hew Kuan Yew over his Facebook post likening the prime minister and his wife to Beauty and the Beast today.
DAP leader Lim Kit Siang called on MCA leaders, who are believed to have filed the report against Hew, to state their stand.
“I do not approve of Kuan Yau’s language – vulgar, vitriolic and even vicious, but clearly no basis to arrest him. 3MCA Ministers declare stand!” he tweeted.
In the previous tweet, Kit Siang said he had visited Kuan Yau’s Facebook page to find out “which crime Superman had committed” to warrant a police report.
Hew is called “Superman” because of his penchant for Superman T-shirts.
DAP secretary-general Lim Guan Eng homed in at the rapid response by police to the report that Hew had purportedly insulted the PM’s wife on Facebook.
“Why were the police so quick to act? When I was insulted, no one was arrested; when my son was falsely accused of outraging the modesty of a girl, no one was arrested,” he said outside the Dewan Rakyat today.
Kulai MP Teo Nie Ching urged the police to show that they did not practise double standards when it came to crimes committed against the opposition.
“Why didn’t the police take action when a report was filed about people hanging dead chickens in my office? It has been six years and still no action.”
Deputy Home Minister Nur Jazlan Mohamed said Teo’s case was still under investigation and he would be asking the police for updates.
“I would like to say that every case is investigated; it is only a matter of time. I sympathise (with Teo) and I’m sure the police will take action if there is evidence.”
In the case of Hew, he said police would investigate and then refer the case to the attorney-general, who would decide whether or not to take the case to court.
Beruas MP Ngeh Koo Ham said police appeared to have acted “under pressure” in the arrest of Hew.
“Even though I do not agree with Hew’s action, I hope police are acting in accordance to the law.”
Hew was arrested today at the Comic Cultural Museum, where he is the curator, at Komtar.
The museum manager said he was told by the plainclothes policemen that Hew would be taken to the Johor Jaya police station in Johor, where the report against him was filed, to be processed.
On March 13, Hew posted a Beauty and the Beast movie poster along with pictures of Prime Minister Najib Razak and his wife, Rosmah Mansor, accompanied with the words: “看不到beauty and the beast, 就看Jibbie and the b****h吧!”