COMMENT | This late in the game, maybe you are thinking, why do non-Malay politicians make themselves and their parties, easy targets? A former Special Branch officer asked me the same thing recently. The context of the conversation was the arrests of Indian politicians in the farcical Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) dragnet. Add to this, we now have the “communist” narrative brought about by the comic written by former DAP operative "Superman" Hew.

I have received many emails about the DAP shooting itself in the foot and of how Hew Kuan Yau is screwing things up. Do I think this book belongs in school libraries? A better question would be, do I think it belongs in any library? In case you are wondering, I feel the same way about the hundreds of pro-Narendra Modi “books” out there.

Let us get one thing out of the way first. Yes, the “Belt and Road Initiative for Win Winism” is propagandist pap that, unfortunately, has a foreword by Lim Guan Eng that makes arguments that it is the personal opinion of Hew rather lame. But so what if it is propagandist pap?

The fact that Prime Minister Dr Mahathir Mohamad presented it to top Chinese leaders is either evidence that he believes that after all his anti-PRC comments before the elections, he wants to make nice with the Chinese top brass, or he does think that only radical Malay youths are against “the implementation of ethnic policies in Xinjiang.” Attempting to downplay this particular “gift” now, is pointless considering that anti-China sentiments always translate to anti-Chinese Malaysians sentiment.

Politically, this is bad optics. However, the people who think that the DAP is some sort of useful idiots for the Communist Party of China are going to think this way with or without this comic book. Probably these same people think that the LTTE is some sort of existential threat to this country. The DAP should be mocked for attaching themselves to this propaganda, not because it is evidence of some sort of disloyalty to king and country, but because it is so badly written.

Has anyone gone to schools libraries and done research as to what kinds of books are stocked? Do kids borrow books from the library, or do they just rely on their laptops or phones? I wonder if there are books by controversial Muslim preacher Zakir Naik in our primary and secondary schools? Books by Zakir Naik are another example of badly written propaganda.

Some people have said - surely the DAP does not have to put its foot in its mouth all the time. Why did Superman Hew have to write this comic? I could hazard a guess, but if I have to pick on him, I would also have to point out the numerous other propagandistic literature from other personalities and organisations which benefit foreign agendas, but which, somehow, is acceptable to the state.

Before the election, Chinese Malaysian politicians were hanging on the coattails of the old maverick while he kept on whacking China because they were supposedly in cahoots with the Najib regime who was selling off this country. He was extolling Muslims that their land was in danger of being taken over by foreigners.

Even then, the majority of Malays voted for Umno and PAS, hence the only hegemon that needs to be appeased is China. Chinese politicians kept silent while all these “anti-Chinese“ narratives were advanced by the then opposition.

Post-election, steps need to be taken to normalise the relationship with China, especially after the contentious renegotiating of trade deals. Hence, this is a good way to show some good faith when it comes to China after all the badmouthing and xenophobic campaign propaganda. Furthermore, it is good counter-programming for a citizenry who have been inundated with anti-China propaganda, that also translates to anti-Chinese Malaysian propaganda.

Some folks may not want to hear this, but the state sometimes ignores proxies who propagandise ideas that the state may not be able to do for whatever reasons. I am not saying that this is what happened here, but it is something that we should be aware of. One could make the argument that Superman Hew was doing the old maverick a favour, hence the boy minister should show some gratitude.

While Hew may be a “useful idiot” for the mandarins in China, his comic is good propaganda when it comes to dealing with China because, obviously as the old maverick says, Malaysia has to be careful about what it says to big, powerful China. This kind of comic goes a long way in ameliorating the usual far-right rhetoric that the state has to engage in when it comes to anything Chinese.

Bersatu Youth exco Mohd Ashraf Mustaqim Badrul Munir (above), launching a broadside against the DAP, said: “Do they hold on to Malaysians values with conviction and sincerity or are they aligned with the Communist Party of China?", which is nonsensical because I have no idea what Malaysian values he is talking about.

Here we have politicians like the boy minister and this youth exco member talking about racism and “Malaysian values” when they belong to a political party that only accepts Malays. A political party that was created to court the Malay votes because it was believed that the vast majority of the community needed to be reassured that only a Malay-only political party could protect the rights and needs of the Malay community.

These are the arbiters of what is and isn’t racist? While various polls claim that a majority of Chinese and Indians consider themselves “Malaysian” first, most polls, especially recent ones, point to a worrying trend of a majority of Malays thinking of themselves as “Muslims” first. So it is deceitful talking about Malaysian values and as problematic as talking about Bangsa Malaysia, for instance.

The old maverick says: “The young people must understand the problems, strategies and policies of our own country first, so when they come up (to face) with other people's strategies, they know their place”, which I suppose means the kind of racial and religious propaganda which sustains Bersatu, Umno and PAS. Fair enough, at least it's home-grown.

Malay politicians and religious personalities do not ever have to justify the dodgy political or religious dogma they import from the Middle East or their support of causes that are of importance to their base.

However, because nobody wants to spook the Malays, non-Malay politicians have to distance themselves from anything that could be used against them politically, even by their allies, but which is important to their respective bases.

All this hand-wringing by non-Malays about how this comic and the friendly fire in DAP is going to ruin things is just playing into the narrative that the non-Malays are not loyal to this country.

This is how it is, folks. Malay politicians or religious bureaucrats pick out something that they deem offensive to their sensibilities, and non-Malay political structures convulse while attempting to mitigate the damage, in the process cannibalising each other.

The realpolitik of the situation is not that non-Malay power structures are making it easier for the monolithic Malay right to attack them, but they have targets painted on their backs by virtue of being minority powerbrokers. In New Malaysia, there is no win winism.