National Arts Council (NAC) is withdrawing its earlier approved $8,000 publication grant to Malaysia-born award-winning comics artist, Sonny Liew due the “sensitive content” depicted in his 324-page comic book, “The Art Of Charlie Chan Hock Chye”.
The book uses different forms of comic illustration to depict the life of a Singaporean artist which spans across 60-odd years of Singapore history.
The first prime minister Lee Kuan Yew and Lim Chin Siong, co-founder of People’s Action Party and former Secretary General of now-defunct Barisan Sosialis are depicted side by side within the book.
The publication was awarded a grant of $8,000 from NAC before it was published. According to Mr Edmund Wee, $6,400 was disbursed to his company, and he would have to return the $6,400 back to NAC.
