A lot of people have asked me if I'd get in trouble for doing this book. Liew says, 'There's more room for alternative voices these days, but I think there is still a general sense of unease about what you can say and do. What does Liew think of the fact that he can pen such a work – and with the support of the National Arts Council, no less? Picture couresy of Epigram Books.Īnother key theme in the book: The repression of press freedoms, and freedom of expression. Pages from the graphic novel by Sonny Liew. The medium may not always be the message, but it does affect the way a reader reacts to the subject or content.' Hopefully, it can reach a wider audience, and engage them in a new way. His legacy has always been debated, even though during the period of intense grieving after his passing, the focus was understandly on his many accomplishments.īut maybe telling the story through comics allows the questions to be approached differently. 'I wouldn’t go so far as saying it’s the start.

Could The Art of Charlie Chan turn out to be the start of the post-LKY conversation? Liew demurs at the suggestion. The book's release has also turned out to be uncannily timely, coming just two months after Mr Lee's passing. I think unless you lived through that era, or had a special interest in local history, you'd probably only have a vague notion of the part he played, and younger readers might have no idea who he was at all.' He notes, 'When I first started doing research, I was surprised by how much I didn't know about Lim Chin Siong.

The art of charlie chan