18 Jun 12 | Asia and Pacific
Although the political situation in Malaysia has been very tense since 1998, now the majority of Malaysians are beginning to show defiance against the ruling party Barisan Nasional, which has ruled the country for 54 years. People cannot accept the widespread corruption and high inflation with people living in economic hardship anymore.
The current Prime Minister, Najib Razak, is involved in the corruption scandal of the purchasing of Scorpene submarine. This is further scandalised by the murder of a Mongolian model by the name of Altantuya who was also involved in the submarine deal.
She was killed in Malaysia by those close to the Prime Minister. Nevertheless, the Barisan Nasional still stays in power from the bountiful of deceits throughout the election. Since all local newspapers, television and radio are controlled by the BN government, the people had to use alternative media such as the Facebook and Twitter to criticise and vent their frustrations.
As a political cartoonist, I use cartoons as a way to criticise the government. Not surprisingly, my cartoons are banned from being published in the government media. I produce cartoons for Malaysiakini.com, my own website, and on Facebook and Twitter.
I also publish cartoon books, but my seven books are banned on the grounds that the contents were “detrimental to national security.” Printers who printed my books and stores that sold them are constantly threatened by the authorities.
In 2010, I was arrested under the Sedition Act when my then new book, Cartoon-O-Phobia, was about to be launched. I challenged the book-banning and the unlawful detention. For this, the Kuala Lumpur High Court will decide on the 27 June.
No matter, I continue to draw, with my work now being followed by a bunch of young cartoonists. As a result, the government-controlled Election Commission recently decided to ban the use of cartoons in the coming general election (to be called before the current term ends in March 2013).
The banning of cartoons during the election is comical and ludicrous. This is because cartooning is a legally-practised medium in Malaysia and therefore the Commission does not have the right to forbid its use. Moreover, this is contradicting the freedom of expression provided to all citizens in the Malaysian Constitution.
I call for the Commission to withdraw this rule or it will become another Malaysian product of jokes to the global community. Recently, Malaysia has become a laughing stock due to the action on cartoonists such as banning of comic books and the detention of cartoonists under the Criminal Act.
I would like to announce that I will be leading a group of cartoonists, the Kumpulan Kartunis Independen (KKI) and will be actively involved before and during the next election campaign.
We will be opening our own Cartoonist Operations Centre and will be moving as a group in a van while campaigning for the coming election.
Our focus is to expose fraud and corruption and misuse of public funds by the current government, such as Scorpene Scandal or the domineering of the PM’s wife. The message-laden cartoons will be distributed in various forms: brochures, posters, banners, videos, to name a few.
I am ready to face the consequences! And I will keep drawing until the last drop of my ink!
Zunar is the foremost Malaysian political cartoonist. Last year, he has been conferred “2011 Courage In Editorial Cartoon” award by Cartoonist Rights Network International in Washington
12 Apr 12 | Asia and Pacific
The case of a political cartoonist who was arrested and detained in 2010, and took the government to court as a result, continued last week.
Malaysian cartoonist Zulkiflee Awar Ulhaque, known as Zunar, lodged his complaint of unlawful detention against the Malaysian police and government, following his September 2010 arrest.
On 24 September 2010, police raided Zunar’s Kuala Lumpur office several hours before the scheduled release of a compilation of his cartoons, entitled “Cartoon-o-phobia”.
The cartoonist, whose work criticises public figures and organisations within Malaysia, was arrested charges of sedition and publishing offences. If found guilty under the Sedition Act, Zunar faced a maximum three-year jail sentence. During the raid on his office, 66 copies of Cartoon-o-phobia on the premises were seized by police, despite protests from Zunar’s lawyers.
Zunar believes that the arrest and detention process was an attempt to “scuttle the launch” of his cartoon collection, and was conducted in “bad faith”. The cartoonist said: “I perform my duty as a political cartoonist to be a ‘watchdog’ to the authorities and to represent the voice of the people through art. Thus, based on their continuous actions, I knew the Malaysian government was not happy with my work, and they try to do everything to stop me from producing cartoons.”
He added: “I think the arrest was politically motivated in order to prevent me from drawing cartoons that promote alternative thinking and critical voices.”
Following his arrest, police were unable to determine which cartoons were offensive, or what offence the cartoonist was in breach of. The cartoonist was moved between several police stations, but was not questioned during the first 24 hours of detention. He was released without charge on the evening of the 25 September.
Zunar has brought a civil suit against the government and the police, challenging them for his unlawful arrest and detention, and the confiscation of the books. Zunar is seeking general, aggravated and exemplary damages, along with the return of the property which was confiscated during the raid.
He said: “I know it is a big decision to challenge the Malaysian government in the court. The stakes are high. If I lose I have to pay up to RM40,000.00 (around GBP 7,000). But I vow to keep fighting as my rights of expression is guaranteed under the Malaysian Constitution. I also hope I can create more awareness to the public about the [state of] press freedom in this country, [where] drawing political cartoons has become a crime.”
In January this year, the case began at the Kuala Lumpur High Court. Four witnesses, including the arresting officer, who decided that the whole book and not selected pages were seditious, testified before the court. Government lawyers attempted to justify that the arrest, detention and confiscation of the cartoons were done in good faith, in accordance with the law.
The case resumed on 5 April. According to his Twitter feed, government lawyers told the court that Zunar was arrested under the Printing Presses Act, and that the cartoons offered an element of incitement. The lawyers added that all pages of “Cartoon-o-phobia” were inflammatory.
Zunar explained that in the sessions of the 5 and 6 April, police officers Zaihairul Idrus, Arikrishnana and Marina Hashim gave testimony to the court. He said: “in the last session on 5 and 6 April, three police officers testified and tried to justify the arrest. They constantly said: “Every page of Zunar’s book contains cartoons that depict political leaders, the police and the judiciary, and can incite hatred and misunderstandings among the public.”
Seven other books of the cartoonists’ work have also been banned under the Printing Presses and Publication Act, as the Home Ministry secretary-general Mahmood Adam described them as “not suitable and detrimental to public order.” It was also reported that Adam said the books could influence the public to overthrow the government. In July 2010, Zunar filed a suit to challenge the banning of his books, but this was rejected by the court later that month.
The court will return their decision on 23 May.
20 Jan 12 | Asia and Pacific, Index Index, minipost
Political cartoonist Zunar (Zulkifli Anwar Ulhaque) appeared at the Kuala Lumpur High Court this week for the first hearing of a civil suit in which he challenges the Malaysian government and police for his arrest and detention on 24 September 2010. Zunar is seeking the return of confiscated property as well as aggravated losses and damages incurred in the raid of his office, during which police seized copies of his latest work, Cartoon-O-Phobia, and arrested him for sedition. The raid occurred just hours before the book’s launch.
