kUALA LUMPUR: Malaysiakini cartoonist Zulkiflee Anwar Ulhaque, better known as Zunar, was arrested Friday under the Sedition Act for publishing books considered ‘detrimental to public order’ and that could ‘influence the people to revolt against government policies’.
Police raided his office premises in Brickfields and seized about 70 copies of his latest book, Cartoon-o-phobia, due to be launched Friday night.
In the 4pm raid by a police team led by ASP Arikrishnan Apparau from the Brickfields district police headquarters, the new book and several cartoon drawings were seized.
City police chief DCP Datuk Muhammad Sabtu Osman confirmed the arrest and seizure of the items.
The new book, Cartoon-o-phobia features a collection of political cartoons that have appeared on the Malaysiakini website as well as unpublished cartoons and fresh artworks.
“The issues covered are the murder of Altantuya, the conspiracy against Anwar (Ibrahim), the PM’s wife, the loss of jet engines, the Scorpene that cannot dive, Sarawak, racism, corruption and waste of public funds, among others,
Published by Malaysiakini, Cartoon-o-phobia was to be launched at 8pm Friday at the Selangor Chinese Assembly Hall by former Perak mentri besar Nizar Jamaluddin.
On Malaysiakini’s website, Zunar said that despite his arrest, the launch would proceed Friday night.
He said that ‘Cartoon-o-phobia’ was chosen as the title to illustrate and reflect the fears of certain parties to cartoons.
“I am thinking of registering the term ‘Cartoon-o-phobia’ as a new word that carries the definition of ‘individuals or parties who are afraid of cartoons and use political power to act against cartoonists’,” he said.
The cartoonist said that the content of this latest book had more bite compared to his previous books.
Zunar’s three previous books - 1 Funny Malaysia, Perak Darul Kartun and Isu Dalam Kartun were banned by the Home Ministry but he had earlier told Malaysiakini that he was willing to take the risk in releasing this new book.
sources: the star
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