ON the 1st November, the Appeals Court has dismissed my appeal against the High Court decision last year which ruled that the police have
the right to arrest and detain me under the Sedition Act for cartooning.
The arrest took place on the 24th September 2010, hours before the launching of my comic book, Cartoon-O-Phobia. I was detained for two days in the police lock-up. They also confiscated of 66 copies of the book. I then filed a suit to challenge that the arrest was made in bad faith and mala fide.
The Appeals Court judges had somehow confirmed the government's stand that drawing political cartoons in Malaysia is a crime! I am planning to give
three copies of my latest comic book to the three judges as a present for them to understand what political cartoons are all about.
I have lost two cases in the High Court have another case pending in the Appeals Court and I do not expect to win against this government in the
Malaysian court.
My objective is to create awareness on how funny this government is - the government of the cartoon, by the cartoon for the cartoon. I will
definitely appeal to the Federal Court.
For me, all these episodes are just part of the government's mechanism to stop me from drawing cartoons exposing their corruption and wrong-doings.
The script started in September 2009, when the official from Home Ministry raided my office and confiscated 400 copies of my then new comic, Gedung
Kartun. The next day, they raided the printer and gave them a stern warning not to print my books in the future or their printing licence will
be revoked.
At his point, when the government saw that I still produced cartoon, they moved to the next step by banning another 5 of my cartoon books on
the grounds that "the contents are detrimental to public order". The agreement with one of the major distribution agency which I have signed a
week before had to cancelled.
The government has succeeded in putting fear to both ends of the support chain of my product - the printer and the vendor. The inability to sell
the books has costed me RM20,000 (about USD7000) debt. I had to lay off all my staffs.
In a simpler word, the government may say this: "You can continue to draw cartoons, but if nobody dares to print and to sell, what are you going to
do?"
After that, I could not find any printer who is willing to print my book and ready to face the consequences from the Home Ministry. In my latest
book, "The Pirates of the Carry-BN" ( http://www.zunar.my/ ) I have to blacken-out the printer's name to protect the printer. And this is against
the law, but that is the only solution.
Distribution wise, I can only depend on online sale as no book stores are ready to take the risk of selling my book.
One senior cartoonist did advise me to soften my stand so that my books can be sold at open market and I can earn generously. But I said no. I would like to stress that I do not want to draw like any other cartoons.
Through my work, my aim is to expose the issue that failed to be touched by other cartoonists - such as the Altantuya & Scorpene issues, the PM's wife's spending, and so on.
I will not sacrifice this duty of mine for monetary gain. This is part of my CSR (Cartoonist Social Responsibility)! The Fight Through Cartoon is an endless marathon. We rally to achieve a country that is ruled by the people, where the Gross Domestic Product is the freedom and the values of umanity transcends across race and religion.
We cannot watch in silence and condone all corruptions, injustice and oppression. How can I be Neutral, Even My Pen Has A Stand!