Police today arrested political cartoonist Zunar just hours ahead of the official launch of his latest title , Cartoon-o-phobia .

zunar arrested under sedition act 240910 03 Zunar ( far right in photo ), whose real name is Zulkiflee Anwar Ulhaque, was arrested under Section 28 of the Printing Presses and Publications Act.

Earlier at about 4pm, his office - Sepakat Efektif Sdn Bhd - was raided by five police officers led by ASP Arikrishna Apparau from the Brickfields district police headquarters and 66 copies of the book seized.

Zunar was arrested about 45 minutes after that and taken to the Brickfields police statement for his statement to be recorded.

Police also seized a poster depicting Prime Minister Najib Abdul Razak and his wife, Rosmah Mansor.

zunar arrested under sedition act 240910 01 Zunar was seen being brought out of the station at 7pm to be taken to the Serdang police station for further investigation. 

At 9.25pm he was brought out of the Serdang police station, and sent to another police station, this time in Sepang.

He later spent the night at the KLIA police station's lock-up and is likely to be brought before the Magistrates' Court in Sepang tomorrow to be charged. 

Arikrishna said police had received a police report against Cartoon-o-phobia and that the 66 copies were seized for investigation purposes.

This was challenged by his lawyer Latheefa Koya. She said the police’s main purpose was to disrupt tonight’s launch of the book.

Arikrishna, however, contended that they were not aware that the book was to be launched tonight.

When contacted later, Arikrishna said he expects Zunar to be released tonight.

Launch goes ahead

Malaysiakini editor-in-chief Steven Gan said the book’s launching tonight at the Selangor Chinese Assembly Hall in Kuala Lumpur by ousted Perak menteri besar Nizar Jamaluddin proceeded despite the turn of events.

zunar arrested under sedition act 240910 06 Although three of his previous books - 1 Funny Malaysia, Perak Darul Kartun and Isu Dalam Kartun were banned by the Home Ministry, Zunar had earlier told Malaysiakini that he was willing to take the risk in releasing this new book.

"Will this latest book also possibly be banned? Actually this never crossed my mind when I produced the book.

"But I am ready to face the consequences," he told Malaysiakini last week. In an SMS sent to Malaysiakini shortly after his arrest today, he said: ‘I hope my readers will come and show their support at the launch tonight’.

According to Zunar, 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.

Cops visit printer too

Meanwhile, the police also visited printer Law Chee Chong, who had printed several of Zunar's other books, including the banned Perak Darul Kartun, this afternoon.

Contacted by Malaysiakini , Law said that 12 officers led by an ASP Nazri from Cheras police station came to his premises and recorded the names, address and other personal details of all his staff.

"They took away copies of invoices and other documentation from our dealings with Zunar," he said.

The police, who stayed for more than an hour, also asked for soft copies of the Zunar's books printed there, but Law said he no longer had them.

No reason was given by the police for their visit, he said. 

The police also went to book distributor Gerak Budaya's office in Section 11, Petaling Jaya at about 7pm, looking for copies of Cartoon-o-phobia but did not find any.

Available online

Zunar taken to police station over cartoon-o-phobia The cartoonist said that the content of this latest book have more bite compared to his previous books.

"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," he said.

Cartoon-o-phobia will be sold at RM25. It can be purchased online via Gerakbudaya and Cartoon Kafe .

VIDEO | 1.57 mins

Book launch a hit despite author's arrest