Book launch a hit despite author's arrest

Zunar's comic book launch proceeded last night undaunted by the cartoonist's arrest and heavy police presence. 

Just hours earlier the police arrested political cartoonist Zulkiflee Anwar Ulhaque and seized over 60 copies of his latest work, Cartoon-o-phobia .

But despite setbacks, the launch of satirical publication proceeded as scheduled at the Kuala Lumpur Selangor Chinese Assembly Hall (KLSCAH) under close observation of the police.

About 10 police officers were deployed outside the hall,

barricading the main entrance leading to the parking lot with cones. But the police did not attempt to put a halt to the book launch.

It was, however, an unusual event owing to the absence of the new cartoon book and the presence of its artist Zulkiflee, better known as Zunar.

Police arrested Zunar ( far left ) and brought him to the Sepang district police headquarters after raiding his office, Sepakat Efektif Sdn Bhd.

Undaunted by the police's show of force, Zunar's launch was greeted with enthusiasm and was a mark of support for the cartoonist to continue his witty jibes about the Malaysian political scene.

In fact delivering his message last night through his wife Fazlina Rosley ( left ), Zunar vowed that the clampdown on his work will not hinder his efforts to expose corruption and abuse or power.

“This move has reasserted the title of the book - that the government fears cartoons," he said in an SMS message.

“They can imprison me but they can't imprison my mind.”

Zunar conveyed to the 150 people present that he is prepared to “change from the comic strip to the prison stripe”.

Fazlina, on behalf of her husband, thanked all those present.

“He said that he didn't intend to talk about politics, but (alas this is) the fate of the cartoons, which has now proven to be feared by the government,” said Fazlina, whose brave front and wit won continuous applause.

Zunar's way of showing 'middle-finger'

Meanwhile, Malaysiakini editor-in-chief Steven Gan, who kicked off the event, said that Zunar should be "admired for his tenacity and his never-say-die attitude".

"For that he is being punished. This is his fourth book to be banned, and this comes months after the other books were banned," said Gan.

"This is Zunar's own way of showing the middle finger to the authorities," he added, drawing laughter from the crowd.

He went on to laud the cartoonist, comparing his gritty and gutsy work to the celebrated political cartoonist Mohammad Nor Khalid, more commonly known as Lat, praising him for taking on high-profile leaders "without a safety net below".

Going down memory lane, Gan described the cartoonist's skill in dealing with the complexity of summarising an event into one graphical image.

As an example, he displayed a cartoon sketched by Zunar six years ago when Malaysiakini 's office was raided and 20 computers were confiscated.

"As a journalist I know how it is to try to compress a thousand words to 500 words, and Zunar is able to do it all in one image," he said.

"I felt a lot of foreboding (in the run-up to the launch), and when Zunar called to say that there was a raid on his office and the books were being confiscated, I was not surprised," said Gan.

Three of Zunar's previous books - 1 Funny Malaysia, Perak Darul Kartun and Isu Dalam Kartun - were banned by the Home Ministry for going against the provisions of the Printing Presses and Publications Act (PPPA).

Ousted Perak menteri besar Mohd Nizar Jamaluddin, who was also illustrated in Perak Darul Kartun , similarly hailed the political awareness brought by Zunar's works.

"These cartoons transcend racial and religious boundaries and unite all of us here on a common platform," said Mohd Nizar.

'Cartoon-o-phobia' should be in Wikipedia

He also criticised the moves against Zunar as something that would have occurred "30 or 40 years" ago when books were banned and there were no other way to express dissent.

"In this era where everything can be easily accessed and downloaded from the Internet, we are still banning books," he mocked.

He even suggested that the term 'cartoon-o-phobia' be included in Wikipedia as "there is now a concrete definition" to the term.

Mohd Nizar described the seizure of the books and Zunar's arrest as a "desperate" move by a "sinking government" that is "hanging on to its last thread of hope".

"BN is at the end of its lifespan, and at its end, people say we tend to behave funny and weird."

He hoped to see more of Zunar's work.

'Authorities paranoid'

Former Bar Council president Ambiga Sreenevasan ( right ), who attended the event, described the move against Zunar as "nonsensical".

"The authorities seem to have taken leave of their senses. It reflects and shows poorly on the authorities that they are absolutely paranoid," she said.

She stressed that media and creative freedom should be embraced and not prohibited.

Zunar, who is being investigated under the Sedition Act, spent the night at the KLIA police station's lock-up in Sepang. He could be charged at the Sepang Magistrates' Court today.

The cartoonist just before his arrest said that his latest book has more bite compared to his previous ones.

"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 the waste of public funds, among others," he said.

Cartoon-o-phobia is a collection of cartoons published from November 2009 to September 2010 on Malaysiakini and published by Kinibooks.

Cartoon-o-phobia has 80 full-colour pages and is being sold at RM25. It can be purchased online via Gerakbudaya and Cartoon Kafe .

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