KUALA LUMPUR – Popular and controversial political cartoonist Zulkiflee Anwar Alhaque, better known by his pen name Zunar, was hauled to the Padang Terap police station today over his caricature of Kedah Menteri Besar Muhammad Sanusi Md Nor on January 21.
He is being investigated under the Penal Code as well as the Communications and Multimedia Act 1998.
“This morning, I was at the Padang Terap police station to be investigated by the police under The Penal Code & Multimedia Act over the cartoon about Kedah MB on January 21,” he said in a Twitter post this afternoon.
“It took two hours for statement taking & my mobile phone was confiscated,” he added.
In the caricature, the menteri besar is depicted holding a butcher’s knife with the words “Tiada Cuti Thaipusam” (no Thaipusam holiday) written on it, and chopping a table, with people of different races on either side, down the middle.
The caricature also includes a blurb that reads Kedah folk have been living peacefully before he (Sanusi) came around.
Subsequently, a report was lodged against him by Sanusi’s senior special assistant, Nurul Amin Hamid, on January 25.
Zunar had then slammed Sanusi, calling the latter a “dictator” for being unable to accept criticism.
He said that, as a public figure, Sanusi ought to take any criticism in a positive light.
He added that Sanusi should have used those comments to better himself, after the Kedah PAS deputy commissioner caused public outrage by cancelling the state’s public holiday for Thaipusam.
“He should know that, once he becomes a public figure, being criticised is part and parcel of the job,” the cartoonist had said in an interview with The Vibes earlier this year in January.
“You will be criticised by various quarters on your policies and decisions. My criticism is no different.” – The Vibes, May 7, 2021
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