Malaysian cartoonist Zunar reports that a public exhibition of his work has been threatened, not for the first time, with politically-motivated disruption.
He writes:
Announcement
Cancellation of my exhibition in Penang tomorrow due to security reasons, after a threat by PM Minister Najib’s Youth Wing partyWith a heavy heart, I hereby announce the cancellation of my cartoon exhibition in Penang tommorow (30th July) because of threat from a group of troublemakers. Penang is at northern part of Malaysia, about 4 hour drive of Kuala Lumpur. The exhibition entitled KETAWA PINK PINK scheduled to take place at an open space at Beach Street in George Town from 8 am to 12 noon.
Penang Umno Youth (Prime Minister Youth Party) has distributed poster urging their members to come and ‘visit’ my exhibition. Based on last year’s experience, this is not a normal visit, but more of an act of physical intimidation. They can become very rowdy and aggressive, as seen at my exhibition venue in Komtar last November.
Also as per last year, there is no guarantee that the police would take any action to stop them. So, I have no choice but to call off the exhibition due to security reasons. Nevertheless, this will not stop me from disseminating messages of anti corruption through my cartoons. KETAWA PINK PINK will be turned into another cartoon book very soon. It covers topics such as 1MDB scandal, DOJ exposures and the purchase of the Pink Diamond, worth hundreds of millions of dollars.
I am also mooting an idea to make it digital open source; this means that it will be made free for the people to download and distribute the book themselves, providing I get the sponsor for the initial print.
Zunar
Political cartoon
29 July 2017
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