[WrigleyMike]

Published: Saturday September 25, 2010 MYT 7:40:00 PM
Updated: Saturday September 25, 2010 MYT 8:05:23 PM

Cartoonist Zunar freed on police bail

By ANDREW SAGAYAM

KUALA LUMPUR: Malaysiakini cartoonist Zunar, arrested on Friday under the Sedition Act, has been released under police bail. He was freed from the Sepang police station several hours after police obtained a one-day remand extension order Saturday. Sepang police chief Supt Zahedi Ayub confirmed the 6.30pm release.

The remand extension was earlier granted by the Sepang magistrate’s court to keep Zunar, whose real name is Zulkiflee Anawar Ulhaque, in custody for further questioning. Selangor police chief DCP Datuk Khalid Abu Bakar said nobody else from Malaysiakini was questioned, refuting claims by the news portal’s co-founder and editor-in-chief Steven Gan that he was queried by the police.

On Friday, the police raided Zunar’s office in Brickfields and seized 66 copies of Cartoon-o-phobia, a collection of political cartoons published by Kinibook, the publishing arm of Malaysiakini, as well as a caricature of Prime Minister Najib Razak and his wife Rosmah Mansor. Zunar’s arrest and the seizure of the items took place just hours before the book it was scheduled to be launched by deposed Perak mentri besar Datuk Seri Mohd Nizar Jamaluddin at the Selangor Chinese Assembly Hall at 8pm.

The organisers were told to disperse when they began giving speeches. However, no untoward incident was reported. DCP Khalid Abu Bakar said police went to Malaysiakini office in Bangsar yesterday to obtain copies of Cartoon-o-phobia and not to question anyone. It was a normal police procedure, he added.

Zunar’s book is considered detrimental to public order and can influence the public to revolt against government policies. He had said in Malaysiakini that Cartoon-o-phobia was chosen as the title to illustrate and reflect the fears of certain parties to cartoons. His three previous books — 1 Funny Malaysia, Perak Darul Kartun and Isu Dalam Kartun — were banned by the Home Ministry.

Meanwhile, Bernama reported Home Minister Datuk Seri Hishammuddin Hussein as saying that Zunar's arrest was made after his book of cartoons that touched on the country's legal system and religion, including the "Allah" issue, was found to be detrimental to public order. "Many try to link the arrest to his cartoons that touch on the prime minister and deputy prime minister but I've been informed that this is not the reason," he said.