POLITICAL cartoonist Zunar is having a solo exhibition in Penang next month for three weeks, beginning May 5.

The exhibition in George Town, organised by the Penang Art Gallery, is Zunar’s first in Penang after his last show at Komtar was disrupted by Penang Umno members in November 2016.

Zunar, whose real name is Zulkiflee Anwar Ulhaque, said prime minister-in-waiting and PKR president Anwar Ibrahim will open his new show at Dewan Sri Pinang.

“The show, which is free and open to the public, is called ‘Art of Freedom’. It will present 200 of my original drawings that documented Malaysian politics through humour.

“I hope people will look at my drawings from the art perspective. Don’t look at the political aspect of it… just look at how art can impact society.

“I don’t mind if people disagree with me or my views. But those who can’t take what I draw, then perhaps they should not come,” he told The Malaysian Insight.

When Zunar last held an exhibition in Komtar at the 2016 George Town Literary Festival, he had to cancel the show just three hours after it opened.

A group of people, who identified themselves as Penang Umno Youth members, demanded that he remove the “offensive” drawings and disrupted the event. Police then took away his drawings.

Zunar was also arrested for investigation under the Sedition Act, and spent a night in the police lockup. But no charges were filed against him.

He said because of the episode, many private art galleries in Penang became afraid to host his exhibitions out of security concerns.

“I want to thank the Penang Art Gallery for taking this bold step to exhibit my work. 

“It is the first state gallery in the country to hold the first solo political cartoon exhibition,” he said.

This time around, Zunar said he is hoping for a peaceful event.

“I am not sure whether there will be people coming to cause trouble this time.

“But let us have a ‘new Malaysia’ attitude. Let’s learn to accept differences,” he said.

The exhibition will also present his cartoon books, which were previously banned, and replicas of a lockup shirt and handcuffs.

The items symbolise the cartoonist’s struggles in expressing his views on Malaysian politics through his work.

Zunar was in and out of police lockups when Barisan Nasional was in power, as his cartoons heavily criticised government leaders, including the then prime minister Najib Razak and his wife Rosmah Mansor.

His books and drawings were seized a number of times, and he was also slapped with nine sedition charges, which have since been dropped. – April 25, 2019.