POLITICAL cartoonist Zunar is urging Putrajaya to lift the ban on two of his books, reversing a decision by the previous Barisan Nasional government.

Pirates of the Carry BN and The Conspiracy to Imprison Anwar were banned in 2014.

Zunar, whose real name is Zulkiflee SM Anwar Ulhaque, said he hasn’t decided if he wants to challenge the ban in court.

Instead, he is hoping for goodwill and that Pakatan Harapan will lift the order, as it did with his other book Sapuman: Man of Steal in August last year.

Despite that, more of Zunar’s books that were banned and seized by the previous government, are still held by the Home Ministry.

He told The Malaysian Insight he is waiting for the ministry to return about 1,000 copies of 1Funny Malaysia and Perak Darul Kartun. Those were confiscated from his office and bookstores in 2010.

Zunar challenged the ban on the two titles. In 2014, the Court of Appeal instructed the government to lift the ban.

“Based on the principle that the books was released by the court, I want the government to return them.”

About 480 copies of Gedung Kartun were seized in 2009 and Zunar is hoping for those books to be returned as well.

“I have not challenged the government for these books, but I hope they will be returned.”

In total, 11 of his publications have been banned by BN for breaching the Printing Presses and Publications Act 1984, or investigated for sedition.

Pirates of the Carry BN was particularly notorious, as it depicts the BN government as thieving pirates in fictional vein based on the Hollywood film series, Pirates of the Caribbean.

The similarities to former prime minister Najib Razak and his wife Rosmah Mansor were obvious, with the main protagonist named “Captain Jib Spa-rob” who had a pirate sidekick with a bouffant hairdo.

However, the publication has been accepted and catalogued by the Library of Congress in Washington, US.

The Conspiracy to Imprison Anwar is a chronology in cartoon form of the attempts end the political career of PKR president Anwar Ibrahim.

It touches on the Prime Minister Dr Mahathir Mohamad’s role in the first sodomy charge against Anwar in 1998 and the second sodomy trial and conviction when Najib was prime minister.

Anwar was given a royal pardon last year, after PH won the general election and formed the federal government.

Zunar, who has won international awards for upholding human rights through his work, said it is never right to ban any book just because the authorities don’t like the content.

“The government cannot use its own interpretation to ban the comics. Just because the government doesn’t like the content, it doesn’t mean it should be banned.

“It is not right because everyone has their own interpretation.

“If anyone is offended by my cartoons, sue me.” – November 20, 2019.