POLITICAL cartoonist Fahmi Reza is back with a bang after months of silence, and it took the apology of former prime minister Datuk Seri Najib Razak to get him out of obscurity.
For those who remember, Fahmi was sentenced to a month in jail in February 2018 for creating a caricature of scandal-ridden Najib depicting him as a clown, marking another case of a government critic facing imprisonment.
Fahmi’s illustration, featuring the premier with white clown makeup, exaggeratedly arched eyebrows, and blood-red lips, gained widespread attention and became a prominent symbol in protests against Najib.
The caricature of Najib as a clown also made an unexpected appearance in the K-Pop music video for “Falling in Love” by Korean artists Woo Jin Young and Kim Hyun Soo.
Fahmi then expressed his amusement on Twitter, questioning whether the artists knew they were featuring an anti-corruption protest symbol from Malaysia.
Yesterday (Oct 25), he published another version of the clown, this time with a more offensive expression. It shows the clown behind bars with a hand showing the middle-finger to the prisoner.
— Fahmi Reza (@kuasasiswa) October 25, 2024
The new cartoon carries significant meaning for many Malaysians, reflecting their frustration over Najib’s apology. – Oct 26, 2024
Main photo credit: Reuters
