10 January 2025
Fahmi Reza arrested again for one of his cartoons
Malaysian cartoonist Fahmi Reza was detained for 24 hours by the Sabah police for posting satirical cartoons targeting the new governor of the state of Sabah, Musa Aman. He was released on bail late in the afternoon of 31 December 2024.
On 30 December 2024, Fahmi Reza was summoned to the Penampang District Police Station to make a statement regarding his critical cartoon of the Governor, where he was arrested and detained by order of a local magistrate under the Sedition Act.
The offending cartoon depicts Musa Aman, newly appointed governor of the state of Sabah, holding a 100 Ringgit note between his teeth. Although he has never been convicted, he was accused of corruption during his term as Chief Minister of Sabah from 2003 to 2018.
According to the local press, the cartoonist’s detention came in the context of a demonstration by more than 200 young students and activists against the appointment of Musa Aman and calling for an end to corruption in the State of Sabah.
Fahmi Reza’s cartoon was posted on the artist’s Instagram account, then reproduced as a poster and displayed in several places in Sabah, including Kota Kinabalu, the State capital. The artist shared photos of these installations on his social media.
According to the investigator in charge of the case, more than 50 complaints have been lodged against Fahmi Reza. According to media reports such as The Borneo Post, the complaints were filed mainly by members of the ruling party, ‘Gabungan Rakyat Sabah’ (Sabah People’s Coalition), as well as by individuals and groups close to the party. Mohd Syarezan Abdul Samat, Secretary of the non-profit Sabah’s Pertubuhan Lima Generasi, told the press that he was asking ‘the State government to ban Fahmi Reza, who is currently in Sabah, from entering the State, as he is only creating chaos and disrupting unity’.
On 19 December 2024, the artist had already been summoned to Kuala Lumpur by the Royal Malaysian Police for questioning about his depiction of Musa Aman. Shortly afterwards, according to a statement by the youth section of the People’s Justice Party (PKR), Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim publicly stated that Fahmi Reza should not be prosecuted for his satirical work and that criticism of the government and its leaders was acceptable.
After spending the night of 30-31 December in detention, Fahmi Reza was released on bail and returned to Kuala Lumpur. The investigation is still ongoing, as the cartoonist is being prosecuted for allegedly insulting the new governor of the State of Sabah under the Sedition Act 1948.
This law stipulates a prison sentence of up to three years and/or a fine of up to USD 1,100. Civil society groups and human rights activists in Malaysia are criticising Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim for failing to keep his election promises to repeal laws that restrict freedom of expression and stifle dissent.
In the face of corruption charges against the governor of the state of Sabah, the rights group Aliran is criticising the arrest of Fahmi Reza and calling for all charges against him to be dropped, arguing that citizens have ‘the constitutional right to peacefully express their concerns on these matters of public interest, as Fahmi has done through his art’.
This is not the first time that Fahmi Reza has been prosecuted for his work. Cartooning for Peace has alerted about his case on several occasions, including in 2022 when he was prosecuted under the Sedition Act for his cartoon of a monkey dressed in royal robes. Since March 2021, he has been summoned by the police at least nine times, arrested four times, detained three times and charged twice.
Cartooning for Peace is concerned that the Malaysian cartoonist is once again being targeted by the courts and will be closely monitoring the proceedings, while hoping that the charges against him will soon be dropped.
