Image courtesy of Fahmi Reza
This article originally appeared on VICE Australia.
Right now, Malaysian Prime Minister Najib Razak is embroiled in a corruption scandal so massive, it will make you nostalgic for the days when politicians were dumped over one too many helicopter flights or an expensive bottle of wine.
Razak allegedly funneled public money from the country's future fund into his personal bank account to the tune of $638 million. There are other allegations too—darker but less concrete—of bribery and extortion to the murder of a young woman. Under normal circumstances, this would be enough to topple a country's leader. But this is Malaysia—a country plagued by political corruption, where press freedom remains dismally low.
That's why few Malaysians were surprised when the country's attorney general cleared Razak of any corruption in January 2016. Instead, the official line is that the unexplained hundreds of millions flowing into the prime minister's account was a donation from the Saudi royal family. Many Malaysians don't believe this for a second—pointing out the former attorney general, who first launched the investigation, was removed by Najib.
Enter Fahmi Reza, a Malaysian artist whose political art has been getting him in trouble for decades. Reza's latest work, a giant clownish take on Razak's face, went viral throughout southeast Asia and has become the icon for an anti-corruption push in Malaysia. VICE sat down with Reza to talk about going up against the most powerful man in his country, getting arrested, and Kuala Lumpur's DIY punk scene.
VICE: Tell me about your poster of Malaysian Prime Minister Najib Razak as a clown. I'm seeing it everywhere on Twitter.
Fahmi Reza: The original clown-faced Najib Razak artwork was my reaction to two issues. First, to the news that the Malaysian attorney general cleared Najib of any corruption relating to the long-running financial scandal, absolving him from all wrongdoing. The level of absurdity that the government used to cover up the scandal and corruption is astounding.
Second, it was a reaction to an Amnesty International report, which states that in 2015 alone there were 91 instances of the Sedition Act being used by the government to arrest, investigate, or charge individuals. In Malaysia, the government is very intolerant of dissent.
Fahmi Reza pasting up his first Najib Razak poster
I heard the police got in touch with you just three hours after you released the first poster of the prime minister. Did they really tweet at you?
The original clown-faced Najib artwork was posted on my Twitter, Facebook, and Instagram accounts on January 31. Within three hours after I posted the artwork on Twitter, I received a warning from the police cyber unit, PCIRC, telling me that they've placed my Twitter account under police surveillance and warning me to use it "prudently and according to the law."
In 2015, the Sedition Act was used 91 times. Tapi dalam negara yang penuh dengan korupsi, kita semua penghasut.
from VICE http://ift.tt/1UGwMEo
via cheap web hosting
No comments:
Post a Comment