July 31, 2012
Confiscation of ZUNAR’s Books and Artwork unwarranted, says KL High Court Judge
by Koh Jun Lin@http://www.malaysiakini.com
The Kuala Lumpur High Court has held that the arrest and detention of political cartoonist Zunar in 2011 was lawful, but that the continued confiscation of his books and artwork is unwarranted.
As such, Justice Vazeer Alam Mydin Meera today ordered that the cartoonist’s works be returned. He also ordered the court registrar to determine the quantum of damages payable to Zunar, whose real name is Zulkiflee SM Anwar Ulhaque. No order was made as to costs.
The 
judge said arresting officer Arikrishna Apparau and investigating officer Marina Hashim had the power to arrest Zunar under Section 20 of the Printing Presses and Publications Act (PPPA) and to seize his works under Section 11 of the Sedition Act.
He said the officers had shown that they had reasonable grounds to suspect that the contents of the book ‘Cartoon-o-phobia’ were seditious. Therefore, the two laws allowed the Police to effect the arrest and seizure of the materials without a warrant.
The judge took note of the fact some the cartoons imply that the Judiciary is under the control of the Executive. “(The cartoons) may be considered as political satire by some, but others might regard them as being seditious. (Arikrishna) belongs to the second category – a reasonable conclusion by a reasonable man,” he said.
However, he also said it would have only required a “simple determination” to arrive at a decision on whether the confiscated materials are seditious or not. Hence, continued retention of the materials is unwarranted.
“The arrest and seizure was for a reason. That reason was to carry out investigations to ascertain whether the plaintiff (Zunar) had committed an offence under the Sedition Act, or the Printing Presses and Publications Act… Surely it would not take two years to make that determination,” said the judge.
The prolonged retention of the works without further action is tantamount to infringement of Zunar’s right’s to life under Article 5(1) of the Federal Constitution, as selling the cartoons contributes to his livelihood. The items seized include 66 copies of the book and a A2-size collage featuring the Prime Minister Najib Abdul Razak and his wife Rosmah Mansor.
Justice Vazeer Alam also ruled that it was sufficient for the police officer to have informed Zunar of the grounds of arrest in layperson’s language, instead of citing the specific legislation used.
‘False democrat’
Speaking to reporters later, Zunar’s lawyer N Surendran hailed the decision as a partial victory, but said he would consider appealing the legality of his client’s detention.
Zunar urged the government to return 408 copies of his book ‘Gedung Kartoon’ seized in 2009, and to lift the ban on his other books ‘1Funny Malaysia’, ‘Perak Darul Kartoon’ and three editions of ‘Isu Dalam Kartoon’.
“These books are all banned under the PPPA. The prime minister said some time ago that he would revamp or reform the PPPA. So I would like to say to Najib, please ‘tepati janji’ (deliver your promise) and don’t be a false democrat,” he said.
He pointed out that, under Najib’s Administration, cartoonists have been subjected to the most pressure from the government.
“I was detained. This never happened under the previous Prime Ministers,” he said.
Zunar was arrested on September 24, 2010 during a raid at his office in Brickfields in Kuala Lumpur, just hours before he was supposed to launch ‘Cartoon-o-phobia’.
He was taken to six Police stations before being held overnight at the Kuala Lumpur International Airport Police lock-up, and was released on the following day. Zunar then sued Arikrishna, Marina, Inspector-General of Police Ismail Omar, the Home Ministry and the government for unlawful detention.
Zunar’s arrest and harsh treatment for a crime he did not commit is equally unwarranted. The Police could have interviewed him and then released him in a matter of a few hours. Instead, they shunted him around six Police stations before locking him up at the Kuala Lumpur International Airport Police station overnight. I was at the Chinese Assembly Hall, Kuala Lumpur that night to witness the launch of his Cartoon-O-Phobia by then Menteri Besar of Perak, Nizar Jamuluddin and Malaysiakini’s Steven Gan. I was seated beside Dato Ambiga. –Din Merican
Najib and the UMNOMelayus have invited tender for the supply of mind cleansing machine that will cleanse a person mind tgo say and think politically correct dictatums. The closest bidder I understand is a North Korean company and it appears the tender will be executed soon, before the GE13.
Aside: Wyathamoorthy has been given his paasport and is expected to enter Malaysia via Johore on tommorow. Hopefully the history of malaysia will be revisited when this illusionary so called “social contract” will be disected.
Cheers
Hishammuddin need to explain to Malaysians why his boys in blue sent Zunar to 6 police stations! If this is not harassment and abuse, what is?
This is justice in half measures. The court does not want to embarrass the government twice – of wrongful arrest and wrongful seizure of books.
So our so-called free courts gives 50% to the government and 50% to the people and the judge keeps his job.
Why the need to arrest a cartoonist at all when the corrupt, money launderers, bottom pincers and porn actors are allowed to freely walk in the corridors of power.
Why a person arrested and under police custody has had to be moved around that many times from one detention center to another? Perhaps his co-conspirators with terrorist communist ties are looking to free the guy from police custody? You will have to ask the old goat Hanif Omar with field experience in insurgency tactics of the ’50s and ’60s for an answer.
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The “old goat” who used to be close to me when I was in the Ministry of External Affairs (as Wisma Putra was then known) and Bank Negara is now a busy man. His responsibilities as Genting Chairman which are onerous for him plus his Berish3.0 panel work would be enough to kill any ordinary mortal.But not this superman. He won’t have time to answer us.–Din Merican
When I first met him (and his wife) in the mid 80s he was reading law in the U.K. He would relate to me some of his experiences as a police Inspector about the time of the race riots of ’69. The guy is greatly indebted to Tun Razak and DYMM Sultan Pahang at the time for his meteoric rise to IGP bypassing his seniors to become the youngest IGP. He took what you could say sabbatical leave to allow his deputy to be IGP. His ADC when he was IGP in the ’90s was the husband of the daughter of the late Sultan’s youngest and fourth wife.
Re: Zulkiflee Anwar Ulhaque
Over here, warrantless search can only be justified under the most exigent of all circumstances. Like when evidence may be lost like alcohol in your blood. Otherwise you will need a search warrant accompanied by affidavits by say a police informant, based on personal belief and signed by a magistrate. Material to be seized must be identified within the four corners of the said warrant and you are not allowed to search and seize anything else that you may find during the search. What is seized then becomes evidence.
What is seized then becomes state evidence. So I do not follow the judge’s reasoning and ruling in this case.
His ADC in the 90′s was the husband of the daughter of the late Sultan’s youngest and fourth wife. – Bean
By any chance mom of Tunku Mario or Tunku Intan?
I forgot to mention daughter by a previous marriage.
“…you are not allowed to search and seize anything else that you may find during the search. What is seized then becomes evidence.” Mr Bean
But in Malaysia they don’t seize evidence. They hope to find evidence from the seizures. That is why they seize PCs, hand phones , cameras, modems and even mouse.
And they don’t return these items. Raja Petra had said his computers were never returned.
I wonder if Zunar will get back his books.
Malaysia has some of the best laws and latest legislation but it is in the enforcement of such laws that is often the issue. Laws are enforced unfairly (and sometimes wrongly) to benefit strong vested interests.
“That is why they seize PCs, hand phones , cameras, modems and even mouse” Sam01
Police over here seize computers too so as to get to the information stored in the hard drives. That depends on the charge or charges they are facing.
If you’re charged with possesion of child pornography the mere downloading of such material on to your computer’s hard drive is a criminal offense without more. They become state evidence and may be returned once there is no need for it. You are free to file action in court for their return.
Malaysians guilty of over staying their visas in the U.S. have their Malaysian passports taken by ICE. Passport issued by the Malaysian government is Malaysian government property and not yours. If you report the matter to the Malaysian Embassy it will be an issue. If you file action in court for the return of your passport ICE will return it.
No laa orang malaya,not Tengku Mario’s or Tengku Intan’s mom,the wife is from Dato Maria’s first Singaporean husband, n my late father help them got married and escape the wraith of Almarhum Sultan Abu Bakar,coz he was a police officer under my late father in Kuantan,if my late father have lied,then so have I,anyway my mom is still around to confirm this.He is( the Police Officer ) a very nice n decent guy,well to me at least.Now I remember her name, Datin Pearl.
She’s Datin now??