As some of you may know, we have an active Amnesty group within the school. This group takes part in promoting different campaigns fighting for human rights around the world.

Zulkiflee Anwar Ulhaque (Zunar for short) is an outspoken Malaysian cartoonist known for voicing his opinion against corruption and electoral fraud. In a series of tweets, he criticised the jailing of the opposition leader, Anwar Ibrahim. Anwar Ibrahim has been jailed on charges of homosexuality.

Zunar faces a lengthy prison sentence if found guilty of sedition. The sedition law is an outdated law in Malaysia which is completely against freedom of speech.

Zunar has been harassed by authorities since 2009, when the police made their first raid on Zunar’s workplace. Since then, he has been threatened, arrested and imprisoned on several occasions. His drawings have been designated as “harmful to public order” by the government.

Several of his associates have been harassed by the authorities as well.

It is not difficult to participate in the campaign. All you need to do is draw a cartoon with felt-tip pens; it doesn’t have to be great. We are going to post them on a wall and take a picture of it which will be sent to the Malaysian Government and published online on Instagram with the hashtag Zunar. Otherwise, you can sign the petition which will also be mailed to the prime minister of Malaysia. 

The purpose of the campaign is to get the charges against Zunar dropped, and to abolish the Malaysian sedition law as well as promote freedom of speech. You can see Zunar’s cartoons at http://www.zunar.my/

Thank you for taking part.