Police could be attempting to intimidate or harass those buying the comic books of well-known cartoonist Zunar. So believes Lawyers for Liberty (LFL) executive director Eric Paulsen.

 

The police appear to be sending this message by going after online payment gateway MOLPay Sdn Bhd and customers who have purchased Zunar’s books, Paulsen said.

 

“(It may be that) they want to intimidate or to harass MOLPay and its customers so that the company will not sell, and the people not buy, Zunar’s books,” he told Malaysiakini yesterday.

 

The lawyer added that he did not see the relevance in police wanting information on the customers.

 

On Thursday, police asked MOLPay, which handles Zunar’s online transactions, to disclose the list of customers who have purchased the comic book ‘Komplot Penjarakan Anwar’.

 

An email sent by MOLPay to the cartoonist, whose real name is Zulkiflee Anwar Haque, stated that it had received an official letter from Bukit Aman to disclose the list of customers.

 

Police have claimed that ‘Komplot Penjarakan Anwar’ (Plot to Jail Anwar) contains seditious material.

 

Action questionable

 

However, although the police have “wide powers” to investigate, Paulsen said, it is questionable, in this particular case, whether the police action is proper.

 

This is because, if there is any offence, it would have been committed by Zunar and not the buyers, Paulsen said.

 

“The issue remains as to whether Zunar’s cartoons are seditious or not,” he added.

 

Meanwhile, human rights lawyer Fadiah Nadwa Fikri said asking for a buyer's details is “tantamount to harassment and intimidation”.

 

“It's a deliberate act to suppress freedom of expression, freedom of thought and freedom to hold opinions,” Fadiah said.

Bar Council constitutional law committee chairperson Firdaus Husni said the attempt to track down purchasers of Zunar’s books was as an attempt to “threaten the citizens’ freedom of speech and expression guaranteed under Article 10 of the federal constitution”.

“This freedom is regarded as the most crucial in a functioning democracy, allowing citizens the space to participate in that democracy, by expressing their views through whatever medium available, and in the process hold the government of the day to be transparent and accountable in their policies and actions.

“When that space is threatened, so is democracy,” she said.

 

The police are investigating Zunar under Section 8(2) of the Printing Presses and Publications Act 1984, Section 4(1)(c) of the Sedition Act 1948 and Section 500 of the Penal Code after two separate police reports were made against him.