Activist Fahmi Reza said he has been prepared to be jailed for his artworks for a long time now.

The self-taught graphic artist has, after all, been active in political activism through his graphic designs since the early 2000s.

But finally, it was his caricature of a clown-faced Prime Minister Najib Abdul Razak that got him charged under Section 233 of the Communications and Multimedia Act on Monday.

Even then, Fahmi pointed out, it took four months from when he first posted the caricature for him to be charged.

“It took them four months to decide to bring me to court.

“You know why? Because when they just left (me) alone, they saw that I didn’t stop. I will never stop.

“So they’re forced to bring me to court to punish me so that I can be used as an example.

“If I had stopped back then (when I first posted the caricature), I think I would be safe now,” he said at his talk titled ‘14 Years of Graphic Rebellion and Visual Disobedience’ in Kuala Lumpur last night.

Another reason why it took four months for him to be charged, Fahmi mused, was possibly because the authorities had never dealt with someone like him before.

“Most of the (people they dealt with) before this were pro-opposition, or friendly with the opposition,” he said.

Then there was him: an individual who slammed both opposition and ruling figures.

He added that he felt it was a good thing, as he had been able to catch the authorities off guard.

Spotlight on power of graphic design

Another good thing about all the attention he received was that it had put a spotlight on the power of graphic design, he said.

“We, as graphic designers, have a skill that many do not. We can get a message across to the audience, visually.

“Really, we are the visual generation,” he said.

However, Fahmi admitted it would be difficult for those who were married with children to do what he did, because they would have others to think about.

If you had people depending on you, you could not simply risk going to jail or getting caught, he said.

“So what advice can I give? My advice is just don’t get married,” he quipped, garnering laughter from the crowd of about 50 people, most of whom were youths.

Resuming a serious tone, Fahmi warned that if one wanted to speak up in Malaysia, one would have to be aware of and prepared for the risks.

Fahmi first posted the clown caricature of Najib in January, after attorney-general Mohamed Apandi Ali cleared Najib of all wrongdoing related to several financial scandals.

Najib had been plagued by issues such as the RM2.6 billion found in his personal bank accounts and the 1MDB controversy, though he has consistently denied any wrongdoing.

The clown-faced image went viral and has been reproduced on stickers and T-shirts.

The graphic designer was detained last Saturday, while promoting T-shirts bearing the image and the #KitaSemuaPenghasut (We Are All Seditious) hashtag at the KL Alternative Bookfest event at Publika in Kuala Lumpur.

Fahmi was subsequently released early morning on Sunday and charged in court on Monday.

He is expected to be brought before the sessions court in Ipoh on Friday for a second charge of posting a parody of a Malaysian Communications and Multimedia Commission (MCMC) warning on his Facebook account.