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10 April 2016
THE CLOWN APPEARS!?
Where was this taken? It can’t be within Malaysia!
fizah selamat tidur pakcik @NajibRazak‥ kalau bangun esok jawabla tau‥
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Zashnain Zainal@bedlamfury 10 hours ago
The posters spurring a movement in Malaysia http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/p03pfyx7 … pic.twitter.com/9drlyWkDiu
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GRUPA, Fahmi Reza and sketches of Najib as clown
#RespectMyPM versus #SuspectMyPM, #RejectMyPM and #InspectMyPM…
GRUPA launches online poster campaign for media freedom
Ong Kian Ming follows
Just saw Fahmi Reza‘s #KitaSemuaPenghasut‘s clown sticker on the Touch ‘n Go along Cheras-Kajang highway. Looks… http://fb.me/7NLepASdA
bbc.co.uk/programmes/p03pfyx7 … pic.twitter.com/9drlyWkDiu
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Fahmi Reza@kuasasiswa 35 minutes ago
The rebellion is spreading. We are everywhere! #KitaSemuaPenghasut #WeAreAllSeditious pic.twitter.com/b3rWnjB9W9
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The Straits TimesVerified account @STcom
#Malaysian punk artist #FahmiReza clowns with scandal-hit PM #Najib http://bit.ly/1TdtF5F pic.twitter.com/ShGx3plFj9
KUALA LUMPUR (AFP) – A Malaysian designer’s caricatures of the scandal-plagued Prime Minister as a sinister clown have become a viral phenomenon, spurring a wider protest-through-images movement and making the artist a target of the authorities.
The parodies of Prime Minister Najib Tun Razak have rapidly become Malaysia’s most controversial images, earning designer and activist Fahmi Reza comparisons to street-art provocateurs like Banksy.
Shared widely on social media, they have sparked copycat variations and struck a chord with Malaysians outraged by corruption allegations levelled at Datuk Seri Najib and his moves to thwart investigations.
“Our country is being governed by fools and crooks,” Fahmi, a punk-rock afficionado, said in an e-mail interview while on an extended trip overseas.
He seeks to “point out the hypocrisies (of Malaysian politics), to draw attention to these absurdities, and get people to laugh at it”.
But the Malaysian authorities are not amused.
Fahmi, 38, who has been arrested previously for his activism, was questioned by the police and told to stop posting the images, which show Mr Najib in powder-white clown make-up, with evilly arched eyebrows and a garish blood-red mouth.
He said the police were investigating possible violations of multimedia laws that could bring five years in prison.
Last year, a Malaysian political cartoonist famed for skewering the government was hit with multiple sedition charges that lawyers say could see him jailed for up to 43 years.
Fahmi, who calls art his “weapon”, remains undeterred.
“They can jail a rebel, but they can’t jail the rebellion,” he said.
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MashableVerified account @mashable
Malaysia’s Banksy makes a clown of Prime Minister, netizens follow suit http://on.mash.to/21OGVxJ pic.twitter.com/Dq8Zpb9CCH
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