Artist to crowdfund for RM30k fine over Najib caricature

Graphic designer Fahmi Reza plans to collect RM30,000 to pay the fine imposed by a court earlier today for a caricature of Prime Minister Najib Abdul Razak as a clown – by selling paraphernalia bearing said image.

In a Facebook post, Fahmi told his supporters that he intends to challenge the Ipoh Sessions Court’s sentence, which also includes a month’s jail.

"I do not agree with the decision of the judge and the fine imposed on me, and I will fight. I have filed an application to challenge the decision in the Ipoh High Court.

"I was released after four hours from the lockup of the Ipoh court, on an RM10,000 bail.

“My imprisonment has been put off pending an appeal, but I still have to pay the RM30,000 fine. If I don't, I will be jailed for six months," he said.

Spreading the message

In the post, Fahmi urged his supporters to make the image of Najib as a clown viral, both online and offline, as a sign of protest against corrupt leaders.

"Like the elders say, if you dare do (something), dare to face the consequences.

"If I do a crowdfunding campaign to sell the clown t-shirts (in a new design), clown metal pins, stickers and other clown-face stuff, to collect money to pay the fine, who would support me?

"They (the government) want to punish us for spreading this message. What say we spread it further?" he asked, ending the post with his trademark #KitaSemuaPenghasut, which translates to "We are all instigators."

Fahmi was charged in June last year, under Section 233(1)(a) of the Communications and Multimedia Act, for posting the caricature along with the Communications and Multimedia Commission logo.

He had previously filed a legal challenge against the constitutionality of the CMA in his bid to strike out the charge against him.

Last January, the Kuala Lumpur High Court allowed Fahmi's application, but the Federal Court later set aside the ruling on the grounds that the case was not properly brought before it, and should, therefore, be remitted back to the Sessions Court.- Mkini