Fahmi reminds rakyat that a cat may look at a king

 

"Artists use lies to tell the truth, while politicians use them to cover the truth up."

– V for Vendetta

Fahmi Reza is an attention seeker, but the artist-activist is seeking attention for all the right reasons and causes.

There was a time when the denizens of Madani were the opposition, and they embraced what Fahmi offered because they were too pusillanimous to speak truth to power as he did.

These days, Madani seems more interested in coddling the very forces it once claimed were destroying the country. To them, Fahmi is like that lone soldier on an island who doesn’t realise the war is over, and the supposed good guys won.

Fahmi, meanwhile, mocks the very constraints that are placed upon him. His old school dialectic of “elites and those in power” should tell you everything we need to know about his politics.

Hence, for activists like Fahmi, the war is never over because there will always be elites and those in power.

Keeping people in their place

There is nothing complex about the way the state is persecuting Fahmi. The latest case boils down to the fact that the state does not like him reminding the rakyat that a cat can look at a king or a prince in this case.

Every day, Madani reminds us that we have to be mindful of the questions we ask about the state. The police tell us not to speculate on ongoing cases. Politicians tell us not to question policies based on ethnocentric formulas.

The media is muzzled by self-censorship. Social media is policed in a way where those supporting the state are coddled, and dissenting voices are singled out for state punitive action.

Fahmi has his detractors, but as far as my research goes, never once has he asked for his critics to be silenced.

He is not an anarchist in the traditional ideological sense. Indeed, from all his social media posts, he seems more interested in reminding people in power that the system is there for the betterment of the rakyat and hence policies should reflect this.

Remember that Fahmi was once called in by the state security apparatus because he edited an image of the Pahang coat of arms and turned it into the “House of Balak” to protest deforestation in response to the floods in Pahang and Selangor.

Baulking at dissent

Why does Madani fear someone like him? The state can overlook and probably even withstand long cogent arguments about its corruption and failings, but it cannot stand folk sniggering at drawings of their antics.

Why? Because they have not earned the stature and respect they demand. Denizens of Madani claim that it is not their failure to reform, but their messaging, which is why people are down on them.

Fahmi’s visual disturbances, however, remind the rakyat that their messaging was always empty and that the system they are in charge of is failing the rakyat.

The activist did a great interview with Vice when he was persecuted by the state for creating a playlist that was insulting to the queen in the “Dengki ke” (Are you jealous?) fiasco.

The sedition case was dropped, but that was about optics, as it looked like the royal establishment was going after Fahmi when the queen's comment caused dismay for the rakyat who were going through hard times without the privilege of experiencing the Covid-19 lockdown in luxury.

This is the power that Fahmi wields, and the state desperately wants to curtail.

People remember his work against Umno/BN simply because they were the bigger, more convenient target, but others are not spared.

“When it comes to Malaysian politics, I’ve always held on to the belief that you cannot trust politicians in general on all sides.

“(My art) doesn’t just feature ruling party politicians from the government. Even opposition figures get lampooned,” he told Vice.

And now Madani is the government.

Crackdown coming

Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim recently said that in the coming year, his administration will crack down on sensitive and controversial issues.

“Look at the issues of race, language, and the economy - we must face them with firmer action. We cannot simply play with racial or religious sentiments to the point that it ultimately hinders the nation's progress," he said.

Do you think Fahmi’s work will escape this crackdown, or will it be under even more scrutiny? The reality is that Fahmi is a Malay saying and doing things which expose the moral, legal and intellectual bankruptcy of the Malay establishment and its non-Malay enablers.

What we are witnessing is someone openly slaying sacred cows through jokes and satire, and the state predictably proving everything Fahmi says about it by continuously harassing him.

Fahmi Reza released from police detention over a post related to the Johor regent on Dec 19

We live in a country where factotums of the state decide that Christmas decorations are somehow an affront to the religion of the state.

We live in a country where certain people are banned from using certain words.

We live in a country where affirmative action for the majority cannot be challenged, even though the prime minister campaigned on a needs-based platform.

Fahmi reminds the rakyat not to be punchlines of the twisted policy jokes of the elites and those in power. - Mkini

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S THAYAPARAN is commander (Rtd) of the Royal Malaysian Navy. Fīat jūstitia ruat cælum - “Let justice be done though the heavens fall.”

The views expressed here are those of the author/contributor and do not necessarily represent the views of MMKtT.