Well, the interminable cartoon wars have now hit Malaysia. On Feb. 10, the Malaysian Federal Court upheld a "sodomy" conviction and five-year prison term of opposition leader Anwar Ibrahim, a decision clearly as politicized as it is reactionary. That same day, cartoonist Zulkiflee Awar Ulhaque, popularly known as Zunar, was arrested at his home—charged under the country's draconian "sedition" law for tweeting a cartoon critical of the ruling, and portraying the judge in the case as Prime Minister Najib Razak. (BBC News, The Malaysian Online, Jurist) Said Shawn Crispin of the Committee to Protect Journalists: "We call on authorities to release Zunar immediately, drop all charges against him, and get to work reforming the sedition law that Prime Minister Najib Razak once acknowledged has no place in Malaysian society." Not all voices have been so forthright, however…
First, places that we wish knew better like AP and Deutsche Welle are writing that Anwar was accused of "sodomizing" an aide. However, it is far from clear that the putative sex was not consensual. Prosecutors used a section of the law that defines sodomy as "carnal intercourse against the course of nature"—not against the will of one of the participants! "It is clear from the decision of the Federal Court today that the Government of Malaysia has once again inappropriately used Section 377B of the Penal Code against its political opponents," said Elizabeth Evatt of the International Commission of Jurists who was in Malaysia to observe the proceedings. "This is deplorable, especially since Section 377B criminalises consensual same-sex relations and thereby violates a range of international law and standards, including on the rights to privacy, non-discrimination and equal protection." (Aliran, NYT, Feb. 10)
The Wall Street Journal states, rather obviously (we hope), that Zunar's "detention could also further undermine the government's attempts to portray Malaysia as a moderate Muslim democracy." They quote Phil Robertson of Human Rights Watch: "The arrest of cartoonist Zunar on sedition charges would be laughable except the police inspector general and the Malaysian Twitter police apparently don't have a sense of humor. They seem to be turning peaceful criticism into a criminal act that threatens the state."
Given credulous use of the verb "sodomize," it is probably too much to hope for an end to such constructions as "moderate Muslim democracy." An explicitly Islamic state can no more be a "democracy" than an explicitly Christian or Jewish or Hindu state. And rather than the problematic and inherently subjective word "moderate," could we please define a positive value by what it is, rather than by a supposed absence of "extremism"? The word "secular" would do just fine. And it would be much clearer that you could not apply it to Malaysia. Where even today you can be caned for adultery.
As for Anwar Ibrahim, he is a defector from the ruling Barisan Nasional coalition, but has recently thrown in his lot with anti-mining protesters and the like. We'd like to know more than media accounts have provided about whether the aide actually accused him of coercion (and, if so, why he was charged under Section 377B). Zunar clearly deserves our support. We wonder if the "leftists" who have been so busy betraying the Charlie Hebdo cartoonists will display more courage this time around…
