Political satire misunderstood in Malaysia, says Malaysia’s DPM

KUALA LUMPUR — Malaysian media should stay away from so-called “intellectual egoism” on matters like religion which may offend the sensitivities of others, Malaysia’s deputy prime minister Ahmad Zahid Hamidi said on Friday, in commenting on the furore surrounding a cartoon published by Chinese daily Nanyang Siang Pau.

Mr Zahid also advised the media to refrain from using linguistic concepts such as cynicism as it may be misconstrued by certain parts of society who do not understand political satire.

“If something that is good is caricatured or cartoonised with a cynical language or in the form of satire, that knowledge is something new that will affect the people,” he said at a forum.

“We don’t have to be intellectuals who feel good (only) when other people are in trouble,” he said during a discussion session at forum today, adding that parties that exploited people’s understanding on issues for their own benefit show “intellectual egoism”.

On April 8, Nanyang had published a cartoon depicting the country’s Parliamentary Speaker and the leader of opposition party Parti Islam Se-Malaysia (PAS) as monkeys, two days after PAS president Abdul Hadi Awang tabled his Private Member’s Bill in Parliament to amend the Syariah Courts (Criminal Jurisdiction) Act 1965.

The cartoon sparked protests by Malay-Muslim groups as well as police reports lodged by PAS and the ruling United Malays National Organisation (Umno).

Despite an apology from the newpaper, Malaysia’s Home Affairs ministry issued a show-cause letter to the daily over the issue on Apri 11 as the cartoon was deemed to have made a mockery of Parliament and Islamic matters, and could affect public order by “encouraging malice, enmity, hatred and prejudice towards other races”.

Mr Ahmad Zahid said on Friday that while cynicism may be accepted in other cultures, it is still considered foreign locally.

“Maybe it’s permitted in the ethics of other cultures but in the Malaysian culture it shouldn’t be so.”

He also reminded the importance of cross-cultural communications for all Malaysians regardless of race and religion to prevent incidents like that recurring in the future.

“We have to understand among ourselves. The Muslims should respect the non-Muslims. The Malays should also understand the Chinese and Indian culture,” he added. THE MALAY MAIL ONLINE