Zunar's book launch last Friday was attended by 200 guests including former deputy prime minister and now Keadilan's adviser Anwar Ibrahim.

The book, 'Cartoons on Tun and Others' - a collection of some of his more memorable works in recent years - is his fourth book.

Zunar began his career in 1986 when he joined Gila-Gila magazine as a general cartoonist.

In 1990, he joined Berita Harian as a political cartoonist but strict censorship disheartened him and he left quickly and went into 'retirement' as he puts it.

He re-emerged in 1998 when Anwar's sacking, trials and imprisonment gave him impetus to communicate the political scene to a public fed with only one side of the story. Malaysiakini and Harakah provided him the medium to let loose his creativity.

Zunar's speech was punctuated with much humour as he related his love of cartooning and politics. He even harboured ambitions of becoming a politician once.

Clearly Mahathir has been his favourite character in Malaysia's political scene to lampoon because the former PM "has a 'cartoonable' face," he said in his speech.
Often criticized for being the opposition cartoonist, Zunar said it's a question of not taking the side of the cruel.


Click here to watch 10-minute
video of the book launch

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