Discussion of the case about Fahmi Reza

10/6/2016

Today, during our tutorial class, the lecturer requested us to be divided into four groups. My group consist of four people. We were to have a debate with another group on the case of a Malaysian graphic artist, Fahmi Reza. This case is about Fahmi Reza being arrested for drawing the prime minister, Najib Razak, as a clown. My group and I were the representative of our prime minister while the another team is the representative of Fahmi Reza.

The photo of another groups debating

            There was a disscussion on some of points with the lecturer after the debate. As the representative of our prime minister, we proposed points that supports the reason for the arrest of Fahmi Reza.  First, the art can be used to incite the people to revolt. Fahmi Reza had posted the sentence: “defend my rights to criticise the corrupt rulers by using art as a weapon” on his facebook. Art can also promote hostility between classes of people. We asked about the question of “ Why are you drawing it”, and the another group said that it makes a joke. However,  the point is you only make a joke to themselves , and this kind of issue doesn’t look like a joke, meaning that we cannot make a joke on it because this is not respectful to others.  Furthermore, the points that support this issue is the art of Fahmi Reza will actually spoil the reputation of Malaysia. It may cause some economic problems and even cause disunity. 

We are discussing the points together

            There are some points to argue in this issue. As the representative of Fahmi Reza, art is not wrong. It depends on how people interpret the issue. The way the person interpret is up to them but not an artist. Art also expresses the inner voice of its artist. This is just art, how can it affect economy? Bad economy is caused by the government, not art.