Profile

Zunar’s first cartoon aired when he was 12 in 1974. Born under the name Zulkiflee Anwarul Haque, he never received a formal education in the arts because he took the flow of science. When he failed at UTM, he became a professional cartoonist in 1985 by joining the Mad-Girls magazine. Then he joined the Daily News, and lastly the Malaysiakini portal since 2003 until now. With the slogan “How Can I be Neutral, Even my Pen Has a Stand”, Zunar uncovered corruption through his play. He has published 19 titles of books – all banned by the previous government. Under the previous government, Zunar was arrested five times and charged with nine charges under the Act of Harassment.

Abroad, Zunar has received a number of awards including the “Courage in Editorial Cartooning Award” in Washington and “Cartooning For Peace Award” at Geneva presented by Kofi Annan. He has also been invited to make exhibitions and speaks at several universities including UCL London, Oxford, Harvard, University of Louisville, New York University (Florence), University of California Los Angeles and Curtin University Perth. Zunar was also invited to speak at the United Nations in Geneva, and at cartoon programs like Washington, Paris, Bilbao, London, Amsterdam and Berlin.