I remember my younger days when I always saw a cartoon on the front page of the then 南洋商报 or 星州日报. For a long time I never able to figure out what they were, though they always looked so interesting to me. I learnt later that it’s called cartoon (漫画), and it can be any subject in the cartoon. But since it appeared on the front page of the paper, it’s often about world politics.
Then, the cartoon moved to the inside pages, and eventually I did’t see them anymore. Maybe it was then when we have our own cartoonists contributing their works. But I really missed those very satirical pieces, poking fun on politicians and weird stuff happening around the globe. On the other hand, I don’t remember seeing any serious works done concerning local interest. Maybe there were, but probably not often enough to capture my attention.
It has been like that for a long time, especially true when I can recall now that in several occasions, our leaders laid down the rules: our leaders are not suppose to make fun with, not meant to be cartoon characters. Ours is serious business.
I beg to differ in this view.
As one saying goes: Life is too serious to be taken seriously.
I hope to do something in this scene.
PS. I’m glad recently we starts to see our local cartoonist appearing on local 联合早报 again. Can they also place other world class cartoonists’ works on the front page any time soon?
