NOV 14 — The JB mural painting depicting a young girl approaching a knife-carrying robber at a street corner has been whitewashed over.

The government’s haste to remove the wall painting is bound to trigger a backlash.

The excessive reaction of government officials have allowed the painting to become an overnight sensation in cyberspace.

Lithuanian street artist Ernest Zacharevic should indeed thank the JB officials because without them, perhaps his painting would not have caught so much attention in the country, and beyond.

State exco Tee Siew Keong said Zacharevic should come back to JB and paint an additional policeman behind the robber so that the painting can be saved. Even if Zacharevic is not able to come himself, Tee proposes getting someone else to do the “remedial job”.

If I were Zacharevic, I would say, “Do you think you can get me to do such an absurd thing, trying to paint a rosy picture against my conscience?”

Sure enough Zacharevic will not do that, but someone who claimed to be a “member of the public” painted a cop behind the robber overnight.

I have no idea who the new painter is, but I am pretty sure Zacharevic will not appreciate his effort, as this is tampering, not art creation.

I am also sure most citizens will not appreciate his effort either. Nor will the city authorities, as the wall painting is in the end whitewashed over.

Prior to this, someone modified the picture by adding a bouquet of flowers in the place of a knife, calling it “the politically correct” version.

But is a robber who carries a bouquet of flowers instead of a knife no longer a robber?

Who knows that a knife is not concealed behind the flowers in his hand? And who knows he is not an even more dreaded “flower thief”?

Will adding a policeman behind the picture of the robber bring the robber to justice?

We have yet to see whether this cop is capable of apprehending the robber in the first place. And we have yet to see also whether the cop is a real one or a feigned cop?

Wall painting is a form of art, and since art draws its inspiration from real life, it should consequently reflect reality.

There are robbers in real life. And since we are unable to get rid of the robbers in real life, we shouldn’t stop a painter from paining it on the wall.

We must not assume that we will see nothing or hear nothing if we close our eyes and ears.

What tarnishes the image of Johor Bahru is not the wall painting but the robbers. It doesn’t really matter if the government officials appreciate art or not, but they must not evade reality and overlook the plight of ordinary citizens.

Since crime is the primary subject of concern among JB residents, what the government must do is get rid of crime, not the wall painting!

The wall painting reflects the desire of the people, and should therefore be preserved. No one should attempt to modify or whitewash the painting just because they want to paint a rosy picture of the city.

A city that does not accommodate dissident voices will never be one that deserves the respect of people.

What must be changed is the way of thinking, not the innocent wall painting. — Sin Chew Daily

* This is the personal opinion of the writer or publication and does not necessarily represent the views of The Malay Mail Online.