KUALA LUMPUR, Sept 6 ― A mural by local graphic designer and activist Fahmi Reza was vandalised in less than 24 hours after it was completed.
On Sunday, the 45-year-old took to the side of the Wisma Megah building in Jalan Tun Tan Cheng Lock in KL to paint a cautionary mural, “Caution: Jerebu (haze) Is Coming Back”.
The message was directed to Malaysian-owned companies involved with open burning which was behind the regional haze in previous years.
@kuasasiswa Fahmi design apa hari ini? #mural #streetart #jerebu #haze original sound - Fahmi Reza
He uploaded the process and the reasoning behind the mural on his social media accounts on September 4.
“Haze is coming back if we don’t do anything about it.
“As usual, every year, open burnings will take place at palm oil plantations in Indonesia which includes Malaysian-owned companies who are also involved with forest burning that’ll result in haze.
“Haze will make a comeback if we don’t stop these Malaysian owned companies who are responsible for the forest fires in Indonesia,” he said in the video.
The video has garnered over 300,000 views on Fahmi’s TikTok page with TikTok users applauding his ‘free hand’ skills.
Belum sampai 24 jam dah ada manusia yang paint over kaki huruf "R" perkataan JEREBU dengan cat atau spray paint warna kuning. Pantas betul mereka buat kerja! Betul-betul gigih pic.twitter.com/mQrMf1wAWR
— Fahmi Reza (@kuasasiswa) September 5, 2022
However, at 3pm yesterday, the activist uploaded a couple snapshots of his now vandalised mural on his Twitter.
“It hasn’t been 24 hours, and someone has already painted over the leg of the ‘R’ on the ‘Jerebu’ wordings with a yellow spray paint.
“They work fast! Very persistent,” he tweeted.
Fahmi has since repaired his mural and it is back in its original state.
Fixed it!Mereka cuba padam, kita cat balik #jerebu pic.twitter.com/s0nCk8Bmut
— Fahmi Reza (@kuasasiswa) September 5, 2022
In 2019, Edgeprop reported a total of 56 companies operating estates were identified to have been responsible for the open burning that has caused the region-wide haze.
Out of the 56 companies, six of them were Malaysian-linked companies.
The 2019 haze resulted in Malaysia having to close some schools due to “very unhealthy” air pollution levels that surpassed the 200 on the air pollutant index ― one category below “hazardous”.
