Malaysiakini | 2:00PM Nov 16, 2013

The Johor Bahru City Council may have hastily removed the controversial mural depicting a lady about to be mugged, but it appears to have spawned at least 10 reincarnations of the increasingly popular artwork.

According to an anonymous local who spoke to Malaysiakini today, the lego character with the channel bag and the mugger around the corner have shown up on not just the city’s walls, but also on vans and even T-shirts.

He reported that people have put up stickers of the mural in Sutra Mall, Perling, Taman Molek and Bukit Indah among others.

Netizens have also posted their photos of the clones on Facebook, and one is even selling the T-shirts online.
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— Thomas Fann
The Malay Mail Online
November 16, 2013

In the same week that Super Typhoon Haiyan slammed into the Philippines, a different kind of storm came upon the southern city of Johor Bahru. It was a most innocuous beginning, a series of wall murals by an internationally-recognised Lithuanian-born street artist known as Ernest Zacharevic or simply Zachas. When it was first unveiled in early November it created a buzz among the local community. Many have long admired Zachas’ works for Penang and was delighted that he has finally brought it to JB, a city not known for its appreciation of the arts.

With news spreading of the existence of four murals around Taman Molek and Johor Jaya area, people began seeking out these works of art and to have their photos taken with them. My family and I joined in the search and snap trail. It was most amusing to find people snapping away at these murals in dirty back lanes of non-descript shophouses and treating them like treasures. Perhaps to a city that is like an art desert, it was a breath of arty fresh air that has finally blown in. Read the rest of this entry »

By BBC Trending
What’s popular and why
13 November 2013 Last updated at 18:40

Malaysia has its own version of Banksy – street artist Ernest Zacharevic. His latest piece of work, which highlights the problem of crime, has been painted over by the authorities – but not before being widely shared on social media.

Across the water from wealthy Singapore is the Malaysian city of Johor Bahru, known as one of the country’s crime hot spots. Late last Thursday evening, 27-year-old street artist Ernest Zacharevic was at work on a wall there with his spray can. Zacharevic is from Lithuania but is a permanent resident of Malaysia, and is well-known in the region for his street art.
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It is sad and tragic that while “unusual creativeness” are being exhibited to remove the “sting” of Lithuanian-born street artist Ernest Zacharevic’s “high crime” mural in Johor Bahru, there are no signs that the relevant authorities – JB City Council, the Police and Johore State Government – are being moved to capitalise on the heightened public awareness in the past week of unacceptably high crime rate in JB to launch a new initiative to wipe out JB’s reputation as the nation’s crime capital.

Two local artists had worked through midnight to add a Lego policeman armed with a handcuff to the controversial mural – a Lego man wearing a ski mask and holding a knife waiting to rob a Lego woman carrying a “Chanel” bag – but Zacharevic has dissociated himself from the addition with the comment on his Facbook that this is “a true vandalism”.

The authorities show a completely wrong sense of priorities, in expending energy on how to remove the “sting” of Zachas’ “high crime” mural in JB with various “creative” ideas to allow the “offensive” mural to remain in JB, when what is most important of all is for the authorities to take meaningful and effective action to ensure that JB becomes a low-crime city which is safe and secure for residents, visitors and investors. Read the rest of this entry »