Yoonus Undeterred by a brush with death

by Wasantha Siriwardena

A picture, they say, is worth a thousand words. Substitute ‘cartoon’ for ‘picture’ and you get a fair idea of what a Yoonus cartoon is like. With one cartoon, he had the power to rip the political establishment apart without even saying one word.

Jefferey Yoonus of Aththa fame had a very simple style of drawing, using traditional brush and ink. With a few brush strokes he could capture the shape of political figures effortlessly. And his cartoons sometimes featured humorous dialogues.

The common man in the streets created by Yoonus was ‘Appuhamy’ – a humorous character with a tied hair knot wearing a sarong with stripes and worn-out jacket with a patched shopping bag and an umbrella.

Yoonus was one of the renowned political-cartoonists in the country, who started his career at the age of 18 years. He was in the profession for more than five decades. Born in 1934 in Maradana to a very talented family of journalists, he received his education at Presbyterian College and Wesley College, Colombo. He contributed his cartoons to the Observer children’s page while in school.

He joined the Tamil language daily ‘Thinakaran’ newspaper published by the Lake House, as a political cartoonist in 1952. He extended his services to the ‘Daily News’ whenever required.

As his cartoons were critical of the government Yoonus was transferred to the market research desk and given the task of drawing maps and helping research work. He got fed up of this and to pursue his career as a political cartoonist he decided to leave the establishment.

In 1968, he joined the Communist Party newspaper, ‘Aththa’ edited by the firebrand B.A. Siriwardena. His popular cartoons usually triggered controversy among politicians of the day, but despite harassment and intimidation, he continued his work undeterred for over 50 years.

In the late eighties, Yoonus found it difficult to live without a proper house to live in, he passed a letter to the then housing minister R. Premadasa through the paper delivery man who delivers the ‘Aththa’ newspaper to the Premadasa residence. In the letter, he requested Premadasa to help him obtain a house in one of the government housing schemes in Colombo. Surprised by this request, Premadasa took immediate action to arrange a house for Yoonus in the Maligawatte Housing scheme, Colombo.

When Premadasa became President Yoonus continued his hard hitting cartoons. At first, the government offered him a cushy job in a state-owned newspaper. But he turned it down saying he could not “sell my soul for that price”.

The most harrowing experience faced by him followed later.

Experience

Speaking to ‘Illustrating Asia’, a book edited by American author John Lent in 2001, Yoonus described his horrible experience: “One day in August 1992, three vehicles full of about 20 thugs came to my house. A minister’s bodyguard shoved a pistol into my mouth, broke a tooth, and then pointed the gun next to my head. He threatened to kill me in front of my wife if I did more cartoons against His Excellency. The next day they returned, smashed up my furniture and stabbed me. At the hospital, doctors put 16 stitches to treat the wounds.”

After this incident, Yoonus vacated his house for safety and lived in a small room in the ‘Aththa’ office building on Cotta Road, Borella. His wife lived elsewhere and brought meals to him daily.

He fearlessly continued his scathing attacks on the President, the Government and officials. Following the closure of the ‘Aththa’ in the late nineties, he joined the Ravaya newspaper in 1998, but he stopped drawing cartoons due to ill health.

Award

Yoonus was awarded the Vishva Prasadeeni Award in 1996, and the Kalasuri Award in 1998. The Editors Guild of Sri Lanka honoured him with the Long and Distinguished Service Gold Medal award in 2003.

His political cartoons were published in many newspapers published in socialist countries.

In a rare interview with the ‘Kalpana’ magazine in 1982, Yoonus expressed his opinion about cartoons. “Unlike ordinary cartoons, political cartoons have an in-depth value. I always try to add humour and make people laugh through my cartoons. Sri Lanka has many talented cartoonists, but they don’t get opportunities, because a limited number of newspapers are published unlike in other countries. Tomorrow if I lose my job I might even struggle to find a chance in another newspaper as a cartoonist because they already have one. Without any competition there is no development in this field.”

“Some people don’t enjoy political cartoons because they don’t know the value of it. Despite criticising them very often in my cartoons, former President J.R. Jayewardene, Ministers A.C.S. Hameed and Cyril Mathew loved them. But JVP leader Rohana Wijeweera was very angry.

Although I worked for the Communist Party newspaper, readers love me without any party differences.”

Yoonus passed away 13 years ago, but his memory still lingers deep in the minds of many readers.