A world-famous mural by Lithuanian artist Ernest Zacharevic in George Town was vandalised some time last night, with the artwork defaced by yellow spray paint saying only “#4.0”.
The mural, entitled Little Children on a Bicycle, was found defaced by a shopkeeper in the area at 11am yesterday.
The trader, who identified himself to Sinar Harian only as Teoh, said this was the first such case of artwork being vandalised in the area since he first set up shop 10 years ago.
Several other pieces of street art in the vicinity were found to be similarly vandalised with yellow #4.0s.
The colour and message of the vandals’ attacks seem to bring up associations with the upcoming #BERSIH4 rally, organised by electoral reform movement Bersih 2.0 to call for Prime Minister Najib Razak’s resignation in light of recent political and economic turmoil.
Timur Laut district police chief Mior Faridalatrash said his officers were scouring closed-circuit television (CCTV) footage in the area when they found visual evidence of a man suspected to have committed the spray painting.
Police are investigating to discover true motive of the vandalism.
