Comedian Harith Iskandar speaking at The Cooler Lumpur Festival in Kuala Lumpur, June 13, 2015. — Pix by Yusof Mat Isa

KUALA LUMPUR, June 14 — Jokes about race, religion and sex often form the magic bag of comedians worldwide but Malaysian comics are giving Islam a wide berth for fear of arrest and even death, as conservatism takes roots in this multicultural nation.

Comedian Jason Leong said he and fellow comics have lampooned Christianity and Buddhism, but not Islam, the predominant religion in Malaysia.

“What is difficult is making jokes about Islam, or as my friend calls it, Muslimism; we don’t wanna get arrested, we don’t wanna die,” Leong told a packed audience at a session titled “Killing Sacred Cows: Comedy in the Age of Offence” at the Cooler Lumpur Festival here yesterday.

Another popular comedian Harith Iskandar, who was also at the session, said topics related to Muslim culture would have to be packaged in layers so as to have safeguards.

“If someone is videotaping it, we could get into serious trouble, regardless of whether I myself am a Malay-Muslim,” he said.

“So I use a bit of smarts, find a way to present it such that I have a buffer… unfortunately, in this country, you have to safeguard,” added the comic who has been in the industry for over 20 years.

Harith also related an incident where the police intelligence arm attended his show in Penang on the second night, after he made a joke that touched on royalty. Seattle-based writer Lindy West believes one of the greatest values of comedy is its ability to challenge the status quo.

“One hundred-and-50 people in the bar laughed. One person took offence, probably a friend of a policeman, made a report to the Special Branch. It’s offensive to one person,” he said.

Seattle-based writer Lindy West, who was also at the session, said one of the greatest values of comedy is its ability to challenge the status quo, but questioned rape jokes that target victims, as opposed to their perpetrators.

“You can make some people laugh with a really violent misogynistic joke about beating your girlfriend or whatever, but who’s laughing? It’s not women; it’s not people who live their lives under a very real threat of being beaten or being raped,” said West, who is a culture writer for GQ magazine.

“Why do you think it’s hilarious that people live their lives confined by racism or misogyny?” added the American who’s also a columnist for UK daily The Guardian.