Lat draws the essence of Malaysia
Tantri Yuliandini, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta
A chubby man with unruly hair and dressed in a sarong greets visitors to his traditional Malay house on stilts. The house is located at www.lathouse.com.my (on the Internet). With its doors and windows flung wide open to welcome both the breeze and guests, the house looks cool and inviting.
The house belongs to Mamat, a cartoon character and Mamat is the mirror of his creator, Dato' Haji Mohammad Nor bin Khalid, more famously known as Lat.
Lat has a similar mop of untidy hair and black-rimmed glasses, it is easy to imagine him in a sarong, sitting on the porch of the house on stilts, fanning himself with a coconut leaf and waiting for visitors.
Lat was in Jakarta last week to participate in a discussion on the role of the cartoonist, organized by the Japan Foundation. He almost seemed uncomfortable addressing curious cartoon lovers in the formality of a dark suit.
With 40 years of illustration behind him, Lat's frankness and tongue-in-cheek brand of humor goes down well with the Malaysian public, (even tightly censored Malaysia). And internationally, Lat's work has become known as the essence of Malaysia.
Lat was born in Kota Bahru, Negeri Perak, on March 5, 1951. He spent his childhood carefree in a typical Malay village.
"At four, five years old, we would all go bogel (naked). You never know whether you'd have to swim upstream or downstream, and (if you had clothes on) you'd have to go back for them, that way it wasn't such a bother," he explained to the laughter of the audience. Lat's comical narration and his blunt storytelling make him as funny as his cartoons.
Lat's extraordinary talent as an artist was nurtured at an early age. He was supported by his father, who he said was also a very good artist, and his mother, who gave him the money for indian ink and brushes.
"I didn't have any money so she bought them for me. When I grew up and it was my turn to give her my salary she cried. I told her that this was to repay the money she spent all those years ago," he said, adding that he had drawn comics based on stories published in the Utusan Melayu daily at the time.
"After watching wayang, I would draw what I had seen. My father would get me to draw the cowboy from the movie that we had seen. After going to the circus he would ask what animal I liked and get me to draw that."
In 1962, Lat went to an English school in Ipoh, where he met his teacher Moira Hew, who encouraged his drawing skills. Mrs. Hew was later immortalized as one of Lat's best loved characters, the lady with the butterfly-rim glasses.
Lat published his first comic book, Tiga Sekawan (Three Friends) in 1964 when he was in his sixth year at school. By 1968 he was publishing comic strips in local newspapers such as Berita Minggu, Pemimpin, and Dewan Pelajar.
His comic strip, Keluarga Si Mamat (Mamat's Family) ran in Berita Minggu for 26 years.
Lat left Ipoh in 1970 to pursue a career in the capital, Kuala Lumpur, but instead of employment as an artist, Lat was employed at the New Straits Times as a crime reporter.
"My chance to draw for the paper came after I drew a cartoon for Asia Magazine based in Hong Kong, the magazine was about the Asian culture and way of life and was given free with the New Sunday Times," he said, explaining that his first cartoon was about the circumcision tradition in Malaysia.
"When the drawing was published, the New Straits Times asked me to draw for them."
The idea of drawing cartoons about simple Malay traditions first came when Lat was visiting the United States, he was suddenly struck by homesickness, not for Kuala Lumpur where he lived, but for Kota Bahru where he grew up.
After almost 30 years, Lat left the New Straits Times and Kuala Lumpur to return to Ipoh where he lives today.
At first it was difficult for Lat's four children to adjust to small town life, but Lat felt it was important for them to get in touch with village life and the rest of his family.
"I was also giving younger cartoonists in Kuala Lumpur room to grow original ideas and not feel like they had to create spinoffs of my work," he explained.
Leaving the capital did not mean Lat's cartoons were no longer popular, however.
"I thought that once I returned to my kampong, I could live in peace. But instead work followed me from Kuala Lumpur. Kuala Lumpur wouldn't leave me alone," he said, adding that these days he draws his cartoons at home and sends them via email.
"I work at home, not in a studio. I sometimes draw at the dining table, sometimes on the porch, and even in corridors... I don't have a studio," he explained.
His latest work is a pocket-money guide for children called Buku Wang Saku (Pocket Money Book) published by Bank Negara Malaysia.
Typical of Lat, who loves to reminisce about the "good old days", Buku Wang Saku includes recollections about how people saved their money in the olden days.
"When I was still at school in the village, we'd get pocket money of 10 cents. Five cents spent for noodles, for instance, and another five cents for drink. But some of my friends kept their money, they didn't spend it on food at school, they saved the money in a hollow bamboo stalk and hung it on the wall".
Lat has always been very careful in his comical depictions, avoiding sensitive issues such as religion and the economy, because "if my knowledge isn't too deep, I must not pretend".
He also tries to avoid ethnic issues that are not his own. "In Malaysia there are many ethnic groups with their own traditions. As a Malay I must not comment about other ethnic traditions, I can only comment about the Malay tradition."
And, even in commenting on politics, Lat prefers to magnify the general reaction of the masses and not make controversial statements.
"Compared to political cartoons in Indonesia and India, Malaysia is very backward," he admitted.
In 1994 Lat was given the honorable title of Dato' from the Sultan of Perak for his role in introducing Malay culture to the world.
"In the olden days as a 'Dato' I would have come here on an elephant," he said laughing.