I
recently received a message from reader, Yuvitra Jeyaraman, which said, "I stumbled across your blog as I was hunting for Lat books. I noticed that you have several Lat books and would like to know if you are interested in selling them?"
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| Lat cartoons typically reflect a local way of life! |
Then I learnt she
was 17 when her parents sent her to Canada to further her studies and now she’s
an under-graduate at the University of Toronto, majoring in Political Science
and History.
When she left
Malaysia, Yuvitra foolishly believed that her new home was Canada. On
hindsight, she realised that it was anything but. In fact, she missed
everything about Malaysia, even the things she didn’t think she would miss.
One day, quite by
accident, she picked up a Lat book and as she turned its pages, she discovered
a sense of renewed pride in her identity as a Malaysian. Suddenly the terrible
things like the infamous Malaysian traffic and political culture, didn’t seem
so terrible.
She told me how
she enjoyed the way Lat comics reflected the little nuances that shape our Malaysian
culture: Our willingness to go above and beyond for a complete stranger, the
simultaneous obsession with politics and hope, and an unwavering faith in racial
harmony. In short, the Lat books meant the world to her.
Yuvitra was back in Kuala Lumpur for her summer break before she returns to Toronto for her second year of university. Then she asked me to tell her how and when I started reading Lat comics.
Yuvitra was back in Kuala Lumpur for her summer break before she returns to Toronto for her second year of university. Then she asked me to tell her how and when I started reading Lat comics.
My love
affair with Lat started in the 1970s when Lat cartoons were published regularly
in the New Straits Times. Even then, I could relate to the nostalgia and humour
that Lat captured so vividly in his crazy illustrations and colourful
characters.
We were
living in the government quarters while our parents were working with the
Government Health Cub-centre in Masai. It was common then to keep newspapers
clips and when my dad started us on collecting Lat cartoons, it was a regular
ritual to cut out the cartoon strip and paste it in a large F4 size hardcover scrap
book.
In our
family, it was often a race to be the first to read the Lat cartoon and tell
the others about it. Sometimes when I turned the newspaper pages for the
Lat cartoon, I was greeted by a gaping hole because someone had already cut it
out!
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| A night out in JB is no longer like this... |
A
picture truly tells a thousand words and Lat used his drawings to tell his
stories effectively with his brand of humour, even in historical events. His
comics were also a source of cross-cultural education because I learnt a great
deal about the Malay, Indian and Punjabi cultures here.
Yuvitra’s message prompted me to take another look at our
collection of yellowed newspaper clips and it was not long before I was
laughing along with the wit of Datuk Mohammad Nor Khalid or Datuk Lat and his
ability to make us laugh at ourselves and our Malaysian ways.
In a collection themed, Scenes of Malaysian Life, Lat covered a
wide range of topics and showed no mercy, poking fun at politicians, actors,
sports personalities, city or kampung
folks and even tourists and foreigners. No one was spared as Lat aptly
portrayed them and their typical ways.
I was fascinated by
Lat’s astute take on ‘A Night Out in JB’ because the sites he
highlighted in this comic strip back then, no longer exists now.
In
it, he clearly made a mockery of the romantic ambience of the Golden Mile, a former
seafront promenade at the Johor Straits which was lit up by electric bulbs on tacky
artificial trees.
While
fishing was popular at the Johor Straits at one time, the water has since
turned toxic and any surviving sea creatures may not be the healthiest choice
of a fresh catch now!
In
the final frame, Lat’s cool illustration of the first Chinese food court in JB,
fondly called pasak-kia, depicted a
group enjoying a hearty meal despite their proximity to the filth and stench
from the open sewer, familiar to locals as the infamous Sungai Segget!
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| Lat's astute observation of what usually happens at the JB checkpoint when visitors return from Singapore! |
In another comic strip which Lat
entitled, ‘One afternoon in JB’ I realised that this practice is a thing of the
past.
Back then, locals would try to
smuggle back items they shopped in Singapore. But now with their favourable
exchange rate, the opposite is true because Singaporeans are shopping lavishly
in JB and trying to smuggle back everything they bought cheaply!
Lat’s collection of popular poses
for photographs is so funny because it’s true! Just look into your family
albums to find shots with similar poses, whether they are formal photos snapped
in the photo studio or in the park!
Lat
cartoons are often presented in a single frame while his standard cartoon strip
format are a series of small frames with the punch-line delivered in the final
frame. With accuracy in his words and illustrations, it would take a few witty
and well-chosen words inside a tiny dialogue bubble, to crack me up!
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| A collection of popular poses for photographs! |
Nobody takes offence when his Chinese characters have awful buck
teeth and slits for eyes while his Indian men usually sported thick waists or
the extreme opposite, drawn with skinny (hairy!) legs and wearing a dhoti!
I find it interesting that comic books, older than Yuvitra by
several decades, made her reconnect with her country in the 21st century.
It must be Lat’s unique brand of humour that binds us together. His wit
and humour, artfully drawn into cartoons, are indeed an
eye-opener for us to look for ways to unite ourselves with humility and mutual
respect.
Thanks
Yuvitra, for reminding me that Lat cartoons are a viable record of our
Malaysian heritage and a humorous complement to dry history books. On whether or not I would part with my Lat books – regretfully
it’s not likely to happen.
A version of this was published in the July 2017 issue of The Iskandarian
