Kam Raslan's right. In the preface for his new book, Confessions of an Old Boy: The Dato' Hamid Adventures he writes that we've known Dato' Hamid all our lives. Seeing as my own dad is an old boy of MCKK, the people I get to meet when he drags me to an Old Boy function and the people he tells me of, reflect the characters found in Kam's book. It really does feel like I've known Dato' Hamid all my life. Dato' Hamid is a civil servant of the Tunku Abdul Rahman generation. He is the sort of person you rarely see nowadays, a fine example of the anachronistic Malay. This generation, groomed in the ways of the colonial British would be out of place not just in 21st century Malaysia, but in Britain too. And yet, Dato' Hamid, in all his snobbishness and patronising ways, is essentially a Malaysian. Without people like him, our country would probably never exist at all. At least not like we know it now. I'm glad that Kam Raslan decided to capture this ...
Ted,
ReplyDelete[Perkenalan buat Ted.]
1.At last I have found you. From top to bottom, I caught your words and put in my eyes.
2.Hah, impressive!
Er... actually I find it a little creepy that you're looking at me top to bottom. How long were looking at me...?
ReplyDeleteHaha... welcome to the blog anyway. Do drop by again!
My old-coworker makes these for a living, combining a witty selection of titles to create shelves with incisive haiku-ish messages. If you'd rather purchase one than make your own, check out http://www.thisintothat.com/
ReplyDeleteOoh! Those are pretty good! Thanks for the headsup, Tobin!
ReplyDelete