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 ...
Hi Ted,
ReplyDeleteNice to know another biblioholic, who also writes.
Personally, I feel uneasy about using books as bookshelves.
Maybe it is ok for a work of art..
Hello! Welcome to the blog!
ReplyDeleteA fellow biblioholic is instantly a friend. Uneasy using books as shelves? Why not? I think they're brilliant... they're quite sturdy, as the insides have been replaced with lumber. Yes, that means they cut up the books... but nobody was going to read them anyway...
Do drop by again!
I personally find these images distasteful and disturbing. Books should remain books. Shelf can be made wood / stone / bones even but books... sigh.. books!
ReplyDeleteSharks, you're a true book lover.
ReplyDelete