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 ...
I'm eagerly waiting for you to be back blogging!
ReplyDeleteBest of luck!
Ted - as long as you're writing elsewhere ... you know where.
ReplyDeleteI am checking support all round, guess I should also give support. I hope you will blog again soon.
ReplyDeleteYou're my favourite writting teddy bear !
ReplyDeletemiss you, dear!
ReplyDeleteKeep breathing, bro...
ReplyDeleteAnd see you soon in KL Book Fair on the 24th-26th...
Later...
yes, pls pls pls write back, we all need ur wisdom!
ReplyDelete