Tuesday 18 August 2009

Letting off Lat

The letter was written on 4th March 1980 and twenty-nine years later it found its way to page 94 of "Lat the Early Series" published by the NST. It was a letter written by my other half to Lat reminding him in a light hearted way the £13.89 that was long overdue for the cleaning of the apartment in which he stayed during his visit to London.

Judging from the letters published in his latest book sold during the launch of the IMalaysia Exhibition at the Bangsar Shopping Centre, the much loved cartoonist never threw away anything – letters from old classmates to fans from far and near were all carefully kept. He knew they would make good reading one day.

Datuk Lat with AG and Zainul Ariffin, NST GME

















So there was a lot of ribbing and banter when we met up a few minutes before Tun M, the man who Lat religiously caricatured, arrived. Tun M , who was given the honour to launch the exhibition said Lat had made his nose a few mm bigger and jokingly demanded 10 sens for every caricature that is published.


When the time came for book signing, Lat was in top form. He spent a lot of time with each and everyone who came up to him for his famous signature, inspite of the discomfort he was feeling after an eye operation. We stood in line patiently for him to sign near the published letter. True to form, he wrote the word “Beres!” and a cartoon of his gleeful self, seemingly relieved of the burden of hutang!

It was interesting to note that many VIPs and celebrities who had been caricatured by Lat, turned up at the event. I managed to catch a few.



Errr....who is this??

More ramblings on Datuk Lat here:

Congratulations Datuk Lat
Lat 41 years LATer

39 comments:

Naz in Norway said...

WOW!!!!
I love LAT! :)

Kak Teh said...

Naz, if youlove Lat, you must get this special book. You can never tire of reading and looking at the cartoons. The children will also enjoy it.

Ms B said...

If I remember correctly, I did have a book before. Cant remember where tho (it was before I moved here).

Anyway, I hv met #1 and #4, esp #4 many many times. Femes giler! kuang kuang kuang...

Ms B said...

opps...silap.. i meant #5. ngantuk KT. kira pun salah.

Kama At-Tarawis said...

owwwwww... hensemnya AG! habisla you kak teh, now kami semua dok ogle AG... hahahahaha

KG said...

one huge lesson learnt by yani from this post is to cherish....and keep things, tqs kak teh, tqs lat. must get the book!

Wan Nordin Wan Hussin said...

We were there too. Alas, a day after the launch. Saw a glimpse of AG ... in the visitors book.

If I recall correctly, one of the cartoons on page 32 has also been used by the Ministry of Education for the public examination.

Missed both of you this time around. InsyaAllah panjang umur bisa ketemu lagi kan?

mekyam said...

yay! this is a fabulous post! pictures of most of my favourite malaysians in one entry.

btw, please tell AG that that caricature of him must have been drawn zamang tujuh-puluhan pasa rambut pung tengoh peseng panjang! ;D

i just came fr tun m's blog and saw that it hasn't been updated since a couple of days. i told myself, the old man must be gallivanting out of the country again. true enough, there he popped up in your hood, kt! :D

p.s. kt, do you know if tok lat is coming across to sign here in my hood too?

MA said...

I saw the book at Kino, dah pegang dah. I didn't know he had the signing ceremony kat BSC, else I could have kirim through you! Argghhhhhh...!

I have all his books (almost, I think - especially the earlier ones)

I think he is the greatest artist/person/whateveryoucancallhim in the whole of Malaysia, bar none.

Only Lat can bring the people together. All races, all forms - without feeling like they wanted to kill/insult/hurt one another.

tireless mom said...

Hi Kak Teh

Part of my growing up is reading Lat's cartoon. I love them too. Will run down to Kino later to get the special edition.

MrsNordin said...

Thanks, K.Teh. I'll surely look out for this!

Btw, that's a nice caricature of AG. Did he do one for you too?

Pi Bani said...

Macam familiar aje lah yang last tu... celebrity famous mana pulak ye? ;)

Adliff said...

Salam Kak Teh,

Zaman belajar dulu, pensyarah saya jadikan Lat dan karikaturnya sebagai satu subjek untuk komunikasi sesama manusia...

Anonymous said...

Kak Teh: Lat.. laughs .. 'nuf said! I have a stock of his cartoon books in the house 'coz they make such wonderful gifts for visiting guests.

Kak Teh said...

Ms B, hehe, sure you know number 5! i have not been frequenting our usual place sebab masih ngantuk. hope to catch up with u soon during terawikh.

puteri kama, tak paaaa! ogle lah sebab tak luak pun, kata orang kedah. Bila dia baca komen ni mesti tersenyum....hehe!

Kak Teh said...

Yani, ya...i tend to keep letters and notes too - tapi of course lah dah jadi macam hoarders. the tip is to organise them - but am not that organised.

GUiKP, you were there? but a day LATer? yes, AG did sign the book. I wanted to bring back copies of the book for friends tapi beratlah!

Kak Teh said...

MEkyam, the exhibition is still on at the Bangsar Shopping centre and we went along on our last day there. Saya berdating dengan AG - datang dari Bangi and he went from GOmbak - we had missed Datuk Lat earlier - was supposed to meet up the day before but am glad we turned up that day as we met many old friends. I think Datuk Lat said he'd be coming to London. I think he shd do the tours as he has fans all over the world.

oh yes, like i said in the email abt AG's caricature - indeed from his memories of AG in the 70's!

Kak Teh said...

MA, how right you are! There's no one setanding dengan Lat. Just adore his work. and treasure all the books that you have, they are precious. Yes, I could have taken it for you - I did for a friend and she got hers signed.

Kak Teh said...

TM - you can also go to the exhibition - belum habis lagi - will be on until 31st August.

Mrs. N - no laa dia tak buat untuk I. that one of AG was done for GUiT.

Kak Teh said...

Pi Bani- aha - macam nak kenal, kan?

Aliff, I am sure he is an interesting character to study. I have students emailing me asking me about him!

Andrea, what a thoughtful thing to do. Certainly people from any background can appreciate his cartoons and depiction of Malaysian life.

DrSam said...

Salam Kak Teh. Love his Kampung Boy's series. Still read it until these days.

Datuk must be relief to be relieved from his long due 'huntang':)

Kak Teh said...

Dr Sam, these are treasures untuk anak cucu nanti. As for the hutang - mesti written off lah - he is raking in a lot of money for NST kan?

NanaDJ said...

Kak Teh,
Rugilah tak ikut you that day. But I was still unwell, so that day was a bit too hectic for me. I am not young like you, can 'marathon' sehari from one end of KL to another end of Bangi plus all over PJ!
Yalah AG nampak handsome, awas Kak Teh!Agree with you, theres no one like Lat.

Zendra said...

Hi Kak Teh, Lat is a national treasure lah. We all love him! Lucky AG to have been carricatured by him. Psst... how does AG maintain his crowning glory, still the same if not more since the 70's lah. Shhhh.... someone wants to know ;)

Kak Teh said...

NanaDj, yes you should have come with us. Ani came later and I enjoyed the afternoon - tapi hujan pulak selepas tu.
As for AG - hehe, nanti nak tunjuk komen2 ni...(unless he has already read them all quietly!)

Hope you are better now. You looked good the other day.

Kak Teh said...

Zendra, AG and his crowning glory is legendary - everyone wants to know. It is only lately that it has turned rather....errrr, silvery. Perhaps it is in the genes. His brother pun macam tu. Alas, I cant say the same for myself.

mamasita said...

Everyone goes gigiguguhahahahehehe when reading Lat.

Hooi..AG's Lat cartoon looks nice..hansem oi!

Kak Teh said...

Mamasita, i pun masih gooogoogaga baca Lat. as for lat's caricature of AG , aisey,,, the man himself pun okay jugok, ya dok, AG? :)

D said...

hey, I too must get a copy of the latest! I just adore his work!!

Chahya said...

Me love Lat too. Will be looking for that edition.

Kak Teh said...

D and Chahya, you'll never regret buying that edition. It had me in stitches, all over again. and homesick, again, of course.

Kenny Mah said...

Wow, I really like Lat's caricature of Awang Goneng. This is really a master at work! :)

And Tun M has never been more light-hearted than in Lat's cartoons. There's an exhibition recently at Bangsar Shopping Complex in KL. Huge Lat cartoons everywhere! :D

Kak Teh said...

kenny dear, eeerrr, this entry is about that exhibition. I was there. The caricature of AG was done by lat for GUiT.

How are you?

Memorable trails... said...

Yes, I like to read that book the Kampong Boy too.
Selamat menyambut bulan Ramadan yg mulia to you too n family.
Teringat berpuasa di rantau orang n berbuka ngan pak n mak2 arab.Tak termakan hidangan nya.That grilled mutton...n baklava...eemmm..simply awesome...

Kak Teh said...

madam gold, selamat berpuasa to you too. Kalau kak teh teringatkan bulan puasa di malaya - hai - sungguh banyak makanan!

Al-Manar said...

This has nothing to do with Lat.
Dirumah Ayah Hak minggu lepas cari cari juga kalau ada orang dari 40 The Fairway. Rupanya dah balik. Ramai saudara dari KL pulang terutama the Nik clan.Kak Mah kirim salam kepada Mi dan Zaharah. Selamat berpuasa.
Abang Ngah dan Kak Mah

Kak Teh said...

Salam Ramadhan abang ngah. Balik kali ni sekejap sangat. Dua kali cuba plan dengan anwar nak jumpa - tapi dia pun mungkin tak ada masa yang sesuai nak jumpa. memang call dia satu petang tu untuk jumpa tapi dia pulak tak call balik. mungkin dia sibuk.
Kirim salam pada kak mah juga dan selamat berpuasa.

Pak Zawi said...

Kak Teh,
Dato' Lat is about my age. We went through the same phase of life so i can relate to all his cartoons.

Kak Teh said...

Pak Zawi, i think we are all sewaktu dengannya and can relate to his wonderful stories. Selamat berpuasa to you and family.