Art in a book

My brother Zaid designs and I write. It was a just a matter of time that one day, we would work on the same project. That time came in 2003 when Kathy Tan, who was then Executive Director of the Federation of Malaysian Unit Trust Managers (FMUTM), now known as the Federation of Investment Managers Malaysia, called me up to talk about producing a coffee-table book to commemorate FMUTM's tenth anniversary. The brief was to design, write and produce the book to a specific theme.

Noting that the unit trust industry was still growing, Zaid and I came up with a theme based on nature. FMUTM liked our proposal to trace its development through art by commissioning six original art-pieces as the creative base to illustrate the concept of growth and potential. These art-pieces served as the book cover and chapter division pages, and during the tenth anniversary gala dinner, they were framed and presented as gifts to VIP guests.

As explained in the book, "the cover art-piece, portraying the abundance and vitality one finds in nature, is reflective of the opportunities available in the unit trust industry. Motifs depicting various stages of growth in plant-life are brought together to illustrate the development cycle. The imaginative use of colours and patterns convey a sense of energy and innovation, elements that are essential for the further development of the industry." The chapter titles carried on with the theme - Chapter 1: Planting the Seed; Chapter 2: Growing the Industry; Chapter 3: Nurturing with Care; Chapter 4: Reaching Beyond; and Chapter 5: Developing Organically.

The book cover

The story of FMUTM's beginnings is conveyed through the juxtaposition of panels of seeds.

The idea of growth is reflected in the dominant use of plant roots in this art-piece.

The arrangement of images and patterns intimate at FMUTM's relative youth.

Flowers and leaves depict the blossoming of FMUTM regionally and internationally.

In the final art-piece, trees are arrayed in a line to depict the counting of FMUTM's achievements. The colour blue comes vividly in the picture to indicate the commitment required to bring the Federation beyond the horizon.

As in the corporate history book project of the Commerce Asset Group, working on FMUTM's tenth anniversary coffee-table book was a pleasure. Zaid and I worked with a small team headed by Kathy Tan, touching base occasionally with then President of FMUTM, Dato' Seri Abdul Azim Mohd Zabidi. Approvals were quick and the team was receptive to our ideas. Zaid and I, and more importantly FMUTM, were happy with the end result (by the way, the colours of the pages above are more vibrant in the actual book). One thing about the book that could have been better was the quality of the archival photos, which were not taken by professional photographers but understandably by staff members present at the various events. 

Art in the family

I believe there's an underlying creative streak in my family (in the wider sense of the word) that breaks out more overtly for some while for others, it remains something to dabble with. My late father loved to draw and his younger brother, my uncle Ibrahim Abdul Hamid, is adept with the drawing pencil and has a way with words as well. My cousin Kamaruddin Abdullah not only is great at drawing but he plays the piano by ear and was a member of The Grim Preachers in the 1970s.

My younger sister Zakiah Omar, or Noni as we call her at home, is an amazing example. She did her undergraduate studies in quantity surveying in Sydney, Australia (because she was a whizz at maths in school), but chucked that to become a journalist when she returned home. In 1990, she went to Berlin, Germany, on a Goethe Institute cultural exchange programme, little knowing that she would meet her future husband Hanno Baethe, a professor in videography, there. Together, they forged a partnership in producing interactive media. Noni's success in her field led her to be offered a professorship at Konrad Wolf, Germany's film and television university, where she lectured in German.

Zaid Omar, my youngest brother, knew from the start that he was going to be a graphic designer. So after university, a short stint in Berlin and some time with Freeform Design, he set up his own design firm, Milk Design, with his old-time friend, Wei Shein. Their design work is excellent and they are continually busy. On top of that, the two are behind techno group byaduoorgroup and have produced a CD.

In 2002, Zaid designed a very striking poster, Misconception, for an international exhibition overseas.

Sister Zawiyah Omar (Oyah), who opted for early retirement, got her hands into decorative painting, examples of which are now found around her home. She even painted a screen for our mum's new house. By the way, I think she takes orders.

Yours truly did spend some time painting away as well but, sad to say, my paints are somewhere in my store-room at the moment.

I have no doubt that my brother Zaidan (Idan), who lives in Kuching, and my half-siblings, Zaihan (who's in the architectural field) and Zurina, have a creative streak in them too. 

Beautiful books

I have posted earlier that I love books. I also appreciate books that are beautifully designed and well produced. For beautiful books, one of the best places to get them is The Folio Society. Their goal, since their first books in 1947, is "to furnish readers with beautiful and authoritative editions of great literary works. The Folio Society brings together a worldwide community of book-lovers who appreciate the quality and craftsmanship of fine editions."


I had been a collector of their books and, much as I'd like to continue doing so, I've had to refrain from adding more to my bookshelves, now that I'm eking out a living as a writer. From time to time, I lovingly touch, bring out and read books in the sets that I have. For details on the authors, please click on their names below the pictures.

John Steinbeck

William Faulkner

Henry James

E M Forster

Graham Greene

Sir Arthur Conan Doyle

Jane Austen

The pictures of the books speak for themselves, don't they? One blogger wrote that The Folio Society's "editorial standards are the envy of a great many other publishers. And its commitment to the tradition of finely illustrated fiction is without peer amongst most modern trade publishers."

"There is no mistaking a real book when one meets it. It's like falling in love."

- Christopher Morley, author and journalist (1890-1957)

I Am a Cat

I like Japanese writing - it's sparse, sparing and stylish. When I was browsing through a bookshop one day in 2006, I came across a book I Am a Cat by Soseki Natsume. Being a cat-lover, the title intrigued me. As I hadn't read any of Soseki's books, I flipped to the first page (I'd mentioned in an earlier post that, when deciding to buy a book or not, I'd read the first paragraph to see if I like the style).

This particular book began, "I am a cat. As yet I have no name. I've no idea where I was born. All I remember is that I was miaowing in a dampish dark place when, for the first time, I saw a human being." The book went home with me that day - a 638-page book of three volumes in one.

I Am a Cat is a satire of middle-class Japanese society. The wearisome and worrisome ways of humans are related through the eyes of a cat who has no name but who moves freely around and about his human family and the neighbourhood. He observes of the master of the house, "I hear he is a schoolteacher. As soon as he comes home from school, he shuts himself up in the study for the rest of the day; and he seldom emerges. The others in the house think that he is terribly hard-working. He himself pretends to be hard-working. But actually he works less hard than any of them think." He doesn't like the children of the family much, which is not surprising - "When the fancy takes them, they hang me upside-down, they stuff my face into a paper-bag, they fling me about, they ram me into the kitchen range." 

The book, written in 1905-1906, mocks the aping of Western culture and pretentiousness of Japanese during the Meiji period, a time when the country was going through modernisation and an industrial revolution. It started out as a short story, which grew to become the first chapter of a long tale. 

Soseki (1867-1916) was a teacher himself, teaching English after graduating from Tokyo University in 1893. He also wrote and gained early success with his novels, prompting him to leave his teaching work, which he was dissatisfied with, to become literary editor of the Asahi Shimbun in 1907.   

The book requires a high degree of concentration to go through. As such, it won't appeal to those who prefer light reading. But it's witty and humourous and does make you think about how foolish human beings must appear to other creatures. I wonder what our two cats must think about us...

Chomel

Belang

The story of a bank

I received a call from Joe Fernandez late this afternoon. I haven't seen him for ages and he called because he would like to buy a copy of Hajj - The Humbling Journey. God willing, we'll meet up next week. Who, you might ask, is Joe Fernandez? Well, without him, I wouldn't have written Of People and Principles - The Commerce Asset Story.

In the book, published in 2003, I acknowledged Joe as "my partner in this endeavour,... a conscientious researcher and effective project coordinator." Joe, who had worked at Commerce Asset and knew it intimately, was asked by its management to spearhead the publication of the Group's corporate history. He needed a writer and, through people he knew, principally Dato' Seri Abdul Azim Mohd Zabidi, he found me.

The book took about two years to see the light of day, during which time Joe and I worked closely together in conceptualising the book, interviewing key people, going over archival documents and photographs, revising and redrafting chapters. I truly enjoyed working on the book - the management was committed to it and went out of its way to ensure that resources and people were made available to us. But the best part of it was that a small team of three top management staff was assigned to approve various aspects of the project as we went along. There was no red tape, it was smooth going, and I could write the story as I saw it.

It was fantastic the way everyone whom I interviewed opened up, providing me with never-before-heard anecdotes, sharing private conversations, and giving behind-the-scene insights into how decisions were made in the boardroom and executive office. 

The result is a story that began with Bian Chiang Bank, a one-branch, family-owned bank in Kuching, Sarawak, which metamorphosed in 1978 into Bank of Commerce after its purchase by the Fleet Group. The book then traced the Bank's growth through the economic recession of the 1980s, the Asian financial crisis of the late-1990s and its merger with United Asian Bank in 1991 and then Bank Bumiputra Malaysia in 1999, to become Bumiputra-Commerce Bank. There is also a chapter on how Commerce Asset was able to fend off being a takeover target in 1998. A parallel story in the book is that of Commerce International Merchant Bankers (CIMB).

The Commerce Asset Group and Bumiputra-Commerce Bank are now no more. In their place is the CIMB Group, a regional universal bank. How that has come about would make another riveting story. 

Going with Graduan

Elia Talib is a woman to be admired. In 1995, she launched an annual publication called Aspirasi Graduan, now known as Graduan, aimed at helping fresh graduates prepare for the job market. She has remained focused on her target audience but has extended her product and brand into other related publications, a job website, web TV, as well as career fairs in Malaysia, Australia, England and the US. She has succeeded in doing this almost single-handed, with the help of a small staff and now her two recently-graduated children.

I was introduced to Elia by Ann Lee, whom I've written about in an earlier post. Ann was Graduan's consultant editor and she and Elia wanted to bring more writers on board. So it was that I became a regular contributor, and at times editor, of the publication. I also edited Xtracurriculah!, an activity resource guide for school-children, for two years and a recent Graduan offshoot, Careers in the Capital Market.

Over the past few years, due to my other writing commitments, my involvement with Graduan has lessened, limited to one or two Special Feature articles per issue of leaders in the corporate or political world as well as academia. Elia needs a senior writer for these articles because it's not easy sometimes to get such such people to talk freely; my corporate experience has helped me in this respect. 

Perhaps the most daunting person I've had to interview for Graduan was Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad. Although I was accompanied by Elia and Ann to his imposing office at the Perdana Leadership Foundation building in Putrajaya, it didn't help to settle the butterflies in my tummy. I had heard that he doesn't suffer fools gladly and could send you out of the door before you could start. His personal assistant told us that we had 15 minutes to do the interview but I must have been asking him the right questions and making the appropriate remarks in return to his answers, because we stayed for more than an hour. He even agreed to be photographed with us and signed my copy of The Malay Dilemma that I had brought with me (Elia and Ann felt like kicking themselves for not bringing theirs).

There's a trick to meeting and interviewing personalities like Tun Mahathir. Of course, in the first place, you need to be well prepared - long pauses and 'aahs' won't impress such people. You need to be on your toes and respond appropriately, because they might not give the answers you expected. The main thing, however, is to remember that we are all creations of Allah and that we'll all stand equally before Him on the Day of Judgement.

Short and sweet

Can you write a story in one sentence? Seems hard, doesn't it? Well, there's actually a website, onesentence.org, where a story is in only one sentence. One example: "We visited him in the hospital over 100 times during the last 14 years, but the one time we didn't go was the one time it counted." Click on the website for more of such stories.


I favour writing that is succinct, which according to the Merriam-Webster online dictionary means compact precise expression without wasted words. A writer well-known for his "spare, tightly written prose" is Ernest Hemingway. His published works include The Sun also Rises and A Farewell to Arms.

Succinct writing takes practice. For those of us who need to work on our writing skills, take a look at 400 Words, a magazine of short-short non-fiction. As the title suggests, people who send in their true stories must do it in 400 words. (Note: this website is not current but the point here is to learn a thing or two about writing succinctly).

Closer to home is the British Council's A City of Short Stories - Kuala Lumpur. The challenge here is to write and submit a story about life in Kuala Lumpur in not more than 1,600 characters. I couldn't resist and have three stories featured. Have a go. It's really fun. Just click here.

Let's, of course, not take being brief to the extreme.

A personal project

It was November 2010 and my husband and I were in Makkah to perform our Hajj. It was by Allah's Will that my good friend Yasmin Gan Abdullah and her husband were there as well. Two weeks before I was to leave Malaysia, she had called me with her good news and we were both delighted to learn that we would be in the Holy City at the same time. We promised, God willing, to meet up in Makkah.

We did and Yasmin mooted the idea of sharing our personal Hajj journey through words and images in a coffee-table book when we return home. Hajj is a very intense experience and we were of one mind that we would like to express this, not only to encourage those who hadn't yet been to go but also to help relive memories in those who had. We wanted the images to be original so took photographs whenever we had the opportunity. I didn't bring a camera so used my Nokia N86 which has an 8mp camera - the photographs, such as the one above, came out thankfully well.

Although we were back home in December, we didn't get down to writing immediately because of other work commitments. Yasmin then set the deadline for us to get started on our book - the very first personal project for us. We agreed that the book would have two parts, one comprising three chapters - an introduction to the Hajj, my journey and Yasmin's - and the other consisting of photographs that we had taken of the Hajj, the people of Islam, Masjid Al-Haram in Makkah and the Prophet's Masjid in Madinah. Because of our respective strengths, Yasmin would handle the design and production aspects while I would write whatever else required. 

Initially, we worked on the premise of getting sponsors to underwrite the production costs of the book but this proved to be an exercise in futility. We still wanted to publish the book, however. Alhamdulillah, Yasmin succeeded in working out an arrangement with the printer to pay in instalments as the book is sold. It was exciting to see the book coming together over a period of months and we were soon at the stage of checking proofs.

To generate interest in the book, we started a Facebook page and geared ourselves towards 'launching' our book, Hajj - the Humbling Journey, on 8 October. Just three days before, 500 copies of the book were delivered to my house, the other 500 to Yasmin's office.

Earlier, we had to deal with the question of how to launch the book. Given our very limited budget, we decided to introduce the book to a small group of abut 40-50 people over brunch at my house. Our immediate family members and close friends were asked to come, and we also invited those who had liked our Facebook page.

Next question - who to introduce the book? We sought the advice of my dad's cousin, Datin Kalsom Taib (or Auntie Chom, herself the author of three books, one of which is on her husband). Unfortunately, the person she suggested wouldn't be available. The day before the event, over breakfast at my house to finalise details, it dawned on Yasmin and I that the most appropriate person would be Auntie Chom, who had been very supportive of our initiative. I called her and she immediately said yes.

And thus on 8 October, our book was finally introduced. 

Yasmin, Auntie Chom and I

The book cover

Yasmin and I with designer Junaida and project assistant Norhayati

Now comes the hard part - selling the book. Yasmin and I were not in favour of distributing our book through the usual bookshops, as the commission charged would mean that we wouldn't be able to meet our production costs. The best way would be to sell the book ourselves and place it at selected places, including Sri Munawwarah and Dakwah Corner Bookstore. Alhamdulillah, the response to our book has been heartwarming and encouraging. We feel truly blessed to have realised our niat (intention) of sharing our humbling Hajj journey. 

E-writing experience

How did I get into writing for an e-news magazine? As in most situations, it involved someone looking for a particular kind of writer and asking around. A friend of my brother-in-law, Effendi Abdul Rahman, was starting such a magazine, agendamalaysia.com, and having pulled a team together, wanted to add a writer on corporate matters. Effendi introduced me to his friend and I became the writer.

Unfortunately, the magazine didn't last beyond a year due to lack of advertising support. But during that time, I got to know two well-known personalities in the writing world - Rehman Rashid, who edited the e-news magazine, and Ann Lee, who wrote on the arts scene. Rehman is author of A Malaysian Journey and has commented extensively on Malaysian politics and society with the New Straits Times. We became friends after our short-lived online stint. He is one of the most interesting people I know and talking with him can be mentally invigorating because you need to know what you're talking about. Having a way with words also helps. It has been a while since I've seen him; perhaps it's time to give him a call.

Ann Lee, a television co-news anchor who went on to forge a future in play-writing, was instrumental in later getting me into a long-term writing and editing relationship with a career publication (which I'll post about in time). 

I also got to know sports writer Bob Holmes during my e-writing experience. We lost touch after it ended; who would have thought that I would run into him again at the Malaysian branch of the Manchester United Supporters Club in Petaling Jaya when Paul Parker came to town some months ago (yes, I am a United fan). 

When we were writing for agendamalaysia.com, we would meet up each week during which we would discuss what to cover for the forthcoming issue. We would then go off, write and e-mail our articles to Rehman. I enjoyed these meetings - the discussions, the good-natured bantering, the sharing of the latest insider news. 

As in all my freelance writing work, this assignment was part of my learning curve. More importantly, it led to friendships which have continued to this day. Of course, given our busy lives, we hardly meet now but when we do, it's as if we had just seen each other not too long ago.

Learning never stops

Learning, they say, is lifelong. And it's so true in writing. We learn when we read the work of others. Just imagine the very many ways that thousands of people can write the same story. When I buy a book by an author that I'm not familiar with, I would read the first paragraph. If I like the style and use of language, I would buy it. Of course, the story matters too. One of my favourite writers is Turkish novelist and Nobel Prize (Literature) 2006 winner, Orhan Pamuk.

My favourite book by him, however, is his memoir of Istanbul. When I read it, I wished I could write so eloquently about Kuala Lumpur.

We learn when we write for our clients from various industries. My clients have included financial organisations,  a healthcare provider, a legal firm, a philharmonic orchestra and even an airline. In writing for such clients, I learned not only about their businesses but also how to accommodate their preferences into my style. 

And of course, we learn when we attend writing courses and workshops. My dream is a writing retreat in Italy.

We don't have to go so far, if time, distance and money don't allow us to. Bali's Ubud Writers and Readers Festival has grown from strength to strength since the first one in 2004. The 2011 festival in October brought writers and book-lovers from various parts of the world to this idyllic island. With this one already over, Perth is a possibility with its Writing Out of Asia event in early December this year. 

But if you're looking for something more focused, check out Silverfish's Writing Programme, which is held at its bookshop in Bangsar, Kuala Lumpur. I attended the programme a few years back to develop my creative writing skills (my writing has all been non-fiction) and although I haven't embarked on my great Malaysian novel as yet, it has helped me try out a bit of short-story writing. 

Enjoy the learning!

I love books

To write, you must read. And read. and read. And read.

I'm a voracious reader. I can't imagine not reading. I have books all over my house. And I read a few books at a time, keeping them here and there - downstairs, upstairs, in the family room, in my bedroom. Almost everywhere I sit in my house, there's a book at hand. But there's one place I won't put my books - in the john.

One of my favourite places is a bookshop and one that I regularly visited when in primary school was Kiddies Store. It wasn't strictly a bookshop as it sold other things as well, but it had a good supply of my favourite series at that age - The Famous Five and The Secret Seven.

When I was in primary school in Kuala Lumpur, we lived in the Gurney Road (now Jalan Semarak) area. Not far from our house was a row of shops, one of which was Kiddies Store. Every weekend, my father would give my siblings and I our pocket money. With the dollars in hand, I would trot off to Kiddies Store by the back lane and spent whatever I had on books. It didn't take me long to build up a small library, which found a home in one of the unused servants' rooms at the back of the house. I opened my library to my classmates at the Gurney Road Primary School, which was within walking distance from our house, and they could borrow books using my handmade library cards.   

As I grew older, I was drawn to the classics and later on to modern fiction. Now, I tend to buy biographies, autobiographies and memoirs. 

Given my love for books, the Big Bad Wolf sale is not to be missed and at its recent event in October, I underspent my budget of RM200 and came out with these books...

"There are many little ways to enlarge your child's world. Love of books is the best of all." 

- Jacqueline Kennedy

An honour and a privilege

The late Tan Sri Dato' Harun Mahmud Hashim was a man to be admired, a man who stood for dedication, honour, integrity and sincerity in all that he did. In September 2001, a collection of his The Benchmark articles, which had appeared in the New Straits Times, was published in a book. I was honoured and privileged to have been the book's editor.

The initiator of the book was my good friend Yasmin Gan Abdullah, to whom Tan Sri Harun's family is her keluarga angkat (adopted family). She felt that Tan Sri Harun's articles needed to be in a more permanent form, thus the idea of compiling them into a book. Yasmin asked me to help and for the two of us, I believe it was our way of showing our admiration for a man who lived his life without fear or favour.

After having agreed to edit the book, Yasmin then introduced me to Tan Sri Harun and I had a delightful time talking to him. The work began when I was presented with thick files of newspaper cuttings of his articles. At that time (the year 2000), he was still contributing to the newspaper but I chose to focus on the years from 1994 (when he began the column) to 1999. He wrote on a wide range of issues, from the law to education, and of course, corruption. My task was to read each and every article, and organise them into a number of categories for the book. At the end of the day, due to space constraints, only 149 of the 281 articles that he wrote over the period could be included.

Editing the book and working together with Yasmin to bring it to fruition was one of my most satisfying projects. It was a heartfelt effort and I was certainly saddened when Tan Sri Harun, a fearless champion of justice, passed away on 30 September 2003.