Stories behind my strip cartoons

1. During my early teaching days I used to draw cartoons for a children newspaper Utusan Pelajar published by Utusan Melayu. I gave the title “Si Dogol” (Shaven Head) for my strip cartoons which centred on a boy with shaven head. In those days pious parents would shave a son’s hair for the sake of piety.

2. I spent the remuneration money to buy story books for my class library. My students enjoyed reading the books very much and I felt contented doing my bit for the rural young generation. Early last year I happened to meet one of my students at a wedding reception thrown by my friend. It had been a long time, so naturally it was impossible for me to imagine who she was in my class nearly 50 years ago. But I nodded politely at what she was saying. She longed to see me and felt very grateful to have met me that day. She remembered with fondness the joy of reading the books I bought for the class library.

3. Coming back to “Si Dogol,” I intended him to be a simpleton for sentimental reasons. The character is my tribute to a student I knew when I was working as a temporary teacher. He was a simpleton and considered “hopeless” (in his study, that is) by most of his teachers at the time. The situation seemed to tie in with a quote I came across from the famous physicist, Albert Einstein, “The only thing that interferes with my learning is my education.”

4. Miraculously, years later I heard that the “hopeless” student fared very well in vocational skills training and in fact he was sent to England for further training in carpentry. I believe he did it by virtue of opportunities provided by the education system.

5. My cartoon contributions were short-lived, however, for one reason or another. Only 25 of my strip cartoons were ever published. In this post I’d like to share a few of the cartoons with the readers.

6. Teaching in a rural school for nearly 10 years an episode as depicted in the cartoon below was a common experience for me especially during the rainy season when students’ socks often got wet. Here the culprit is “Dogol” himself who has carelessly taken off his shoes.

"Whose socks stink?"

7. The following episode is, of course, an exaggeration. Here the children are chuckling as the headmaster appears at the door to find his teacher sleeping away in the middle of a lesson. I have no idea if it actually ever happened in schools, but I knew at least two of my senior colleagues who were in the habit of sleeping in class.

8. In the episode below the teacher is wondering what has happened to the feather duster. I wonder if the younger generation can make out the story in the cartoon which is linked to a game I’ve not seen played for a long time. In my boyhood days we used to play a game called ‘bulu ayam’ literally chicken feather.

9. ‘Bulu ayam’ was an object that resembled a shuttlecock. Three or four discs the size of a large coin were cut out of old inner tube. The discs were layered and fixed together with a nail pierced through the centre. Soft chicken feathers were tied around the nail with rubber bands. The game was played by kicking and suspending the object in the air to attain a target count agreed upon by the players.

10. You might have noticed the objects under the boys’ chairs. Those are supposed to be ‘bulu ayam.’ The boys looked quite nervous. You might have guessed what happened to the feather duster.

"What ever happened to this feather duster?"

11. The next episode concerns a takraw ball which is made of woven strips of rattan. It is used in a game native to Southeast Asia called sepak takraw. In my country it is also known as sepak raga. Here ‘Dogol’ is unknowingly calling out to his mother to throw out the takraw ball that has veered off and flown into the house through the window. His mother is quite upset because the ball has landed in the bowl of mixture that she’s prepared for making fried banana.

"Mama, throw the ball out, please."

12. ‘Dogol’ is a bit theatrical in this last piece of strip. He sulks and refuses to play the part of a palace guard and insists on playing the part of Hang Jebat. According to the Malay epic Hikayat Hang Tuah (The Saga of Hang Tuah), Hang Jebat by reason of injustice rebelled against the sultan who ordered the execution of his comrade Hang Tuah whom he believed was a victim of slander. However, the bendahara who was entrusted to carry out the execution secretly arranged for Hang Tuah to go to ground in a remote place.

"Never--I want the part of Hang Jebat."

 13. When the matter of Hang Jebat got out of hand the bendahara revealed his secret to the sultan who readily pardoned Hang Tuah and sent him to kill the traitor. By and by Hang Jebat died at the hands of his comrade whose supposed death he avenged. A Malay scholar, Kassim Ahmad, in his radical critique of Hikayat Hang Tuah had elevated Hang Jebat as the true hero in the epic.