Dato' Hamid The Old Boy and civil servant who's been everywhere and seen it all (even though he never wanted to). Here he 'spills the beans' on his adventures dating back to the 1940s, from Kuala Lumpur to Monte Carlo, Los Angeles to Algiers, London to Temerloh Rest House and much more. Along the way, Dato' Hamid tussles with a beautiful seductress-cum-diamond thief in Switzerland; is corrupted by a ruthlessly ambitious Malaysian banker in London;and helps solve the murder of a billionaire businessman in an isolated mansion on the east coast. And all the time he wishes he were back at home tending his orchids and nursing his favourite cognac. Shameless, exciting and funny, Dato' Hamid's life and adventures chart the financial, political and amorous relationships that have made Malaysia what it is today. You ll never meet anyone quite like Dato' Hamid, but you'll know him.
Book Description
Editorial Reviews
About the Author
Kam Raslan is a writer and director, working in ï¬lm, TV and theatre in Malaysia. He is a columnist in 'The Edge' weekly and 'Off the Edge' magazine. Some of his writings were previously compiled in 'Generation: A Collection Of Contemporary Malaysian Ideas'. He also writes for the Instant Café Theatre and will one day make his own feature ï¬lm.
Product Details
Would you like to update product info or give feedback on images?
|
More About the Author
Discover books, learn about writers, read author blogs, and more.
Customer Reviews
|
Share your thoughts with other customers:
|
||||||||||||||||||||||
|
Most Helpful Customer Reviews
2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
The Bringing to Book of Datuk Hamid,
By
This review is from: Confessions of an Old Boy: The Dato' Hamid Adventures (Paperback)
Being a friend to many MCKK old boys of my husband's generation and older, I feel that I've met Dato' Hamid many times over!
Dato' Hamid was born, we're told, somewhere between the 1920's and early 1930's, educated at Malay College (dubbed the Eton of the East and set up by the British to create a Malayan civil service) and then at university in the UK before returning home to take up a post in The Ministry. He's a charming old rascal - cultured, well travelled, hedonistic ... and also a little lazy and easily corruptible. His son, "the Ayatollah" represents a certain type of "new Malay" that's only too familiar (goatee-bearded, fanatical, politically ambitious and smugly self-righteous) and is a character I would have liked to see very much more of in the book, particularly because he gives rise to some inspired moments of social commentary. "I don't know where they came from and I don't know where they are taking us ..." says Hamid, speaking I'm sure for many readers. (How many times have I been told that the country was a gentler, kinder, more tolerant place "back then"?) Hamid finds that he has much more in common with The Grandson, a computer animator who makes good in Hollywood, despite his purple (and later green!) hair and the ring though his nose. Confessions is a collection of stories, four of them short episodes, and three much more substantial pieces. My favourite is "Ariff and Capitalism", set between Kuala Lumpur and London in 1972 in which Hamid gets drawn into a get-rich-quick scam with hilarious results. I also thoroughly enjoyed the rambunctiousness of "Dato' in Love" which involves among other things the seduction of a Swiss milkmaid and the theft of a diamond. In "The Beat Generation Hamid" reminisces about the time in the 1950's when he was dragged along by his friend Nik to work in Paris and Algiers a drummer with a band. The longest story in the book is "Murder in Parit Chindai", which gives a Malaysian twist to the traditional Agatha Christie type murder in the library at a country house with a cast of eccentric characters, any one of whom could have done the grisly deed. It's a very clever piece, and I appreciated the fact that Kam brought in characters of other races (which happens too rarely in fiction by Malaysian authors). But I felt that Hamid and the others seemed like pawns being moved around the chessboard of the necessarily complex plot of the whodunit, rather than initiating action themselves. (It felt in this story as if Kam were pulling the strings rather than taking dictation which for me made it less effective than the other stories.) "The Malayans" is set "Somewhere near Seremban - 2001" and is a conversation between a group of old friends, Malaysians of different races (a reminder that the ethnic divisions was not a feature of the landscape of the country in the past) following the death of one of their gang on the golf course. They mull over life, talk about their children and contemplate the principles and idealism on which the new country was founded at Independence and how it has lived up to them. Would I recommend the book? Most definitely. It's hugely enjoyable, deeply relevant to anyone who lives in or wants to know more about Malaysia, and beautifully written. I read it with a huge smile on my face, often laughing out loud at the turn of a phrase. I am left saying that I want more, much more of Dato' Hamid, his friends and family ... especially The Ayatollah!
5.0 out of 5 stars
An outstanding book for you to know Malaysia!!,
By
This review is from: Confessions of an Old Boy: The Dato' Hamid Adventures (Paperback)
As a Malaysian, I highly recommend all our foreign friends to get a copy of this book as this book will provide good enough information for anyone who like to learn about Malaysia.
When I was reading the book, in fact I felt a little bit sad, about the "truth" in his story. I assured you that Kam Raslan has described the Malaysians in his funniest way and you would't be disspointed. Those who are interested for further reading, you may surf http://www.kamraslan.com/
Share your thoughts with other customers: Create your own review
|
|
Tags Customers Associate with This Product(What's this?)Click on a tag to find related items, discussions, and people.
|
Sell a Digital Version of This Book in the Kindle Store
If you are a publisher or author and hold the digital rights to a book, you can sell a digital version of it in our Kindle Store.
Learn more
