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Lat (cartoonist)

Dato' Mohammad Nor bin Mohammad Khalid (محمد نور بن محمد خالد; born 5 March 1951), more commonly known as Lat, is a Malaysian cartoonist. Winner of the Fukuoka Asian Culture Prize in 2002, Lat has published more than 20 volumes of cartoons since he was 13 years old. His works mostly illustrate Malaysia's social and political scenes, portraying them in a comedic light without bias. Lat's best known work is The Kampung Boy (1979), which has been published in several countries across the world. In 1994, the Sultan of Perak bestowed him the honorific title of datuk, in recognition of the cartoonist's work in helping to promote social harmony and understanding through his cartoons. Lat also works for the government to improve the city's social security.

Born in a village, Lat spent his youth in the countryside before moving to the city at the age of 11. While in school, he supplemented his family's income by contributing cartoon strips to newspapers and magazines. He was 13 years old when he achieved his first published comic book, Tiga Sekawan (Three Friends Catch a Thief). After failing to attain the grades that were required to continue education beyond high school, Lat became a newspaper reporter. In 1974, he switched careers to be an editorial cartoonist. His works, reflecting his view about Malaysian life and the world, are staple features in national newspapers such as New Straits Times and Berita Minggu. He adapted his life experiences and published them as his autobiographies, The Kampung Boy and Town Boy, telling stories of rural and urban life with comparisons between the two.

Lat's style has been described as reflective of his early influences, The Beano and The Dandy. He has, however, come into his own way of illustration, drawing the common man on the streets with bold strokes in pen and ink. A trademark of his Malay characters is their three-loop noses. Lat paid attention to family life and children because of his idolisation of Raja Hamzah, a senior cartoonist who was also popular in the 1960s with his comics about swashbuckling heroes. Rejabhad, a well-respected cartoonist, was Lat's mentor, and imbued the junior cartoonist with a preference to be sensitive to the subjects of his works. Lat's attention to details gained him popularity, endearing his works to the masses who find them believable and unbiased.

Aside from writing and publishing cartoons, Lat has ventured into the fields of animation, merchandising, and theme parks with his creations. His name and works are recognised internationally; foreign cartoonists, such as Matt Groening and Sergio Aragonés, admire his art, and foreign governments invite Lat to tour their countries, hoping to gain greater exposure for their countries through Lat's cartoons of his experiences in them. After 27 years of living and working in Kuala Lumpur, Lat moved back to Ipoh for a more sedate lifestyle in semi-retirement.

Early life and education
Mohammad Nor Mohd Khalid was born on 5 March 1951 in Kota Bharu, a small settlement located in Gopeng, Perak, Malaysia. His father, Mohd Khalid Mohd Noh was a government clerk with the Malaysian Armed Forces, and his mother, Nor Azian Said, a housewife. Khalid was a stocky boy with a cherubic face, which led his family to nickname him bulat (round). His friends shortened it to "Lat"; it became the name by which he was more commonly known in his kampung and later in the world. Lat was the eldest child in his family, and he often played in the jungles, plantations, and tin mines with his friends. Their toys were usually improvised from everyday sundries and items of nature. Lat liked to doodle with materials provided by his parents, and his other forms of recreation were reading comics and watching television; Lat idolised local cartoonist Raja Hamzah, who was popular with his tales of swashbuckling Malay heroes. Malaysian art critic and historian Redza Piyadasa believes Lat's early years in the kampung ingrained the cartoonist with pride in his kampung roots and a "peculiarly Malay" outlook—"full of [...] gentleness and refinement".

Lat's formal education began at a local Malay kampung (village) school; these institutions often taught in the vernacular and did not aspire to academic attainment. The boy changed schools several times; the nature of his father's job moved the family from one military base to another across the country, until they settled back at his birthplace in 1960. A year later, Lat passed the Special Malay Class Examination, qualifying him to attend an English medium boarding school—National Type Primary School—in the state's capital, Ipoh. His achievement helped his father make the decision to sell their kampung estate and move the family to the town; society in those days considered education at an English medium school a springboard to a good future. Lat continued his education at Anderson School, Perak's "premier non-missionary English medium school". Redza highlights Lat's move to Ipoh for higher schooling as a significant point in the cartoonist's development; the multi-racial environment helped establish his diverse friendships, which in turn broadened his cultural perspectives.

At the age of nine, Lat began to supplement his family's income through his artistic skills by drawing comics and selling them to his friends. Four years later, in 1964, the young cartoonist achieved his first published work: a local movie magazine—Majalah Filem—printed his comic strips, paying him with movie tickets. Lat's first comic book publication, Tiga Sekawan Menangkap Penchuri (Three Friends Catch a Thief), was published by Sinaran Brothers that year. The company had accepted Lat's submission, mistaking him for an adult and paying him 25 Malaysian ringgits (RM) for a story about three friends who band together to catch thieves. In 1968, at the age of 17, Lat started penning Keluarga Si Mamat (Mamat's Family), a comic strip for Berita Minggu (the Sunday edition of Berita Harian). The series ran in the paper every week for 26 years. Although still a schoolboy, Lat was earning a monthly income of RM100, a large sum in those days, from his cartoons. His education finished two years later at the end of Form 5; his Third Grade in the Senior Cambridge examinations was not enough for him to advance to Form 6. Graduating with an education equivalent to that of high school, Lat started looking for a job and had his sights set on becoming an illustrator.

Reporter to cartoonist
Moving to the Malaysian capital Kuala Lumpur, Lat applied for a cartoonist's position at Berita Harian. He was told there was no vacancy, but the paper's editor, Abdul Samad Ismail, offered him the post of a crime reporter. Lat accepted, a decision he explained was borne from necessity rather than choice: "It was a question of survival. I had to earn money to help support the family." At that time, Lat's father had fallen seriously ill and could not work; Lat had to become the breadwinner of his family. Aside from taking the job, he continued contributing cartoons to other publications. Lat was later transferred to Berita Harian's parent publication, New Straits Times. Moving throughout the city to report on crimes gave Lat opportunities to observe and interact with the myriads of lives in the urban landscape, enabling him to gather material for his cartoons and increasing his understanding of the world. Nevertheless, he felt he lacked the persistently inquisitive nature needed to succeed as a crime reporter. Furthermore, his "breathtakingly detailed, lurid and graphically gory descriptions" of the aftermaths of crimes had to be frequently toned down by his seniors. Lat became convinced that he was a failure at his job, and his despondency led him to tender his resignation. Samad, believing Lat had a bright future with the press, furiously rejected the letter.

Lat's career took a turn for the better on 10 February 1974; Asia Magazine, a periodical based in Hong Kong, published his cartoons about Bersunat—a circumcision ceremony all Malaysian boys of the Islamic faith have to undergo. The cartoons impressed Tan Sri Lee Siew Yee, editor-in-chief of the New Straits Times. Lee found Lat's portrayal of the important ceremony humorous yet sensitive, and grumbled that the newspaper should have hired the artist. He was surprised to be told that Lat was already working within his organisation. Lat was called to Lee's office to have a talk, which raised the reporter's profile in the company. He became the paper's column cartoonist, taking up a position created for him by Samad, now deputy editor of the New Straits Times. His first duty was to document Malaysian culture in a series of cartoons titled Scenes of Malaysian Life. The newspaper also sent him to study for four months at St Martin's School of Art in London, where he was introduced to English editorial cartoons and newspapers. Returning to Malaysia full of fascination with his experience, Lat transformed Scenes of Malaysian Life into a series of editorial cartoons. His approach proved popular, and at the end of 1975 he was appointed full-time cartoonist with total freedom in his work.

Lat produced a steady stream of editorial cartoons that entertained Malaysian society. By 1978, two collections of his works (Lots of Lat and Lat's Lot) had been compiled and sold to the public. Although Malaysians knew of Lat through Scenes of Malaysian Life, it was his next work that propelled him into national consciousness and international recognition. In 1979, Berita Publishing Sdn. Bhd.–a print publication subsidiary of the New Straits Times Press–published Lat's The Kampung Boy, an autobiographical cartoon account of his youth. The book was a commercial hit; according to Lat, the first printing—60,000 to 70,000 copies—sold out within four months of the book's release. Readers of the book were captivated by his "heart-warming" portrayal of Malaysian rural life, rendered with "scribbly black-and-white sketches" and accompanied by "simple but eloquent prose". By 2012, the book has been reprinted 18 times and published in several other countries in various languages, including Portuguese, French, and Japanese. The success of The Kampung Boy established Lat as the "most renowned cartoonist in Malaysia."

After The Kampung Boy
In 1981, Town Boy was published. It continued The Kampung Boy's story, telling of the protagonist's teenage life in an urban setting. Two more compilations of Lat's editorial cartoons (With a Little Bit of Lat and Lots More Lat) were published and the number of people who recognised him continued to grow. In 1984, partly from a desire to step away from the limelight, Lat resigned from the New Straits Times to become a freelancer, but continued to draw Scenes of Malaysian Life for the newspaper. He set up his own company, Kampung Boy Sendirian Berhad (Village Boy private limited), to oversee the merchandising of his cartoon characters and publishing of his books. In 2009, Kampung Boy partnered Sanrio and Hit Entertainment in a project to open an indoor theme park which would later be called as Puteri Harbour Family Theme Park in Nusajaya, Johor in August 2012. One of the park's attractions will be the sight of performers dressed up as Kampung Boy characters beside those in Hello Kitty and Bob the Builder costumes and also reported in August 2012 will be a Lat-inspired diner called Lat's Place. It will be designed in a Malaysian village setting, coupled with animations for patrons to interact with.

Lat has experimented with media other than paper. In 1993 he produced a short animated feature, Mina Smiles, for Unesco; the video, featuring a female lead, was for a literacy campaign. In conjunction with 30th anniversary of his cartooning career, Lat, through his company, Kampung Boy Sdn. Bhd. published a book titled Lat: 30 Years Later. Released in November 1994, a 166-page hardcover and softcover book features his selected newspaper and magazine drawings dates back from 1964 as well as excerpts from The Kampung Boy and his other notable works. He also wrote his biography on a section called "Lat on Lat". Personal concerns motivated Lat for his next foray into animation; judging that Western animation of the 1980s and 90s had negative influences, he wanted to produce a series for Malaysian children that espoused local values. The result was Kampung Boy the television series (1997), an adaptation of his trademark comic. The 26-episode series received positive reviews for technical details and content. There were comments on its similarities to The Simpsons, and on its English which was not entirely local. His most recent involvement with animation was in 2009; Lat's Window to the World, a musical animated feature, played at the Petronas Philharmonic Hall. Lat had been commissioned to help create three animated vignettes based on The Kampung Boy to accompany the instruments of the Malaysian Philharmonic Orchestra. The scores, composed by Carl Davis, complemented Lat's visuals, capturing the spirit of kampung childhood in a "simple, idyllic past".

In 1997, after 27 years of living in Kuala Lumpur, Lat moved back to Ipoh with his family. Aside from retreating slightly from the cartooning scene, he wanted to be close to his old kampung and let his children experience life in a small town or village; he had married in 1977, and the couple have four children—two daughters and two sons. Lat said that raising his children has helped him cope with the pressures of his fame and made him realise that he might be losing touch with the new generation of Malaysians who have different tastes in cartoons. His wife helps him in his work, scanning his completed cartoons and emailing them to the newspaper offices in Kuala Lumpur. Lat still draws with his usual pens and inks, avoiding the use of computers except to read his emails. In 1999, he set up his official website called Lat House (www.lathouse.com.my), however, the website went defunct in 2004. From August to September 2003, Lat exhibited 59 of his works on aviation at the Kuala Lumpur International Airport (KLIA), in Sepang, Selangor in an exhibition called Lat@KLIA. The exhibition's objective was to provide a chance for KLIA passengers and visitors to enjoy his unique perspective of the airport since it started operations. Lat's former employer, the New Straits Times Press released his coffee table book, Lat: The Early Series on 27 April 2009. The 204-page hardcover contains his selected works that compiled into 8 categories as well as his never before seen photos and personal items. In 2011–12, he is to join other artists from around the world in Italy for the Civitella Ranieri Fellowship programme. During their one-month stay, they are encouraged to share ideas in an environment fostered to stimulate their creativity.

Lat's new editorial comic, Forever Lat was released in August 2014 by MPH Publishing. It contains a compilation of all his published works in the New Straits Times as well as unpublished and new works. His autobiographical memoir, Lat: My Life and Cartoons was launched on November 19, 2016. Published by Editions Didier Millet (EDM), the book was co-written by Lat and former NST senior editor, Syed Nadzri Syed Harun. In 2019, Lat partnered with Faber-Castell for the Grip X Celebrates The Diversity of Malaysia with Lat campaign to promote the Grip X pen and his artworks that were drawn using the pen. In April 2021, Lat announced that he would publish a sequel to his 1989 graphic novel, Mat Som after a three-decade hiatus with its focus on younger generation were in the midst of trying to find their purpose in life. According to Lat, the idea to publish a second book of Mat Som was first mooted in March 2017 while he was in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia. Though the book was expected to be released in July 2021, however, as of 2024, the anticipated publication is yet to be materialized. His art gallery, Galeri Rumah Lat (Lat's House Gallery) was opened to public in July 8, 2023 and officiated by Sultan of Perak, Sultan Nazrin Shah.

Art style
Lat covers various genres in his works. His portfolio is diverse; John A. Lent, a scholar of Asian cartoons, found it to difficult to classify the cartoonist into any particular field. In his Keluarga Si Mamat series, Lat drew slapsticks and satires that examined the encounters between traditional and modern values. Humorous stories of children at play also populated the series. Jennifer Rodrigo Willmott, writer for Reader's Digest, stated that: "Lat's cartoon characters have always been ordinary people—a villager in his checkered sarong, a money-changer in his white dhoti, a Malay government servant in his bush jacket and sometimes even Lat himself: that character with the flat, round face; the nose slightly off centre; the untidy mop of dark, curly hair; and the constant toothy grin."

Using a large cast of characters—a wide assortment of personalities and cultures—allows Lat to comment on a wider range of topics than is possible with a small group of characters. Malaysian comics scholar Muliyadi Muhamood commented that the humour in Lat's cartoons is evoked through graphical and textual means; "short, compact dialogues" and puns form the text while "facial expressions and actions" of the characters help to bring out the funny side of things. Muliyadi further stated that Lat's works offer many levels of interpretation; one reader would laugh at Lat's cartoon for its slapstick, while another would find the same work hilarious for its subtle critique of society. As an example, Muliyadi referred to a Keluarga Si Mamat strip published in 1972. Malaysia was facing a shortage of qualified physical education teachers then, and such duties were often placed on the shoulders of teachers of other faculties. Lat illustrated an obese teacher who conducted a physical education session to his eventual collapse. Muliyadi suggested that the cartoon could be interpreted as a simple tease of the teacher's plight, a suggestion to examine the curriculum taught (change physical education to an informal session), a remark on the shortage of teachers, or more extremely, a criticism of the government's failure to prevent the situation from happening.

The narration of Lat's early cartoons, such as Tiga Sekawan and Keluarga Si Mamat, was in Malay. His later works, however, were mostly in English; Scenes of Malaysian Life ran only in the English-language New Straits Times. The English idiom in his works reflects the local pidgin form—"Malglish"—containing smatterings of Malay words and a simpler grammatical structure. After a string of successful English publications, Lat worried he had neglected Malaysians who were not proficient in English. He drew Mat Som, a story of a kampung boy who moved to the city to work as a writer and courted a pretty city girl. The comic was in Malay and a commercial hit; its first print of 30,000 copies sold out in three months. Far Eastern Economic Review journalist Suhaini Aznam remarked that Lat's strength was his ability to portray the plight of the common man in a satiric light without any form of bias.

Early style
Lat's artistic skills were cultivated from youth and self-taught. The cartoonist believes he inherited the talent and interest from his father, who doodled as a hobby and was notorious for his sense of humour as the "village jester". Lat says his siblings were also gifted in drawing, but they never bothered to develop their talents. His parents actively encouraged him to develop his artistic skills, although his father occasionally told him not to make a career of it. He also received encouragement from outside his family; Lat's primary school teacher Mrs Moira Hew (the inspiration for one of his characters, the Butterfly-Glassed Lady), helped nurture his gift, frequently asking him to illustrate lessons in class. Her teachings expanded Lat's mind and made him more receptive to ideas that looked beyond his kampung.

The early influences on his art style were from the West. Like most of the Malaysian children in the 1950s, Lat watched Hanna-Barbera cartoons (The Flintstones and The Jetsons) on television and read imported British comics, such as The Dandy and The Beano. He studied them and used their styles and themes in his early doodles. After the foreign influences in his works were noticed by a family friend, Lat was advised by his father to observe and draw upon ideas from their surroundings instead. Heeding the advice, the young cartoonist intimated himself with local happenings. Tiga Sekawan was conceived as a humorous crime-fighting story of a local flavour. Keluarga Si Mamat and its protagonist were named after his youngest brother Mamat, its stories based on Lat's observations of his fellow villagers and schoolmates. The inspiration for his cartoons about Bersunat came about when he was on assignment at a hospital. As he was taking breaks from investigating the dead victims of crime brought to the morgue, Lat chanced upon the circumcisions performed by the hospital on ethnic Malay boys. He found their experiences clinical, devoid of the elaborate and personal ceremonies that celebrated his own rite to manhood in the village. Lat felt compelled to illustrate the differences between life in his kampung and the city.

When Lat formally entered the cartooning industry, he was not totally unfamiliar with the profession. He had the benefit of the mentorship of Rejabhad, an experienced political cartoonist. Rejabhad was well respected by his countrymen, who titled him the "penghulu (chief) of Malay cartoonists". After noticing Lat's submissions to newspapers and magazines, he corresponded with the young cartoonist. When Rejabhad was requested by Lat's mother to take care of her 15-year-old son in the cartooning industry, he accepted. He gave advice and influenced Lat's growth as a cartoonist. Lat treated Rejabhad with great respect, holding up his mentor as a role model. The affection and admiration was mutual. Thirty-six years after taking Lat under his wing, Rejabhad recounted their relationship in these words: "Lat and I are so far apart but so close in heart. When I meet him, my mouth is sewed up. When the love is very close, the mouth is dumb, can't speak a word.  Lat is on top of the mountain, as he doesn't forget the grass at the foot of the mountain.  When he goes here and there, he tells people I'm his teacher."

Rejabhad was not the first local figure to have exerted an influence on Lat. Raja Hamzah, popular with his action comics and ghost stories, was Lat's "hero" in his childhood. It was Raja Hamzah's cartoons of local swashbuckling adventurers that inspired Lat to become a cartoonist. Tiga Sekawan was the culmination of that desire, the success after numerous failed submissions and an affirmation to Lat that he could become a cartoonist like his idol. Raja Hamzah also had success with comic strips on family life, such as Mat Jambul's Family and Dol Keropok and Wak Tempeh. These cartoons imbued Lat with a fascination of family life and the antics of children, which served him well in his later works. Lat was interested in studying the details of his surroundings and capturing them in his works. Keluarga Si Mamat and The Kampung Boy faithfully depicted their characters' appearances and attitudes. Their narrations were written in a style that was natural to the locals. Thus, Lat was able to make his readers believe his stories and characters were substantially "Malay".

Later style
After his study trip to London in 1975, Lat's works exhibited the influences of editorial cartoonists such as Frank Dickens, Ralph Steadman, and Gerald Scarfe. In 1997, Ron Provencher, a professor emeritus at Northern Illinois University, reported that Lat's style reminded his informants on the Malaysian cartooning scene of The Beano. Muliyadi elaborated that The Beano and The Dandy's "theme of a child's world" is evident in Lat's Keluarga Si Mamat. Others commented that Lat's art stood out on its own. Singaporean cartoonist Morgan Chua believed that Lat "managed to create an impressively local style while remaining original", and although comics historian Isao Shimizu found Lat's lines "somewhat crude", he noted that the cartoonist's work was "highly original" and "full of life". Redza's judgement was that The Beano and The Dandy were "early formative [influences]" on Lat before he came into his own style. Lent gave his assessment in 1999: "It is Lat's drawing that is so evocative, so true to life, despite its very exaggerated distortion. Lat's Malaysian characters are distinguished by their ethnic linkages (for example, his Malay characters have three loop noses), which in itself, is no mean feat. The drawings are bold strokes, expressive dialogue in English and Bahasa Malaysia, as well as in what portends to be Chinese, Tamil, and entertaining backgrounds that tell their own stories."

Lat's work with pen and ink so impressed Larry Gonick that the American cartoonist was tempted into experimenting with this medium for part of his The Cartoon History of the Universe. Gonick tried to use the medium as he did his regular brushes; however, the results proved unsatisfactory. Lat occasionally colours his works, such as those in his Kampung Boy: Yesterday and Today (1993), using watercolour or marker pens. According to Lent, Redza judged that Lat had "elevated cartooning to the level of 'high visual arts' through his social commentary and 'construction of the landscape'". The art critic was not alone in having a high regard for Lat's works. Jaafar Taib, cartoonist and editor of Malaysian satirical magazine Gila-Gila, found Lat's cartoons retained their humour and relevance throughout time. He explained that this quality arose from the well-thought-out composition of Lat's works, which helped to clearly express the ideas behind the cartoons.

Sensitive topics
At the time that Lat started drawing for the New Straits Times, local political cartoonists were gentle in their treatment of Malaysian politicians; the politicians' features were recreated faithfully and criticisms were voiced in the form of subtle poems. Lat, however, pushed the boundaries; although he portrayed the politicians with dignity, he exaggerated notable features of their appearances and traits. Lat recalled that in 1974, he was told to change one of his works, which portrayed Malaysian Prime Minister Abdul Razak from the back. Lee refused to print the work unchanged, and pointedly asked the cartoonist "You want to go to jail?!" In 1975, however, Lat's next attempt at a political cartoon won Lee's approval. The satire featured a caricature of Razak's successor—Hussein Onn—on the back of a camel, travelling back to Kuala Lumpur from Saudi Arabia; its punchline was Hussein's hailing of his mount to slow down after reading news that a pay raise for the civil service would be enacted on his return.

Malaysia's political class grew comfortable with Lat's caricatures, and like the rest of the country, found them entertaining. Muliyadi described Lat's style as "subtle, indirect, and symbolic", following traditional forms of Malaysian humour in terms of ethics and aesthetics. The cartoonist's compliance with tradition in his art earned him the country's respect. When Lat was critical of politicians, he portrayed them in situations "unusual, abnormal or unexpected" to their status or personalities, using the contrast to make the piece humorous. Mahathir Mohamad, Malaysia's fourth Prime Minister, was Lat's frequent target for much of his political career, providing more than 20 years worth of material to the cartoonist—enough for a 146-page compilation Dr Who?! (2004). Lat's political wit targeted not only local politicians, but also Israeli actions in the Middle East and foreign figures such as prominent Singaporean politician Lee Kwan Yew. Despite his many works of political nature, Lat does not consider himself a political cartoonist and openly admits that there are others better than he is in this field.

Lat prefers to portray his ideas with as little antagonism as possible. He heeds the advice of his mentor, Rejabhad, and is aware of sensitivities, especially those of race, culture, and religion. As he devises the concept for his cartoon, he eliminates anything he believes to be malicious or insensitive. At the Fourth Asian Cartoon Exhibition in Tokyo, Lat revealed that when it came to making religious comments in his work, he only did so on his own religion (Islam). In such cases, Lat uses his art to help educate the young about his faith. Lat trusts his editors to do their jobs and cull what is socially unacceptable for print. In an interview, he revealed his discomfort with the concept of self-publishing, believing that unadulterated or unsupervised cartoon drawing could lead to "rubbish". He prefers to be assertive in areas with which he is comfortable or competent. Lat is adamant on not changing what he has already drawn; several pieces of his cartoons remain unpublished because editors refused to print them unchanged. When that happens, the editors spike (blank) the space for his regular cartoon in the newspaper. Lat admitted of his unprinted works: "Okay, maybe I've pushed the line a little bit, but I've never got into trouble and, frankly, only a handful of my cartoons were ever spiked."

Interests and beliefs
Music has played a crucial part in Lat's life since his youth; he revealed in an interview that listening to songs such as Peggy March's "I Will Follow Him" and Paul & Paula's "Hey Paula" helped him learn English. Listening to music had also become an important ritual in his work, providing him with inspiration in his art. When he sketches "fashionable girls", he puts on Paul McCartney's tracks, and switches to Indonesian gamelan when he needs to draw intricate details. He enjoys pop music, particularly rock music of the 1950s and 60s, listening to The Beatles, Bob Dylan, and Elvis Presley. Lat is also partial to country music, and to singers such as Hank Williams and Roy Rogers because he finds their tunes "humble". His enjoyment of music is more than a passive interest; he is proficient with the guitar and piano, and can play them by ear.

Malaysian society used to look down on cartoonists, assuming that those who practised the trade were intellectually inferior to writers, or were lesser artists; Lat was not the only cartoonist to be paid with movie tickets in the 1950s; Rejabhad once received one ticket for ten cartoons, and many others were likewise recompensed, or were paid very little money. Despite the lowly reputation of his profession at that time, Lat is very proud of his choice of career; he once took umbrage with an acquaintance's girlfriend for her presumption that the words and ideas in his cartoons were not his own. Drawing cartoons is more than a career to him: "If it is a job then how come it's been going on for 33 years, from childhood to now? A job is something you do at a certain time. You go to work, you finish it, you retire.  If this is a job, then by now I should have retired.  But I am still drawing.  It's not a job to me.  It is something expected of me."

- Lat (2007)

The elongated "L" in Lat's signature was born from his joy in completing a work. He professes that his primary aim in drawing cartoons is to make people laugh; his role as a cartoonist is "to translate the reaction of the people into humorous cartoons". He has no intentions to preach his beliefs through his art, believing that people should be free to make up their own minds and that the best he can do is to make readers ponder the deeper meanings behind a humorous scene. The reward he has sought from drawing since his youth is simple: "It gives a good feeling when people are amused by your funny drawings, especially for a kid. I felt like an entertainer when my drawings were shown to relatives and friends, and they laughed or even smiled."

Lat's pride in cartooning pushed him to promote the art as a respectable career. In 1991, he banded together with fellow cartoonists Zunar, Rejabhad, and Muliyadi to start "Pekartun" (Persatuan Kartunis Selangor dan Kuala Lumpur). This association holds exhibitions and forums, to raise public awareness of cartooning and to build relationships among its members. It also helps to clarify legal issues such as copyrights to its members, and acts as an intermediary between them and the government. In the previous year, Lat's company, Kampung Boy, had organised the first Malaysian International Cartoonists Gathering, bringing together cartoonists from several countries across the world to exhibit their art and participate in conferences to educate others in their work. In Redza's opinion, Lat played a great role in making cartooning respectable among his fellow Malaysians.

Aside from promoting the rights of fellow cartoonists, Lat developed an interest in encouraging conservation of the natural environment. Several of his works caricature the consequences of pollution and over-exploitation of resources. Invited to give a speech at the 9th Osaka International Symposium on Civilisation in 1988, Lat talked about the environmental problems associated with overpopulation and heavy industrialisation. He further reminisced about the simple cleaner life he had enjoyed as a child in the kampung. In 1977, when a protest was organised against logging activities in the Endau-Rompin Reserves, Lat helped gain support for the movement by drawing cartoons in the newspapers that highlighted the issue. Lat is also particularly concerned over what he sees as the negative side of urban development. He believes that such developments have contributed to the loss of the traditional way of life; people forget the old culture and values as they ingratiate themselves with the rapid pace and sophistication of urban lifestyles. His defence and fondness of the old ways are manifested in his The Kampung Boy, Town Boy, Mat Som, and Kampung Boy: Yesterday and Today, which champion the old lifestyles as spiritually superior.

Influence and legacy
Recognised globally, and widely popular in his country, Lat has been styled "cultural hero", "his nation's conscience in cartoon form" and "Malaysian icon" among other effusive titles. The Malaysian Press Institute felt Lat had "become an institution in [his] own right", honouring him with their Special Jury Award in 2005. Cartoonists in the Southeast Asian region, such as Muliyadi, Chua, and Rejabhad, have given high praise to Lat, and his admirers further abroad include North American cartoonists Matt Groening and Eddie Campbell. Groening, creator of The Simpsons, gave a testimonial for the United States version of The Kampung Boy, praising Lat's signature work as "one of the all-time great cartoon books". Sergio Aragonés, the creator of Groo the Wanderer, is another of Lat's American fans. After visiting Malaysia in 1987, Aragonés used the experience to create a story for Groo in which the bumbling swordsman chances on the isle of Felicidad, whose inhabitants and natural habitat were modelled after those of the Southeast Asian country. Aragonés drew the noses of the islanders in Lat's distinctive style, and named one of the prominent native characters—an inquisitive boy—after the Malaysian cartoonist.

Lent (2003) and Shimizu (1996) both suggest that the Malaysian comic industry began to boom after Lat joined the profession on a full-time basis in 1974. Lent further hazards that the cartoonist profession was made more respectable in Malaysia by the award to Lat in 1994 of a datuk title (equivalent to a knighthood). Bestowed on Lat by the Sultan of Perak, the title was Malaysia's highest recognition of the cartoonist's influence on his countrymen and his contributions to the country. Before Lat's emergence, Malaysian cartooning was largely unappreciated by the public, despite the popular works of Raja Hamzah and Rejabhad. Lat's successes showed Malaysians that they could thrive and succeed as cartoonists, and inspired them to look to the cartooning profession for potential careers. Several younger artists imitated his style in the hopes of capturing equivalent rewards. Zambriabu and Rasyid Asmawi copied the distinctive three loop noses and hairstyles of Lat's characters. Others, such as Reggie Lee and Nan, incorporated Lat's detailed "thematic and stylistic approaches" in their works. Muliyadi dubbed Lat the "Father of Contemporary Malaysian Cartoons", for being the first Malaysian cartoonist to achieve global recognition and for helping to improve the industry's image in their country.

The effects of Lat's works were not confined to the artistic sector. In the period before his debut, Malaysian cartoonists supported calls for national unity. The characters in a cartoon were often of one race, and negative focus on the foibles of particular races or cultures worked its way into the mainstream. Such cartoons did not help to soothe racial tensions that were simmering then. The situation erupted with the racial riots of 1969, and for several years after these incidents relationships among the races were raw and fragile. According to Redza, Lat soothed the nation's racial woes with his works. Drawing members of various races in his crowd scenes and showing their interactions with one another, Lat portrayed Malaysians in a gentle and unbiased comic manner. Redza pointed out although one may argue that Lat was forced into the role of racial and cultural mediator (because of his employment with his country's "leading English-language newspaper serving a multi-racial readership"), he possessed the necessary qualities—intimate knowledge of various races and culture—to succeed in the job. Lat's fans recognised the trademark of his oeuvre as "a safe and nice humour that made everyone feel good and nostalgic by appealing to their benevolent sides rather than by poking at their bad sides". It proved to be a successful formula; more than 850,000 copies of his books were sold in the twelve years after the first compilation of his editorial cartoons went on sale in 1977. The comfort that readers sought from his works was such that when in September 2008 Lat deviated from his usual style, to draw a cartoon about racially charged politicking in his country, it shocked journalist Kalimullah Hassan. She found the illustration of a group of Malaysians huddled under an umbrella, taking shelter from a rain of xenophobic phrases, full of profound sadness.

Lat's works have been used in academic studies—the fields of which are diverse, spanning law, urban planning, and diets. The academics use his drawings to help them illustrate their points in a humorous yet educational manner. Foreign embassy officials have sought Lat for his insight into the cultures of their societies. They have invited him to tour their countries, in the hope that he will record his experiences in cartoon form to share with the world. The first country to do so was the United States, followed by others such as Australia, Germany, and Japan. In 1998, Lat became the first cartoonist to be made an Eisenhower Fellow and revisited the United States; his research programme was the study of relationships among the many races in United States society. In 2007, the National University of Malaysia awarded him an honorary Doctorate in Anthropology and Sociology. Lat's works are recognised as visual records of Malaysia's cultural history; he was awarded a Fukuoka Asian Culture Prize in 2002 for preserving Malay rural culture in his works. In 2018, Lat was awarded the Tokoh Ar Ridzuan at the Perak state level of the Tokoh Maal Hijrah award. In 2019, the Taylor's University honoured him a Honorary Doctorate in Arts during the university's 18th convocation ceremony for his contribution to the development of the Malaysia's visual arts. Lat was awarded the 2023 National Journalists' Day Award for his contribution in conveying information and educating the communities on various issues through his works that is done with humour and prudence with a dash of sarcasm. He also awarded the Royal Artist by the Sultan of Perak, Sultan Nazrin Shah, making him the first Perakian to receive a such award. In December 2023, he receives the Cai Zhizhong Comic Prize at the 3rd Cai Zhizhong Comic Prize Awards in Guangzhou, China.

In 1986, Lat became the first cartoonist to exhibit his work at the National Museum in Kuala Lumpur; the event drew a record number of 600,000 visitors in two months. He is treated as a celebrity, and his cartoon characters decorate stamps, financial guides, and aeroplanes. When Reader's Digest asked Malaysians in 2010 to rank which of 50 local personalities was most worthy of trust, Lat was returned fourth on the list. According to Jaafar, "100% of Malaysians respect and admire Lat, and see a Malaysian truth, whether he is drawing a policeman, teachers, or hookers."

List of major honours

 * 1994 – Honorific title of datuk
 * 1998 – Eisenhower Fellowship
 * 2002 – Fukuoka Asian Culture Prize
 * 2005 – Petronas Journalism Awards (Special Jury Award)
 * 2007 – Honorary Doctorate in Anthropology and Sociology
 * 2010 – Civitella Ranieri Visual Arts Fellowship
 * 2014 – Merdeka Award for Education and Community category
 * 2018 – Tokoh Maal Hijrah
 * 2019 – Honorary Doctorate in Arts from the Taylor's University
 * 2023 – National Journalists' Day Award
 * 2023 – The title of Royal Artist
 * 2023 – 3rd Cai Zhizhong Comic Prize Awards

List of selected works
This is a partial list of Lat's books (first prints); excluded are translations and commissioned works, such as Latitudes (1986) for Malaysia Airlines and the annual personal financial management guides (since 1999) for Bank Negara Malaysia.

title: Lat (cartoonist)


text:
West Kingsdown

West Kingsdown is a village and civil parish in the Sevenoaks district of Kent, England, on the A20 5 miles (8 km) southeast of Swanley, 5.5 miles (9 km) northeast of Sevenoaks and 22.5 mi from London.

The area
The parish was part of Axstane Hundred and later Dartford Rural District. The village, because of its situation near London, grew considerably after the First World War from a relatively small farming community to a commuter village of around 5000 residents, expanding mainly on the northeast side of the A20. To the southwest of the main village are the rural housing developments of Knatts Valley and East Hill. To the north of the village lies the Brands Hatch motor racing circuit. There are four churches in the village: the parish church of St Edmund King and Martyr; West Kingsdown Baptist Church; the Roman Catholic church of St Bernadette; and Kings Church, an Evangelical church established in 1996.

History
Kingsdown, the former name of West Kingsdown village, traces its origins back to Anglo-Saxon settlements in the woods above the Darenth Valley. Farmers carved out pockets of land for arable farming. The Saxons also provided the name – 'the King's own hill pasture'. There is evidence that the parish church, St Edmund King and Martyr, was originally of Saxon construction. It appears that Edward the Confessor owned Kingsdown and the property passed into the ownership of William I following the Norman Conquest in 1066.
 * Village

From 1066 to 1630 the ownership of the land in and around Kingsdown passed into the possession of a series of landlords, including Edward IV. From 1630 until 1784 there were absentee landlords. Records from 1664 show there were around 30 houses in the parish, so the population may have been around 150 people, a third of whom were too poor to pay tax. A census in 1676 recorded 90 people aged over 16. No-one was, or admitted to being – a Roman Catholic or a nonconformist. In this period roads through the village grew in importance and a turnpike was set up on what is now the A20 to provide income. Around 1780 the route was realigned, making it easier to travel through the village.

At the first national census in 1801 the population was recorded as 337. By 1901 the population had only risen to 506, falling to 407 in 1911 and 427 in 1927. In 1874 a National School was built on what is now School Lane. Post the First World War the relatively stable farming community became a scattering of holiday homes, garages, shacks and smallholdings as commuters settled outside London and found homes in the countryside. In 1918 there were two shopkeepers in the village. By 1938 there were six garages, nine shops and ten cafes.

Between 1921 and 1981 the number of Kingsdown residents grew substantially to nearly 5000. Cul-de-sac construction added to the existing roads and several park home estates were built for older residents. A new primary school on Fawkham Road was built to take the growing number of children. Electricity was introduced in 1937 but mains drainage was only installed in 1968. During this period Brands Hatch Farm opened its land to cyclists for racing, the precursor to Brand Hatch Racing Circuit. The A20 was widened to a dual carriageway (subsequently reduced to single carriageway) and the trees that lined the road lost to the village. The construction of the M20, taking traffic to Dover, meant that the village was no longer a major thoroughfare for cars, coaches and lorries.

In 1948 Kingsdown changed its name at the request of the Post Office to avoid confusion with other villages in east Kent with the same name and became West Kingsdown.

A mention of a church at Kingsdown – the present St Edmund King and Martyr Church of England church – is found in tax records of 1287. The original construction, a Saxon church, was possibly constructed just before 1066, perhaps around 1030. It is possible that the church was the chapel built for the lord of the manor and served a small number of Saxon families who lived in huts around the church. The early building was a relatively simple structure built in stone and flint, comprising a nave, chancel and square tower. Extensions to the church were made in the twelfth century but these proved something of a disaster, weakening the building, and in the thirteenth century these were either demolished or fell down. The repairs were subsequently hidden by rendering, which was in turn later removed in the early 1900s. One of the interesting features of the church is the depiction of the story of Cain and Abel around one of the windows, which is dated around 1100.
 * Churches

In a census carried out in 1676 to establish how many Roman Catholics and nonconformists there were in the village no-one was, or admitted to being, a Roman Catholic or a nonconformist. In 1861 a toolshed was brought from the railway junction at Swanley to the site of the present Baptist Church on Fawkham Road and the Baptist Church was established as a visible part of the community. Based on other evidence it is reasonable to assume that there had been a Baptist community in the village from the 1830/1840s onwards, possibly as a result of a revival in North Kent at the beginning of the century. There are records of a congregation of 76 people meeting in 1851. The new 'toolshed church' was erected on Fawkham Road, close to the junction with the London-Dover Road (A20). It opened officially on Wednesday, 11 December 1861. The toolshed was demolished in 1980 and a new Baptist church and church hall erected on the site by the church members, opening officially on 4 July 1981. The entrance to the church was refurbished in 2010.

Both the Roman Catholic church of St Bernadette and Kings Church, closed in 2015, were established in the village in the late 1900s.

West Kingsdown Windmill is a Grade II listed smock mill that was built in the early nineteenth century at Farningham. The windmill was marked on Greenwoods map of 1821 and the Farningham Tithe Map of 1840. In 1880, it was moved to Kingsdown, where there was already a post mill. The post mill burnt down in May 1909. The windmill is located on the east side of the village, off Pells Lane.
 * Windmill

Sport
Brands Hatch motor racing circuit is located off the A20 on the north side of West Kingsdown. The circuit was used in 1926 as a grass track for bike riding and the first race held there in 1928 – a race between competitors riding bicycles and cross-country runners. The track hosted Formula 1 racing between 1964 and 1986 and runs major motor sport events during the year. In 2012 Brands Hatch was the venue for the Paralympic Games road cycling.

Rail
The closest National Rail stations to West Kingsdown are Eynsford and Kemsing, each located 4.6 miles away.

Buses
West Kingsdown is served by Go-Coach route 429 to Dartford via Farningham, Swanley, Joydens Wood & Wilmington.

Notable people
Olympian Lizzy Yarnold comes from West Kingsdown.

FIA Formula One Race Director Charlie Whiting is from West Kingsdown.

Para-athlete and commonwealth games silver medalist Johnboy Smith lives in West Kingsdown (see www.johnboysmith.com).

license: Creative Commons - Attribution Share-Alike - https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/

title: West Kingsdown


text:
Talk:Glossary of nautical terms (A–L)

Cut of his jib
Since ships are referred to as "her" and "she" the "his" in this phrase seems out of place. "Cut of her jib", when identifying a ship or its performance, would be more accurate. — Preceding unsigned comment added by 70.179.242.74 (talk) 15:54, 15 September 2005

 * "His" would refer to either the sailing master or the Captain of the vessel, if "cut of his jib" were being used literally. If it is being used figuratively then the gender of the person being described.

At speed, up to speed meaning
Can we please define and enter into the glossary of terms? Is it like there's a prescribed speed for the area/portion of the plan, and when someone says "we're up to speed" or "at speed" it means we're going the prescribed or planned speed? Or does it mean we're going very fast/at a quick clip? 2600:8801:C909:5700:E1F6:6632:F627:204B (talk) 10:08, 21 March 2022 (UTC)
 * Why do you think these are nautical terms? · · · Peter Southwood (talk): 17:48, 17 July 2022 (UTC)

Single up
Would like to see a definition for ‘single up’ (referring to mooring lines). Thank you. Wordplay7 (talk) 13:00, 27 March 2022 (UTC)

 * Wow! And the definition appears like magic!  Thanks, User:ThoughtIdRetired for a very quick reply! Wordplay7 (talk) 17:13, 28 March 2022 (UTC)

The article page has exceeded template limits
This article page has exceeded the template limits. See Help:Template and Help:Template limits for more information.

The result is currently that all the references, source citations and further reading at the bottom of the page just link to various template definitions and not to their intended destinations.

The NewPP report (see Help:Template limits) is showing

which is one of the markers of this limit being exceeded.

I'll leave it to regular contributors to the page to decide how they want to deal with this. Philh-591 (talk) 14:48, 29 March 2022 (UTC)
 * Suggest we split the glossary in half: A–L and M–Z. This should get a roughly equal division of content between the two articles. Does anyone have any knowledge on how to do this easily and effectively? ThoughtIdRetired (talk) 17:23, 29 March 2022 (UTC)
 * I've taken a look at WP:CORRECTSPLIT. I guess the best method would be to move each section M–Z into the article Glossary of nautical terms (S) which will have to be moved to Glossary of nautical terms (M–Z). That way at least some of the references will be in the article already. The real work will be sort out all the short form refs (which are in a muddle already, with some being sfn's and others using the r template) that have been separated from the full statement of the ref. I don't see any easy solution to that, beyond a lot of hard work. ThoughtIdRetired (talk) 18:06, 29 March 2022 (UTC)
 * The page could have been made to fit within this limit by replacing instances of gli with plainly formatted links: that can shave off about a quarter of the post‐expand include size. Still, the page would have remained huge (with all the consequent problems for the reader experience), so it was a good thing it got split. – Uanfala (talk) 20:54, 13 April 2022 (UTC)

Dunsel
I'm 99% percent sure that this is a made up word from Star Trek. Does it really belong on the list? LordApofisu (talk) 16:09, 10 April 2022 (UTC)

 * It's unreferenced, and I can't find a reasonable reference. Anything from Star Trek has a presence on the internet, but there is nothing to suggest that this is in genuine nautical usage. Therefore I have deleted this entry. Someone can reinstate it if there is a reference that is not based on Star Trek. ThoughtIdRetired (talk) 19:33, 10 April 2022 (UTC)

Broken links after the split
The glossary has a lot of internal cross-linking: every instance of a term that's used in the description will be formatted using gli as a link to the respective glossary entry for that term. The trouble is, now that the original glossary has been split into two pages, roughly half of those links no longer work. There's a large number of them: Glossary of nautical terms (M-Z) has over 400. I think there may be a way to fix those links without going through each one of them by hand, but before I set out to find it, I would to know if the current arrangement is going to remain (because if there's another slit, or a merge, down the line, those links will need to get changed all over again).

Unrelated to that, the new titles use hyphens when they should in fact use n-dashes (see MOS:DASH). So if this is going to be the stable arrangement, then the two articles should be titled Glossary of nautical terms (A–L) and Glossary of nautical terms (M–Z). – Uanfala (talk) 19:56, 13 April 2022 (UTC)

 * As above (The article page has exceeded template limits) this topic was raised because the page size is too great for the technology. There was no assistance offered then, so it seemed to be a case of just getting on with it.
 * There was always going to be a lot of work involved in this split - not least the large number of articles that link to Glossary of nautical terms and now need to point to the correct half of the split. The ones that link to a term in Glossary of nautical terms (A-L) will still work, as there is a redirect from the "unsplit" article name. However, the ones where the term is in Glossary of nautical terms (M-Z) fail, unless the term starts with "S", as section 2 used Glossary of nautical terms (S) as a starting point. The only way to identify if an article that links to either of the glossary articles is to open it in edit and see what "edit/find" reveals. If you have an alternative to this tedious work, please say so.
 * Glossary links within the article: yes, that is going to be a lot of work. The ones to terms beginning with "S" have already been done, as that is easy to search for. The remainder are going to be a lot more tedious to do. You are very welcome to help.
 * Changing the article names to have an n-dash in them is theoretically correct. The time to have mentioned it was when he post above, suggesting the plan, was made. I don't see any value in undoing the significant amount of work already done to meet some stylistic guideline whose purpose I have never understood. Perhaps that is my failing on seeing the benefit of that precise bit of the MOS. What we have now is a bit quicker to type when a bespoke edit is done in any link or glossary link. Many of the common ones can be done with a cut and paste from a store of common occurrences - but it is a close call as to whether it is quicker to type or cut and paste. If you are a keen bot writer with a solution to this problem, now is the time to say.
 * One thing that slows down the whole tidying up process is that it reveals the disastrously poor content of the glossary. It is common to find another article link here with a correct meaning of a term which is not covered in the glossary. A lot of that is down to the huge prevalence of unreferenced content. That is a little despairing - that we have had to split the article as editors have piled in yet more unreferenced stuff when what is already in the article needs fixing.
 * Any suggestions to any of the above would be very welcome. ThoughtIdRetired (talk) 20:26, 13 April 2022 (UTC)
 * On the point about n dashes, having just looked up User:Uanfala: "The less consequential a rule, the greater the zeal with which it is enforced" - just a thought. But clearly we need to see a way out of this before too much more work is put at risk. ThoughtIdRetired (talk) 20:31, 13 April 2022 (UTC)
 * For the n-dashes: all you need to do is move the two articles. Redirects will remain at the old titles, so all the incoming links will still work. You don't need to do anything else.
 * If you have an alternative to this tedious work, please say so. – You can try this search; you'd need to then repeat a version of it for each of the two redirects that have incoming links and . This will filter out pages with links where the term starts with something other than a letter in M–Z. You'll still have to fix the links manually though. In principle, you can ask help with this sort of stuff at AutoWikiBrowser/Tasks, but it's probably best to do it by hand – there are fewer than 180 links now, and there are oddities that may need human attention. – Uanfala (talk) 20:49, 13 April 2022 (UTC)
 * Your alternative search noted, but I was using (pages that link to Glossary of nautical terms, which was probably as efficient as it finds multiple hits in one page (by edit find). But that now finds no articles linking to the old glossary page. I am guessing that some bot has gone and pointed them all at Glossary of nautical terms (A-L) and some of those should point at the (M-Z) version. That might be fun to sort out, but first step is to find out if that is the case. I need to do a bit of work on this to discover exactly what has happened. ThoughtIdRetired (talk) 21:44, 13 April 2022 (UTC)
 * You were using an odd offset parameter in the URL. Here's a link for your search that works . – Uanfala (talk) 21:49, 13 April 2022 (UTC)
 * Thanks for that. I was just filling in display options on the screen so no idea what happened. It says there are 511 articles to attend to. I don't know how important talk pages, etc. are. I think last time I looked there were 711 links that needed attention, which kind of fits with the 511 plus some talk pages, etc.
 * I am tempted with the gli links in each of the two halves of the glossary to copy big chunks of each article into a word processor and do a semi-automated edit-replace. I might try that out with one letter - but not this late in the evening or I will mess it up. I also need to get my head round going for the n-dashes in the article titles. Thanks for your help in this matter. ThoughtIdRetired (talk) 22:05, 13 April 2022 (UTC)
 * Just a note: you said earlier that the "What links here" search was more efficient. It is not: it returns over 500 results (vs. 172 for the refined search), which includes articles that don't link to any particular subsection or term (Glossary of nautical terms), or articles that link only to terms found in the A–L page (say, block). – Uanfala (talk) 22:23, 13 April 2022 (UTC)
 * Ah, got that now - I said it was getting late. I did, however break my own rules and try taking letter M into a word processor to do semi-automated find/replace of gli's that should point to the other half of the glossary. Seems to have worked. I see you are actively editing, but I really am done for the day. Thanks ThoughtIdRetired (talk) 22:49, 13 April 2022 (UTC)
 * That should be sorted now: I used a regexp to handle all the letters in one go. – Uanfala (talk) 23:25, 13 April 2022 (UTC)

Table of Contents
It is possible to code a table of contents that links between sub-glossaries, and to code a substitute for that automatically chechs the initial letter and opens the correct sub-glossary. These templates are probably a bit heavier on rendering time so might require slightly smaller page sizes, but splitting into smaller sub-glossaries becomes a relatively trivial exercise afterwards. The templates required would be Template:Glossary of nautical terms ToC and Template:Nautical term (or similar). This system has been applied to Glossary of underwater diving terminology, which currently has 5 sub-glossaries, A–C, D–G, H–O, P–R and S–T, a Template:Glossary of underwater diving terminology ToC, and a linking Template:Diving term which can be used from anywhere in Wikipedia, and automatically links to the correct term in the correct sub-glossary. If there is agreement to do this here I can prepare the templates and get the work started. I also have a copy of Jane's dictionary of Naval Terms, so could help with a bit of referencing. Feel free to test Glossary of underwater diving terminology and its system. I have not been able to break it yet, but there may be a weak point I have missed. · · · Peter Southwood (talk): 17:42, 17 July 2022 (UTC)

Discuss
, I have coded the glossary ToC and put one on the top of the page. Take a look and see if you think it is suitable. It has worked for my tests. Putting it into service is just a matter of replacing the existing ToCs with the template on both sub-glossaries. Cheers, · · · Peter Southwood (talk): 15:32, 19 July 2022 (UTC)
 * I am more of an "article content" person, than an editor who is into the technicalities of how things work in Wikipedia. I will nevertheless have a look at the technology and will post here if I spot any issues. Can't see any problems in the first instance. ThoughtIdRetired (talk) 16:05, 19 July 2022 (UTC)
 * Main point is that the content people should be Ok with the change. Cheers, · · · Peter Southwood (talk): 17:36, 19 July 2022 (UTC)
 * Converted both subglossaries to the new custom ToC. It seems to be working as intended. Ping me if there is any problem. If all goes well I will move on to the next stage of coding the Template:Nautical term and test it. Cheers, · · · Peter Southwood (talk): 12:10, 24 July 2022 (UTC)
 * Coded Template:Nautical term and have a test example up and running. It seems to work correctly. Let me know if anyone finds a bug. I will add a few more examples for a more exhaustive test. · · · Peter Southwood (talk): 13:31, 24 July 2022 (UTC)
 * Have now converted all of "A", and all seems good. Cheers · · · Peter Southwood (talk): 10:23, 25 July 2022 (UTC)
 * Completed (as far as I can tell) all cross sub-glossary links using template:nautical term. I will have a look at some of the external glossary links, but not committing to doing them all myself. The existing links will continue to work until the next split anyway, so not urgent. · · · Peter Southwood (talk): 12:31, 25 July 2022 (UTC)
 * If anyone cares, moving the sub-glossaries to names using ndashes should now be relatively trivial. MOS:GLOSS recommends Glossary of nautical terms: A–L etc. Let me know. Redirects would be left to avoid link malfunctions from other articles. Cheers, · · · Peter Southwood (talk): 08:44, 26 July 2022 (UTC)

Inclining experiment
What is the definition of this? Various sources mention it as a way of measuring actual metacentric height but it is never defined. Can anyone define it on this page? Thanks! Tfdavisatsnetnet (talk) 00:25, 11 January 2023 (UTC)

title: Talk:Glossary of nautical terms (A–L)


text:
File:Intactivists protest for Genital Integrity at the Convention for 2004 of American Academy of PÃ¦diatrics in San Francisco.Jpeg

Ŭalabio 04:51, 2004 Dec 10 (UTC)

A picture I took at a protest. I hold the original copyright. I dedicate it to the public domain.

Ŭalabio 04:51, 2004 Dec 10 (UTC)


text: User talk:61.1.229.5

title: User talk:61.1.229.5


text:
Christianity in Malaysia

Christianity is a minority religion in Malaysia. In the 2020 census, 9.1% of the Malaysian population identified themselves as Christians. About two-thirds of Malaysia's Christian population lives in East Malaysia, in the states of Sabah and Sarawak. Adherents of Christianity represent a majority (50.1%) of the population in Sarawak, which is Malaysia's largest state by land area. Christianity is one of four major religions, including Islam, Hinduism, and Buddhism, that have a freedom protected by the law in Malaysia based on diversity law especially in East Malaysia.

In 2020, half of Malaysian Christians were Catholic, 40% were Protestant and 10% belonged to other denominations.

In 2008, the major Christian denominations in the country included Roman Catholics, Anglicans (represented by the Church of the Province of South East Asia, which also covers Anglicans in Singapore and Brunei), Baptists, Brethren, non-denominational churches, independent Charismatic churches, Lutherans, Methodists, Presbyterians and Sidang Injil Borneo.

History
Early Christian presence in the Malay Archipelago can be traced to Arab Christian traders from the Arabian Peninsula who heard the gospel from Peter the apostle at Jerusalem (Acts 2:11), as well as those evangelized by Paul's ministry in Arabia (Galatians 1:17) and the evangelistic ministry of St Thomas to the early Arabians and Nestorians from as early as the 7th century and to early Arab Christian, Persian and Nestorian traders in Malacca prior to the Portuguese conquest in 1511. The British acquired Penang in 1786, and in 1795 took over Malacca, which had been conquered by the Dutch in 1641. Catholic priests from Thailand established the Major Seminary in Penang in 1810. The LMS was based in Malacca and Penang from 1815, but most Protestant missions collapsed after 1842 when it became possible to enter China. Catholic leadership remained, but was divided between Portuguese and French. Open Brethren ministry dates from 1860 and Methodist from 1885. Presbyterianism grew through Chinese churches in Johore and expatriate congregations in Penang, Ipoh and Kuala Lumpur. Mission to Sengoi indigenous people began in 1932. Pentecostalism became a larger influence through the Charismatic Movement of the 1970s, but North American and Ceylon Pentecostal Mission missionaries (Pentecostal Church of Malaysia) had been active from 1935.

Anglicanism and Roman Catholicism came to North Borneo in 1882 after the establishment of British North Borneo, albeit there were earlier attempts such as the Catholic mission led by a Spanish mariner turned priest, Carlos Cuarteroni in 1857 in Labuan, with stations established in Brunei and Looc Porin (now Kota Kinabalu), however with lesser success. A more extensive missionary movement, for example the Roman Catholic Mill Hill Missionaries started in 1882, focused mainly on the Chinese and indigenous communities, such as the Kadazan-Dusun people. Migration was also an important factor in the spread of Christianity. The Basel Mission also worked in Sabah in 1882 among migrant Hakka Chinese, many of whom were Christian. Tamil migrants to Malaya included Catholics, Lutherans, Anglicans, and Methodists. Migration increased after the Boxer Rebellion, particularly to Sitiawan and Sibu, still strong Chinese Methodist centres. Mar Thoma and Syriac Orthodox Churches were established in the 1930s following migration from the Kerala Coast of India.

In Sarawak the rule of Rajah Brooke included support for an Anglican ministry from 1847 and Catholics were later admitted. In 1928 the Australian Borneo Evangelical Mission began work with modest resources which nevertheless resulted in the largest indigenous church in Malaysia today, the Sidang Injil Borneo (Borneo Evangelical Church). World War II saw the removal of expatriate leadership and a path towards an indigenous church was more clearly set. The Malayan Christian Council (MCC), founded in 1948, coordinated mission groups during the Malayan Emergency. Chinese relocated into 'New Villages' were served by missionaries, sometimes ex-China, who worked alongside local Christians in social and medical work. However, after independence in 1957, many churches were overdependent on expatriates. In the 1970s churches developed structures independent of Singapore as well as of overseas support. Recent growth in independent churches is another sign of a desire to establish a Malaysian Christian identity.

Christian commitment to education has been strong through Anglican, Catholic and Methodist schools, now part of the government education system. Social concern is expressed through medical work, and organisations such as Malaysian CARE. The Salvation Army and YMCA/YWCAs make distinctive contributions.

Since 1983 the National Evangelical Christian Fellowship (NECF) has provided a focus for evangelical and independent congregations. The Christian Federation of Malaysia incorporating the Christian Council of Malaysia (formerly MCC), Roman Catholics, and the NECF was formed in 1986. The Sabah Council of Churches and Association of Churches of Sarawak fulfil similar functions in East Malaysia.

Malaysia is a multi-religious context where Western theological preoccupations are not always relevant. Lay leadership has developed strongly in most churches. Although there are many challenges through changing political and economic circumstances, like Malaysia itself, the churches are beginning to see that they have a contribution to make on a larger stage.

Church buildings
Churches are allowed in Malaysia, though there are restrictions on construction of new churches through discriminatory zoning laws. No pre-existing churches have been closed down by the government and no standing congregations have been disbanded. However, it is difficult to build new churches. For instance, it took more than twenty years for the local council in Shah Alam to allow a church to be built there, with an additional condition that the church must look like a factory and not a more conventional church appearance. However, new churches is allowed and easy to apply a new land in East Malaysia due to the 67.9% people living in East Malaysia is a Christians (based on diversity and harmony law in East Malaysia). Most of the time, new churches are started in a clandestine manner as ordinary businesses in shops, especially in major cities like Kuala Lumpur.

Some of Malaysia's notable current churches include St. John's Cathedral in Kuala Lumpur, St. Joseph's Cathedral in Kuching, Sacred Heart Cathedral in Kota Kinabalu, St. Michael's Church in Penampang and Christ Church in Malacca City.

Evangelism
The freedom to practice and propagate religion is guaranteed under the Article 11 of the Constitution of Malaysia and this is generally respected. The Constitution however allows for the restriction of the propagation of religions other than Islam to the Muslim community and the ambiguity of these provisions has resulted in some problems.

It has been the practice of the church in Malaysia to not actively proselytise to the Muslim community. Christian literature are required by law to carry a caption "for non-Muslims only". Article 11(4) of the Federal Constitution of Malaysia allows the states to prohibit the propagation of other religions to Muslims, and most (with the exception of Penang, Sabah, Sarawak and the Federal Territories) have done so. There is no well researched agreement on the actual number of Malaysian Muslim converts to Christianity in Malaysia. According to the latest population census released by the Malaysian Statistics Department, there are none, according to Ustaz Ridhuan Tee, there are 135 and according to Tan Sri Dr Harussani Zakaria, there are 260,000. See also Status of religious freedom in Malaysia.

There are, however, cases in which a Muslim will adopt the Christian faith without declaring his/her apostasy (in the eyes of Islamic authorities) openly. In effect, they are practising Christians, but legally Muslims.

Muslims showing interest in the Christian faith or other faith practices not considered orthodox by state religious authorities are usually sent either by the police or their family members to state funded Faith Rehabilitation Centres (Pusat Pemulihan Akidah) where they are counselled to remain faithful to Islam and some states have provisions for penalties under their respective Shariah legislations for apostasy from Islam.

Bible translation and literature
Portions of the Bible had been translated into the Malay language as early as 1612 and was published in the Netherlands in 1629. The Malay language was one of the first Eastern Asian languages to have the Bible translated. Due to the linguistic and cultural similarities of both Malaysia and Indonesia, a lot of early language and literature work was shared by the two territories and the legacy remains today.

As a Muslim majority country, opinions on whether the Indonesian-language Bible and Malay-language Bible, both known by the name Alkitab, should be banned, are polarised. The word rendered 'Lord' in English translations is given in Malay as 'Tuhan' while the word 'God' in English is translated as 'Allah'. It was claimed that there is no closer translation from the original Hebrew since both Arabic and the Hebrew word for God come from the same Semitic root, and Arabic-speaking Christians and Maltese-speaking Christians also use the word 'Allah' for God.

Other Christian materials in the Malay language have been banned at various times for similar reason. However, the Prime Minister clarified in April 2005 that there was no ban on Bibles translated into Malay, although they are required to be stamped with a disclaimer "Not for Muslims".

A lawsuit was filed by the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Kuala Lumpur against the Government of Malaysia at the High Court of Malaya to seek a declaratory relief that the archdiocesan newspaper, The Herald, was entitled to use the word Allah and that the word should not exclusive to Islam.

The Iban Bible named Bup Kudus was also banned for using the term Allah Taala for God. Eventually, it was explained to the government that there was no other comparable term in Iban. As such, the ban was not enforced further, although neither was it officially repealed. The ban was later lifted only for usage by the Iban people, after protests from various Christian leaders.

Education
Christian Missionary schools are part of education system in Malaysia today and administered by Ministry of Education with little interference by the churches where they belong to. Missionary schools are partially government-funded while teachers and administration staff are provided by the government. Most of the missionary schools were constructed before Malaysia was formed. Christian religious symbols such as crucifixes are visible to many Christian missionary schools. However, display of crucifixes to non-missionary schools are normally disallowed.

There are no official school subjects for Christian students. However, Christian and other non-Muslim students are allowed to take Bible Knowledge subject, the only Christian-related subject in SPM (Sijil Pelajaran Malaysia or Malaysia Certificate of Education) for secondary school. There are various non-official Christian school subjects, but it mostly caters for Christians and non-Muslims.

Music
There are many Christian songwriters in Malaysia, but the market is still fresh and not widespread. A network called the Malaysian Christian Songwriters Network, has been set up to promote the Malaysian Christian music scene.

Films
Mel Gibson's 2004 film The Passion of The Christ saw a restricted release in Malaysia. Officially, the movie was open to Christians only. Attendance was discouraged since tickets were not carried by the usual box offices. Christian groups such as the National Evangelical Christian Fellowship arranged block bookings of cinemas and distributed tickets to various churches. An initial run of two-months was extended, making it appear doubtful that only Christians viewed the film.

The Daughters of St. Paul or also known as Pauline Family, a Christian congregation founded by Blessed James Alberione and also nowadays a Christian film advertiser make investments in Malaysia. Their notable work in advertising is including The Passion of the Christ and Maria Goretti film, both film available in CD/DVD Only in Malaysia, and mostly popular in Sabah and Sarawak. The Daughters of St. Paul branches location in Malaysia is Petaling Jaya, Kuala Lumpur, Kota Kinabalu, and Kuching. They are allowed to advertise the Christian news, films, and music since they are also contributed the states economy. However in West Malaysia, even the congregation allowed to advertise their work, they still have the limitations to do their work and meanwhile in East Malaysia they have no limitations due to the Keningau Oath Stone and also the Diversity and Harmony that protected by the law of both Sabah and Sarawak states.

Activities
Actual modes of worship such as the liturgy used and the sermons are not actively censored or controlled by the government. Occasional surveillance of worship by clandestine operatives does occur.

It has been reported that several public secondary schools and universities have unofficially banned on-campus Christian activities, such as Christian Fellowship (CF).

Christmas
Christmas is a public holiday in Malaysia, though much of the public celebration is commercial in nature and has no overt religious overtones. Occasionally, Christians do buy newspaper adverts on Christmas or Easter, but this is largely only allowed in English-language newspapers and permission is not given every year. The adverts themselves are usually indirect statements.

In 2004 the government organised a national-level Christmas celebration but allegedly imposed an unofficial ban on all Christian religious symbols and hymns that specifically mention Jesus Christ. The event was jointly organised by the Arts, Culture and Heritage ministry, the government of the state of Selangor and the Christian Federation of Malaysia (CFM). It was reported in advance that the Prime Minister, the Sultan of Selangor and his consort, as well as assorted cabinet ministers would be in attendance, and that the event would be televised.

O.C. Lim, a former lawyer turned Jesuit priest and director of the Catholic Research Centre (also assistant parish priest of St Francis Xavier's Church) lodged a formal complaint. He also stated that "To exclude (such) carols and to use (Christmas) for political gain is outrageous, scandalous and sacrilegious." He also said "To call it a cultural event (as rationalised by Christian politicians who are more politician than Christian) is to downgrade Jesus to a cultural sage such as Confucius."

CFM general secretary Rev. Dr. Hermen Shastri stated that the government wanted "nothing that insults Islam" during the open house.

Arts, Culture and Heritage Minister Dr Rais Yatim later denied that any such ban had been "issued officially or unofficially". He also added that there is "nothing wrong in singing songs such as 'Silent Night' and 'Merry Christmas'" as they are "joyous songs for the festival."

Lee Min Choon, legal adviser to the CFM and the National Evangelical Christian Fellowship issued a statement which said "It means that churches can celebrate Christmas as they have been doing all along. Otherwise, the very meaning of the occasion will be lost." "Now, everybody should take the government at its word and celebrate Christmas the way they normally celebrate and express their religious faith."

Good Friday
Good Friday is not a federal public holiday, but is a state public holiday in Sabah, and also in Sarawak, where Christianity is the largest religion; both states were granted some level of greater autonomy than other states in the Federation, as they were considered polities on par with Malaya when they merged with it and Singapore to form Malaysia. But it is a school holiday for some schools (or specifically, non-Muslim-majority schools).

However, there is no evidence that this theological objection plays any role in the non-inclusion of Good Friday as a holiday. On the contrary, Good Friday is probably not a public holiday because, as a whole in the federation, Christians constitutes 9.2% of the population according to the 2010 Census. The other two significant religious minorities in Malaysia, Buddhists and Hindus, also receive just one federal public holiday each - Wesak Day and Deepavali respectively. Deepavali however, is not federal holiday in the state of Sarawak.

Independence Day/Malaysia Day fasting
Malaysian Christians sometimes hold fasts ending on Independence Day or Malaysia Day and pray for Muslims. A number of explanations have been given for doing so including a desire to show patriotism, promoting religious harmony, and celebrating freedom of religion. Since 2000 the National Evangelical Christian Fellowship, with 2,800 member churches, has organised these fasts and they are ongoing event as of 2010. All previous fasts have ended on Independence Day but the 2010 fast was followed by Malaysia Day and thus for the first time coincided with Ramadan.

Distribution of Christians
According to the 2020 census, there were 2,941,049 people self-identifying as Christians (representing 9.1% of total Malaysian population).

By gender
The 2020 Population and Housing Census Report gives the following statistics:

By state or federal territory
Malaysian Population and Housing Census Report from 1970 to the recent 2020 census gives the following statistics, showing the number of Christians in each states and their percentage out of the total population of each states.

By urban-rural strata
The 2000 Population and Housing Census Report indicates that approximately 11.5% of the rural population and 7.6% of the urban population are adherents to Christianity making Christians the 2nd largest and 4th largest faith community in their respective population strata.

Freedom of religion
The freedom of religion about Christianity and other religions in Malaysia was written in Keningau Oath Stone (protected by Malaysia Borneo government), however its only mentioned and confirmed by both state of Malaysia in Borneo.

In 2023, the country was ranked as the 43rd worst country in the world to be a Christian, but it was recorded only in West Malaysia (due to political intervene on religion) meanwhile in East Malaysia still not the worst to be a Christian (not included in rank) because of diversity and harmony tradition protected by both the Sabah and Sarawak government that also written in Keningau Oath Stone.

title: Christianity in Malaysia


text: User talk:68.124.166.39

title: User talk:68.124.166.39