By Nureza Ahmad written on 12-May-2004
National Library Board Singapore

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Abdul Ghani Abdul Hamid (b. 13 Apr 1933, Singapore), an award-winning writer, poet and artist, has contributed to the Malay literature and the arts in Singapore since his schooldays. Writing primarily in Malay, he has hundreds of poems, short stories, essays, newspaper articles and plays to his name. As a painter, he has participated in more than 60 exhibitions since 1950. He is the founding member of Angkatan Pelukis Aneka Daya (APAD) (Artists of Various Resources) and the recipient of three prestigious literary awards: the Anugerah Tun Seri Lanang (1998), the Southeast Asia Write Award for Malay Poetry (1998), and the Cultural Medallion (1999).

Early Life
A. Ghani Hamid (b. 1933, Singapore), as he is commonly known, was educated in both the Malay and English streams, firstly at Telok Kurau English School followed by Raffles Institution. As a student, he wrote compositions and kept a journal, and in Raffles Institution, he progressed to contributing poems and articles to Malay newspapers and magazines. He recalled how he would walk from his school, Raffles Institution (located at Bras Basah then), to a Malay publishing house nearby at North Bridge Road to collect his payment of $5 for each of his weekly work published. It was also in Raffles Institution that he had his first art exhibition as part of the Youth Festival.

Upon graduation, he went on to hold a full-time job as a clerk with the Public Utilities Board for 33 years. Despite working full-time and becoming a father of four children, he managed to write during his free time, normally between nine in the evening to midnight on weekdays. On weekends, he would attend to his other love, painting. His literary and artistic efforts resulted in a series of deeply metaphysical poems and abstract paintings. As A. Ghani says, "When I get tired of writing, I paint. And when I get tired of painting, I write." Hence, it was not unusual for his writing and painting to have similar subjects and even titles.

Multi-talented artist
Other than writing and painting, he was an active member in the local artistic arena. In 1962, he founded the Angkatan Pelukis Aneka Daya (APAD ) (Association of Artists of Various Resources) with its motto "Secita Mencipta" (Together We Create). APAD has achieved much success under his leadership, guidance, wisdom and unselfish devotion to the association.

His plays have been performed by various groups and staged in a number of drama festivals in Singapore. He has also written radio dramas. Two of his novels have been published, one of which Delima Merah di Jari Manis was translated into Chinese. He continues to publish his works. Unfortunately, few of his manuscripts and typescripts have survived.

He was also the creator of a comic strip in the 1970s. Called Mat Dalang, the comic strip appeared in the Sunday Berita Minggu newspaper and Malay magazines, under the pen name of Lazuardi.

Undaunted by difficulties that came his way, he once said, "writers and entrepreneurs need to make sacrifices, if they want Malay literature to reach greater heights. One cannot be thinking of returns all the time." It was with this mindset that he sacrificed his Tun Sri Lanang award cash prize of $7,000 to publish his play Wak Cantuk.

In 1998, after braving the literary scene for 50 years since 1948, A. Ghani Hamid was awarded the Anugerah Tun Sri Lanang by the Majlis Bahasa Melayu Singapura (Singapore Malay Language Council).

He is now living out his retirement in his Tampines flat where he devotes most of his time to his artistic pursuits. Occasionally, he would travel to his second home in Serkam, Malacca, where away from the hustle and bustle of the urban Singaporean crowd, he gets his inspiration for more of his art works and writings. His recent appoinment include member of the National Arts Council, from 2000 to 2002.

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