An Anglophile and avid globetrotter, Datuk Abdul Hamid would relate his life from the 1940s to the present day, with thrilling exploits in exotic spots such as London, Switzerland, France and Algeria.
These adventures were greatly enjoyed, and readers enjoyed speculating on who he really was. The dramatic Datuk, however, was eventually revealed to be a creation of broadcaster and writer Kam Raslan, who wrote his stories “based on truth”.
Those stories were eventually compiled into a 2007 collection, “Confessions Of An Old Boy”. And now, almost two decades later, this colourful character returns, in his very own novel: “Malayan Spy”.
“I actually finished it some time ago, but it wasn’t easy to find a publisher. It takes a certain kind of type of person to sit down and write a book. But that psychological type is not the best type to sell that book!” Kam shared with a laugh.
Published by Penguin Random House SEA, “Malayan Spy” transports readers to London in 1952. Datuk Abdul Hamid is now simply Hamid, a lost and unmoored soul, desperately wanting to belong to something greater than him.
He ends up meeting his old friend Tom Pelham, who invites him to his family estate. Accepting, Hamid is delighted to be reunited with his childhood crush, Clare. His joy turns to despair, however, after Hamid makes a terrible choice – one that gets him kicked out of the estate. Tom offers him a chance for redemption by spying for England.
Sent to East Berlin, Hamid must now protect himself from Soviet forces, relying only on the questionable loyalties of a colonel and the wits of his mistress. Will he find a way out of this precarious predicament? And will he finally find the place in which he belongs?
“Here’s Hamid, a spy who doesn’t belong to a nation. He’s Malayan, in a time when (this imagined) Malaya didn’t exist – but he knows it’s going to,” Kam noted.
“Should he then serve Her Majesty’s secret service? Hamid has to deal with this confusion of identity and determine where his loyalties lie.”
For the 59-year-old, writing the novel’s espionage chapters were a delight: he drew inspiration from John le Carre novels and James Bond films to shape the shadowy affairs of the plot.
In writing the themes of allegiance and colonialism, Kam ended up reflecting on his own family’s Malay-British heritage – specifically a Malay ancestor who had been the most senior civil servant in Perak, and a Welsh ancestor who had been the chief of police in his village.
“They never knew each other, but I wondered what it would be like if they had met. They were both men who were used to being respected. Who’s the boss? I wanted this novel to explore this type of clash.”
A lot of the novel, he said, involves taking Hamid and placing him, almost “Forrest Gump”-style, against the backdrop of fascinating world events. These include London’s Great Smog of 1952 and the East German uprising of 1953, a lesser-known Cold War conflict the author discovered during his own trip to Berlin.
Might we see more of Hamid’s adventures in future? Kam hopes so: he can already see his character caught in the middle of the tumultuous Malayan Emergency. Apparently, “Malayan Spy” lays the foundations for that story.
Asked about potential screen adaptations, he believes filming his books would require too big a budget. A stage play, perhaps – but who would play the main character?
“I think Ghafir Akbar would do a great job – maybe even Jo Kukathas,” Kam mused.
Ultimately, he wants readers to be entertained by his erstwhile spy’s adventures, while discovering that some amazing things had happened in the past.
“I hope they enjoy reading about Hamid,” he concluded, “and ask themselves, ‘If I had been in his position, would I have done some of the things he did?’”
‘Malayan Spy’ is available in bookstores nationwide. For more information, visit Penguin Random House SEA’s website.