Abang Li

I would like to dedicate this story to Kak Teh of Choc A Bloc Blog. It was Kak Teh who had been egging me on to blog about Abang Li which I mentioned in passing in my previous blog - The Old Cinemas of Pasir Mas. Kak Teh revealed that she did her thesis on Cinemas for her Master's degree, so I guess that is the reason she is anxious to find out more on anything that is related to the cinemas. Am I right Kak Teh?
Actually it was Pendita who sent me this URL http://www.mafaka.org/2008/07/catatan/catatan-pasir-mas/ and asked me to look into it. It was the blog whom I believe to be owned by a Kelantanese who came back for the recent Hari Raya holiday. Read more about what he wrote here.
Passing by Kedai Lukisan Ramli at Arked Mara was a common activities for me as I went to buy things like fish or vegetables at the pasar near to the bus stand.
Kedai Lukisan Ramli

For those who are not familiar with Pasir Mas, we have three pasars here. The main one is of course the one across the railway line opposite the railway station. The one near the bus stand is the second one and more often referred to as Pasar Mundok by the locals. The third one is supposed to be the pasar borong and is located by the riverside which is out of sight to most people who passes by the town of Pasir Mas.
I have often seen the painter doing banners of the old kind, you know the one using white cloth as the material. I had seen a couple of paintings too but since I never saw him doing the actual painting himself I just presumed that he was only doing it as a part time job

Abang Li multi tasking while doing a banner.

It was only after reading mfaka's blog concerning him that my curiosity to know more about him was aroused. After asking some friends around town who had never left town, they told me the man is affectionately called Abang Li and he was the artist working at Panggung Geroda or Gerda as the locals call it.
One fine day I went to interview Abang Li.I started by asking him about the art pieces around the shop and Abang Li opened up immediately. He said he was in the business of making banners of the old kind but the coming of computer generated banners at affordable rates has been slowly and surely chiseled his business away. Making banners is now becoming a minor business activity. Painting seems to be the one that is his bread and butter now. Abang Li is unable to join the high tech bandwagon of making computer generated banners due to the high capital outlay and above all he is computer illiterate and presume it to be too difficult to learn at the current age of 65.
Ramli Idris was born in Sungai Pinang, Kampung Laut, Tumpat just across the Kelantan River from Kota Bharu. At the age of 10 Abang Li went to live with his sister at Kampung Buloh Melintang, Kangkong Pasir Mas. There he attended Sekolah Rendah Kangkong when it was still made of wooden frames with bamboo plaited walls and attap roof. Yours truly attended the same school in 1957 but most probably Abang Li had left the school by then.
It was at this school that Abang Li learned his art lesson from the famous artist by the name of Chegu Othman Kangkong. I still remember reading Chegu Othman's comic about the 'Bah Besar di Kelantan' (Big Flood of Kelantan) which was known as Bah Air Merah (Flood of Red Water). Another of his comic was about Tok Janggut the great Kelantan Warrior who fought against the British(Some descendants of Tok Janggut resided in Kampong Kangkong). Chegu Othman is still living in that village after retiring from teaching.
So it is now established that Abang Li learned his trade from an old master who dabbled in arts of various mediums including water colors, oil paints and chalks.
After finishing his standard 6 in Kangkong Abang Li returned to Sungai Pinang. At a young age of 17, he returned to Pasir Mas to work as the resident artist at Panggung Geroda Pasir Mas. At the cinema, Abang Li was later given many tasks beside painting extra props to attract patrons. I distinctly remember his work of making the big gun that was mounted on a small lorry that went all over the district to announce the screening of The Guns of Navarone. Abang Li also sometimes double up as the the announcer and throw away pamphlets which children like me will run to collect them from the roadside to distribute them to the elders.
Another task that are often done by Abang Li at the cinema was to sell tickets. He mentioned that his brain became so adept at calculating the total cost of the tickets when several were bought by a single patron and the exact change to give to his patrons, he often wondered how he managed to do it without much mistakes and the money and the tickets sold often tallied.
After Panggung Geroda closed down Abang Li went to work at Panggung Rex. When that cinema closed down too Abang Li was out of job.
Sometimes in 1978, Abang Li went to Medan Indonesia to see how the artists there do their work. He had been wondering how on earth they could do it and sell each of them for around RM6.00. He told me the painters there paint 30 pieces in one go moving from panel to panel. That is the trick.
Abang Li needed a place to work and he found a small shop at Arked Mara at a rental rate that he could afford. Since now he needs a licence to operate, Abang Li used the name Kedai Lukisan Ramli to apply a licence whoch cost him only RM30 a year.
Mfaka bought a painting from Abang Li. When he asked his friends to guess the price of the painting, many guessed it to cost from RM200 to RM700. Depending on size, Abang Li sells his work around RM50 for a 2ft by 4 ft work. I asked him to do one for me of a waterfall which he copied from a poster hanging on his wall. He is charging me RM50 for it and the frame cost me another RM40 which was done by a frame maker a few doors away. I will be collecting the painting today. Abang Li never sign his paintings but for mine I asked him to sign it. I have yet to see how he signs it though I have seen how the painting looks like.
The painting Abang Li is doing for me will loook like this.

You maybe wondering why Abang Li is selling his paintings so cheaply. Well for starters Abang Li paints on plywood panels of 2 mm thick and uses ordinary paints not the Goyas or Artists that come in tubes that may cost several ringgit a tube. Expensive paintings are drawn on canvass. Abang Li found it hard to work on them as he said they are too soft and difficult to work on. Well now you know the differences and thus the reason why Jaflam will not mind paying RM10,000 for a piece of art or Pakpayne will buy a painting of a cockerel on ebay at 1000 Dirham.
The situation in small town Pasir Mas is such that the market can only absorb paintings that are priced within the range offered by Abang Li.
A yet to be finished job.

A completed job up for sale.

Higher priced paintings will only sell if art connoisseurs from other states are willing to come and buy. Maybe the Pasir Mas art scene may change if true blue Pasir Mas artist Fauzan Omar who is lecturing at UNIMAS will come back to paint in laid back Pasir Mas after his retirement which I guess will never happen as has has not come back to Pasir Mas for a long long time. Maybe the 40th year reunion on 27th December 2008 may see his foot prints in Pasir Mas again?
The mention of Abang Li in my previous post has rekindled the memory of another son of Pasir Mas who is now residing in Australia since 1969. He has this classmate of the same name and asked me if Abang Li could be the same Ramli Idris that was his classmate in Sultan Ismail College in Kota Bharu from 1967-1968. I did a check and found out that his Ramli Idris was the late Dr. Ramli Idris who passed away last year. Dr. Ramli Idris had a clinic somewhere in KB Town.
The son of Pasir Mas who is residing in Australia had been cut off from his other relatives in Malaysia. His uncle had been asking his friends in Kota Bharu should any of them knows of his whereabout. Thank Allah. In the process of looking for his friend the artist, I managed to get the contact number of his uncle, thanks to the help of a mutual friend.
Blogging certainly helps to bring people of the world together. God has his ways of determining how people will reconnect lost ties again.