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“I speak Malay, I eat Malay food, I am everything the community would identify as being Malay.” But that’s why Malik Mazlan thinks he has something unique to contribute to the world of Chinese calligraphy.

SINGAPORE: Behind the iconic Sultan Mosque in Kampong Glam, hidden from view, there is a narrow white lane that receives few visitors. On some mornings, if you venture far enough along the path lined with overgrown potted plants and laundry racks, you would come across a young man sitting here quietly with an inkstone, brushes, white paper and black ink, practising Chinese calligraphy strokes.

On other days, he would be at the same spot with a set of specialty knives, slowly carving Chinese characters on a small block of soft stone, transforming it into a seal - so engrossed in the task that he is oblivious to the rest of the world.



The young man’s name is Malik Mazlan, and he has turned part of this tranquil back alley into his makeshift calligraphy studio.

(Photos: Lam Shushan & Corine Tiah)

Curious folks, including close friends and family, often ask him the same question: Where did his passion for Chinese calligraphy come from? Rather than a straight answer, Mr Malik offers this anecdote.

“When I was small, my mother would bring me to the market, and let me sit at one of the Chinese bookshops,” he recalled. “She says I would look at the comics without understanding them. Maybe that explains it? I don't know.”



WHERE IT ALL BEGAN

The 28-year-old has been a Chinese calligraphy student for the past six years. But like any good story, his journey in pursuing this traditional art has taken quite a few turns - landing him in different countries.



It started in the Land of the Rising Sun - Japan - when he was there in 2011 as an exchange student from Republic Polytechnic.

“My time in Tokyo really impacted me,” said Mr Malik, who graduated from the polytechnic with a diploma in materials science.

“I am someone who loves culture a lot. While I was walking round the streets of Japan, I saw all those beautiful signboards and said to myself: ‘Wah, these characters are very nice.’”

Fascinated by the culture, when he returned to Singapore he found himself a Japanese teacher to teach him the language.



When the sensei showed him, by chance, some calligraphy writing done by other students, it suddenly dawned on the young Malay man that the beautiful characters he had seen on the signboards in Tokyo were, in fact, a form of calligraphy.

LEARNING ROADBLOCKS

That realisation fuelled in an instant his desire to pick up the discipline. But that was also when he encountered his first major roadblock.

“I couldn’t find any Japanese calligraphy masters in Singapore, so that's when I became inclined towards Chinese calligraphy,” he said.

But when I approached people (in Chinatown), they said ‘it is impossible to teach you calligraphy’ because I did not understand Mandarin. I was very upset.

His persistence paid off eventually when he found a mentor in Mr Ho Sou Ping, an engineer-turned-Chinese ink painter, who in turn introduced Mr Malik to his own teacher - renowned calligrapher Mr Yong Cheong Thye.

“LIKE DRAWING”

When Mr Malik first studied under the two masters, he learnt by copying.

His favourite form of calligraphy is the Seal Script - an ancient form of writing common in China throughout the latter half of the first millennium BC.

“Because of the pictorial nature of Seal Script, when you see the character of horse, it really looks like a horse,” he noted. “I started out as an illiterate. Chinese characters to me were like drawings. The strokes and the aesthetics were more obvious."

He discovered how the engineering of the Chinese brush allows the calligrapher to evoke emotion through the strokes.

He said: “It is very unique, it works by pressure, you see. So when one is frustrated, you see it from the boldness of the strokes. You can't see that if you type the word out.”

He gave another example: “When it comes to the word rabbit, you can actually show how the rabbit is very lively by having one stroke longer than the other one to express that it’s jumping.”

The more he learnt about calligraphy, the more fascinated he became. “There is a lot of ancient wisdom to it. It's not just putting pen to paper."

But he also realised how Chinese writing and painting, and even poetry, are closely related - a concept that differs from the arts in the West where different art disciplines are distinct and separate.

“In this circle, they say: ‘To see the strength of a (Western) painter is to look at his sketches. To see the strength of a Chinese painter is to see his calligraphy.”

So truly, a calligrapher is a custodian of the Chinese culture.

“Because of that, my critics would say that it's almost impossible for me to ever master calligraphy," he added.

He concluded that in order to prove his critics wrong, he must learn the Chinese language.



“Mr Ho said to me: ‘If you really want to be a calligrapher, the meaning of the word is very important. If you're going to continue to learn this way, it doesn't make sense because you won't understand what you're writing.”

THROWING HIMSELF INTO THE DEEP END

But fear held him back from learning Chinese.

“I was afraid because I have heard all the horror stories my Chinese friends were telling me about how difficult Mandarin was,” he said.

He decided that the best way to go about it was to throw himself into the deep end. He packed his bags and enrolled himself at a university in Taiwan, immersing himself in Chinese culture.

“It was a calling. I told myself I really wanted to do this.”

Watch: An artist at work (4:11)





For 18 months, he attended daily Chinese lessons, and practised calligraphy during his spare hours. Then another opportunity presented itself: A year-long art immersion programme in China.

In those two and a half years, his language ability improved by leaps and bounds. But when he returned to Singapore, no one would speak to him in Mandarin.

“My friends find it weird, or they have problems understanding me,” said Mr Malik who speaks Mandarin with a slight Beijing accent. “So sometimes I go to like the Sunday antique market to eavesdrop on conversations - that's the only way I can learn when I'm back in Singapore.”

“IN MY SOUL I’M MALAY”

Despite his efforts to improve himself, a small group of industry insiders remain critical of his potential.

“Majority of the time people are very supportive,” he said. “But I was sad because someone said something about me not understanding the Chinese culture, that he feels that I am unfit to even do this.”

His teacher's advice? Just ignore them. “Mr Yong, he's always saying ‘bu guan ta men’, don't care about them. He's a very positive man.”

For the Chinese culture enthusiast, giving up calligraphy has never crossed his mind.



If I were to stop it, I’d feel that what is Malik is gone.

But he also stressed that his passion for Chinese calligraphy doesn't make him “less Malay”. He said: “I speak Malay, I eat Malay food, I am everything the community would identify as being Malay lah. In my soul I’m Malay.”

And it's from this unique perspective that he feels he can contribute to the Chinese art community.

He gave the example of Giuseppe Castiglione, an 18th-century Italian missionary in China who served as an artist at the imperial court of three emperors, and painted in a style that is a fusion of European and Chinese traditions.

“This Italian court painter is considered a very important artist in the Chinese art world. If this guy did it as an Italian, why not me?”

He also wishes that more people from different segments of society would join the Chinese art community. But before that can happen, the community itself would have to rethink its approach to the craft.

“A lot of people - even Chinese - fear calligraphy because it’s been put on such a high pedestal,” he said. “To promote it more, I feel they should open it up more. For example, have more workshops in English. That's what I am trying to do.”

To meet Malik Mazlan and see more of his work, visit the Mid-Autumn Family Fest @ Chinatown, Sep 24 (Sunday), 9.30am–12.30pm, Kreta Ayer Community Club.