Compiled by NAN HIDAYAT NAN AZMIE, C.ARUNO and R. ARAVINTHAN
A MAN’s childhood fascination with the Gila-Gila magazine has resulted in a prized collection of more than 800 editions – including the elusive first issue that he bought for RM10,000 to complete the set, reported Metro Ahad.
Mohd Redzuwan Mohd Jamail, 40, owns a complete collection of the iconic humour magazine from its first issue published in 1978 up to the latest edition, numbered 873.
The administrative assistant with the Perlis Health Department said his interest in the magazine began during a family trip when he was eight years old.
After he started working, Redzuwan began collecting every new release while searching for older editions at flea markets around Perlis, Kedah, and Perak.
Redzuwan said the most difficult edition to obtain was the very first issue of Gila-Gila, which he finally purchased from a collector in Kuala Lumpur in 2021 for RM10,000.
“At that time, I already had almost the entire collection and only the first issue was missing. When I finally got it, I felt extremely satisfied because I consider it one of the biggest achievements of my life,” he said.
He estimated that the value of his complete collection now stands at nearly RM40,000. Redzuwan hopes to continue preserving the magazines as part of the country’s cultural heritage and dreams of opening his own gallery dedicated to the publication one day.
> After making a name for herself as an actress in her home country, Thai artiste Anyarin Sofea is now ready to embark on a new chapter in her career by pursuing music in Malaysia with her debut single, Balar-Balar.
Anyarin, 36, said her decision to venture into singing in Malaysia came from a desire to step out of her comfort zone after years of being recognised mainly for her acting work in dramas and films in her home country, Mingguan Malaysia reported.
“I feel coming here is a good opportunity and it challenges me to become an artiste here. In Thailand, I’m more known as a drama actress and it is very different from being a singer,” she said.
Speaking about Balar-Balar, Anyarin said the title was inspired by a Kelantanese slang word because its pronunciation closely resembles a dialect spoken in southern Thailand.
The above articles are compiled from the vernacular newspapers (Bahasa Malaysia, Chinese and Tamil dailies). As such, stories are grouped according to the respective language/medium. Where a paragraph begins with a >, it denotes a separate news item.
