A gathering unlike any other

WHEN I joined Dewan Bahasa dan Pustaka (DBP) as a researcher in 1977, I shared a room with the late Abdullah Hussain. He was already a well-known novelist and short story writer. He later became the country’s eighth Sasterawan Negara (national laureate). He was once the editor of the entertainment magazine Gelanggang partly owned by the great P. Ramlee. Naturally, he had a lot of stories to tell about his days in Singapore during the best years of Malay cinema.

Abdullah was married to a famous bintang filem (film star), Zaiton, who acted in many of P. Ramlee’s movies, among them Bujang Lapuk and Ibu Mertuaku. They divorced and both of them remarried. But there were times when Zaiton would call Abdullah regarding their two children.