THE STUDY OF

AKU BUDAK MINANG BY UJANG

By Nazrul Hamzah Bin Md Nor Azman
naz_ellusionist@yahoo.com

1.0 INTRODUCTION

Aku Budak Minang is the compilation of series from a local comic book, Gila-Gila, written
by a local cartoonist, Ujang. Ujang, or his real name Ibrahim Anon is one of the most popular
cartoonist in Malaysia in the era of 80s and 90s and has tremendous influence in Malaysian
contemporary cartoons until now. He was born in 18 October 1965, in Kampung Juaseh, Kuala
Pilah, Negeri Sembilan. He used the name Ujang suggested by a cartoonist of Gila-Gila
magazine, Jaafar Taib, related to his personal background as the people of Minang in Negeri
Sembilan. He shows his passion into the world of cartoons since he was in the primary school
and this drived him to be one of the well-known cartoonist in Malaysia as he fully gives his soul
into this kind of art.
As long as I have a pen in my hand, I will not stop giving my passion in making cartoons.
(Ujang, 2011)
After he finished his study in his Sijil Pelajaran Malaysia (SPM), he encouraged himself to
move one step further to Kuala Lumpur with his ambition to be a cartoonist. After he met Jaafar
Taib , the director of Creative Enterprise Sdn. Bhd. (CESB), Jaafar Taib promised to train and
guide him to be a good cartoonist. One of the first artwork that was made by Ujang at that time
was, Hikayat Ujang Senang (Rozza, 2011). Since then, his involvement in the company with
his highly recognized style and skills, raised his name and made him a well-known cartoonist to
the readers and cartoons lovers. And that was the time when he was famous with the series of
Aku Budak Minang published in the Gila-Gila magazine. The comic was known to be one of
the best series and masterpiece of Ujang as this series tells us about his personal life and
memories from the heart.

2.0 OBJECTIVES
2.1 To study the story about Aku Budak Minang series.
2.1.1
The synopsis of Aku Budak Minang.
2.2 To analyze the story of Aku Budak Minang
2.2.1
Characters background study
2.2.2 Malaysian Identity
3.0 SCOPE OF THE STUDY
Throughout his life, Ujang has a lot of cartoons made during his involvement in the cartoons
industry. I would like to focus on the period of his involvement in the Gila-Gila magazine
published by Creative Enterprise Sdn. Bhd in 1984.
3.1 Aku Budak Minangseries.
Specifically, I would like to study one of his series named Aku Budak Minang. Aku
Budak Minang is the series made by Ujang published in the Gila-Gila magazine. The
first printed book was in 1988.
3.2 Reason of choosing the series
I was attracted with this series as I think that somehow this series indirectly relates to my
background as one of the people from Minang family. Coincidently, both my parents
came from Minangkabaus family. My father was born in Kuala Pilah, Negeri Sembilan,
while my mother was born in Kuala Lumpur, but his parents are from Minangs family,
more to Pasai, Java. My background is one of the reasons of my intention to study the
series of Aku Budak Minang, hopefully to find something in common or differences of
socio-culture in another dimension of the life of Minang people.

4.0 METHOD

Method that I used is background and contextual study. The study involved both the primary and
secondary research. Both primary and the secondary research are important to study and analyze
the content of the story.
4.1 Primary research
A book entitled Aku Budak Minang was borrowed from the Cartoon and Caricature
VCL565 lecturer, Prof. Dr. Muliyadi Mahamood in order to understand the content
and context of the story. I took 3 days to finish reading the book. As a reader, I tried to
experience the feeling of being the main character and tried to understand what does
the artist tries to share and convey in his comic.
4.2 Secondary research
Secondary research such as internet source was used to search any sites or blogs that
relate to the study of Aku Budak Minang. This help to understand further about the
content of the story.

5.0 CONTENT: ANALYSIS / DISCUSSION

5.1 The story about Aku Budak Minang.

Aku Budak Minang is a life story of a boy raised in the family of Minang. This story is
more about his personal life of how he was raised in a very emotional life and experience
that indirectly open his eyes to appreciate more about his life as a Minang boy.
5.1.1

The synopsis of Aku Budak Minang.

Ujang was born in 18 Oktober 1965 in Kampung Juaseh, Kuala Pilah,
Negeri Sembilan. He was raised in the Minangs family and lived in his
grandmothers bequest house since his childhood with his family; his
mother, father, grandmother, and sisters. When he was the youngest, all his
family loved him until he got new little brother, Aca. Somehow just because
of the birth of Aca, he seemed to be forgotten by all his family members
including his most beloved sister, Kak Cik as they seemed to love Aca more
than him. Accept for his grandmother that loved him until her last breadth
and left Ujang when he still in primary school and about to stand for SRP.
He teased Aca to convey his jealousy and this caused him to be scolded by
his mother and often got caned by her. Ujang grown up, became wilder and
always got into a fight with anyone he disliked in primary and secondary
school. The caning by his mother seemed to be nothing anymore as he was
used to be caned every day. There were attempts of running away from
home to Kuala Lumpur but always failed. There was a day when he did
leaving Kampung Juaseh to Kuala Lumpur by stealing Acas money and that
was the time he start to realize of what does Kuala Lumpur looked alike. He
experienced the hardship in his friendship, difficulties looking for job,
involved in social problem, and finally being one of the homeless people in
the lost city. Regretting of the too good to be true of Kuala Lumpur, he
decided to get back home to Kampung Juaseh, his beloved origin place of
his true race.

5.2 Analysis of the story

The story was actually about the cartoonist himself as Ujang in the story, and most of the
characters exist in his real life.
5.2.1

Characters background study

Ujang
A Minang boy, son of Pak Anon and Mak Ujang. Live in Kampung Juaseh,
Kuala Pilah, Negeri Sembilan.
An energetic person- Since he was a boy, there were always something he did
that sometimes made others felt uneasy with his actions. He always teased Aca,
his little brother and thus made her mother mad at him and caned him often.
Hot-temper- Always got into a fight with other students or people he disliked
since in his primary school until he finished his school.
Creative- Love to draw. He drew his grandmother, and also drew a chicken for
Aca.
Loving- Ujang also is a loving person. He loves so much his family but
sometimes do not understand his mothers habit as often caning him sometimes
just because of a small mistakes. Even though he knew that his mother was
guilty for expelling his grandfather from the house, he defends his mother
when his entire sisters tried to scold and blame the mother.
Diligent- Ujang often helped his father in managing his fathers estate of
rubber. When he lived with Atuk, he was taught by Atuk how to massage
twisted part of body and he often helped massaging silat students of Atuk.
Playful- Ujang invented his own toy when he was a young boy. He also
actively involved in various sports during his teenage such as playing football
and Takraw.
Out-going- Ever since he was a young boy, he often went out somewhere and
barely got home early. He often went somewhere with his friends such as
5.2.2

playing in the forest and river, and also loitering infront of Mak Anors stall.
Malaysian Identity
Ujang lives in a village called Kampung Juaseh, Kuala pilah, Negeri Sembilan.
Negeri Sembilan is a well-known state for its historical background as one of
the states that was once ruled by the Minangkabau people from Sumatera (now
Indonesia) ever since 14th century, and has thus inherited the cultural believes
to the citizens and became one of the Malaysian identities until now. The most
recognizable symbol of Minangkabau is the shape of the buffalo horn in most
of the rooftop architecture and attire of the people of Negeri Sembilan. One of

the illustrations in Aku Budak Minang proved this existence of Minang

symbols indirectly conveying the Malaysian identity such as the rooftop of
Ujang grandmothers house in the illustration below which shows the symbol
of Minangkabau.
Minangkabau rooftop of Ujang grandmothers house

Also in the comic, it is clear that this story succeed in conveying Malaysian
identity through how the cartoonist emphasized the way of life of a Minang
boy and also several Malaysian symbols in the illustrations and the story.
In Ujangs childhood, we could see how Ujang lives as a village boy. He spent
most of his time with friends in the backyard forest slingshot some birds, and
also bathing in the river near his house. He also attends to Al-Quran class every
evening with his sister which is common in Malaysian culture. There were also
elements of Malaysianness in the

Ujang during his childhood; attending to Al-Quran class

cartoon where most of the illustrations convey the people in the village that
dressed up in a very Kampung style with kain pelikat, songkok, baju
kurung, kembanan with batik sarong, and baju Melayu.
The era of hard rock emerged in the era of 80s in Malaysia. It is no doubt
that every country in the world too were influenced by the hard rock
phenomena during that time. We can see that Malaysian people also influenced
and shocked by the western culture. In the comic, we could see these
phenomena influenced the life style of Malaysian people in the area of Kuala
Lumpur illustrated by Ujang. In my opinion, Malaysian people that easily get
influenced by other culture also was one of the conflicts in searching for our
true identity and thus, this depicting culture is also become one of Malaysian
culture and identity at that time.
Ujang met his new friends; Joe, Carlos, Mie, Stross

In the scene where Ujang ran away to Kuala Lumpur, Ujang met with some
teenagers there with fancy dress up depicting western rockers attire. Ujang
illustrated the way of teenagers of Kuala Lumpur dressed up according to the
era of hard rock during that time in the 80s.

Minang culture divided by two, Adat Pepatih and Adat Temenggong. In this
story, Atuk explained to Ujang that their family is more to Adat Pepatih.
Adat Pepatih mostly concerned about woman since man can live by
themselves and they are independent. Otherwise, woman must be protected
from any difficulties and they must be appreciated by the people as they are the
symbols of birth and life.

As one of the Minang people, the accentuation of Adat is not forgettable. We

could see this emphasized in the story when Atuk willing himself to come to
Malaysia from Indonesia to manage his grandchildrens engagement, Kak Cik.
But in this story, there was a bit twist of fact when finally Ujangs grandmother
passed her property which is her house, to Ujang. Just because his grandmother
loved Ujang more than his sisters, therefore I think in showing her love to
Ujang she willing to bequeath her property;her land to Ujangs hand and this
proved that love is everything.

CONCLUSION

1. To conclude, the comic succeed in conveying the characters emotion because the story is
based on the cartoonists memories and his childhood. The cartoonist used the same name
for the character which is Ujang and other characters that actually are real in his life.
Therefore, I think the dearest thing in the cartoonists life was his childhood because by
experiencing reading the comic, as a reader I could feel the emotion that the cartoonist
trying to share. Therefore I think he wrote this comic with all his heart.
2. The elements of Malaysian national identity were accentuated in the comic. With the
background, scenery and the symbols of Malaysianness of the comic; village, the
kampung activities, the attire of the people in Kampung Juaseh, the culture, all were
illustrated by Ujang. I think this is important in dignify and uphold these identity so that
we still could recognize the distinction of Malaysian cartoons with other countries and
this in my opinion could raise the Malaysian cartoons industry as far as this identity is
concerned.

REFERENCES

Ujang, (1988), Aku Budak Minang. Creative Enterprise Sdn. Bhd.

Rozza, (2011). Kisah Perjalanan Kartunis Ujang. Retrieved June 11, 2013, from
http://ilusirimba-rozza.blogspot.com/2011/06/kisah-perjalanan-kartunis-ujang.html

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Negeri_Sembilan