Ambuyat Man Comic Book Launched At Times Square
Bandar Seri Begawan – Ambuyat Man comic book, a fictional superhero character, was officially launched yesterday at Times
Square, Berakas.
The character was created and edited by Nu’urul Zirawatul Amal @ Nu’urul Ayaine Haji Borhanuddin, a 24-year-old graduate
from Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia, also known as Nu’urul HB in her book.
Speaking to the media, Nu’urul HB said she began to have the idea of building up the character of Ambuyat Man since 2006,
while she was still in secondary school.
With support from her family in seeing her interest in drawings especially cartoon character, Nu’urul HB had the idea to
develop further her Ambuyat Man character in 2008.
"1 started everything from scratch, it took me almost five years to build up Ambuyat Man and its supporting characters, doing
research, ideas, arranging the story line and of course to draw all that I can imagine for this comic book," she said.
"In this book, I not only highlight Ambuyat as one of the popular dishes among Bruneians, but the language used in the book is
also important.
"I got my ideas mostly from my family, surroundings, friends and my own imagination. "The cartoon characters use Brunei
dialect and some other dialects such as Dusun. My aim is to indirectly educate the younger generation especially teenagers
and kids to learn some of the Brunei dialects that are hardly been used nowadays. So they will ask their parents the meaning
ofthe words used inthe comic," she added.
Making Malai Yunus (cartoonist of Noh) and Denny (Ambuyart) as her mentors and reference, Nu’urul HB hoped that her
comic book would receive positive response from members of the public. Selling at $5 per copy, the one-day promotion is
targeting 1,000 copies.
Nu’urul also planned to distribute the Ambuyat Man comic book to local bookstores and retail shops. At the same time, she
has plans to produce her second volume ofAmbuyat Man if the response from the public is overwhelming.
In terms of publication for the comic book, Nu’urul said she used her own funding with support from her parents and family to
realise her dream to produce her own comic book.
"I spent more than $2,000 to publish this comic book including the banners and promotion. I really hope this book will receive
positive outcomes," she added.
Ambuyat Man tells the story of a young boy named Hadi, who visited the biggest Ambuyat factory own by his family. At the
factory, Hadi accidentally ate the non-processed ambuyat and felt sick for four days.
Worry about Hadi’s – condition, his parents brought him to seek treatment. What came to the doctor’s surprise was that Hadi
was discharging sweat in the form of ambuyat gels. Hadi’s father had the idea to I make Hadi as a superhero and help people
in trouble.
In making the story more interesting and lively, Nu’urul HB created eight other characters to support the storylines. Aside from
the characters of Bapa and Babu (Hadi’s father and mother), the Ambuyat Man is adored by the Kambars (the Twins). Like
other superhero, Ambuyat Man also has enemies who dislike him very much, Mr Kesisang, Awang Kubui and Si Kembayau.
The 84-page comic book also highlights local favourite dishes as Ambuyat Man’s superhero powers. Terms such as belacan
atoms, ambulong atoms, tempoyak, sambal padas, biji asam jawa atoms, camouflaged ulam-ulaman, belutak and ambuyat gels
are among terminologies described by Nu’ urul HB to illustrate Ambuyat Man’s powers.
At the official launching of Ambuyat Man comic book, most people expressed their impression with the effort shown by
Nu’urul HB in producing the local comic book.
Among them was Denny, the Ambuyart animation creator, who said the Ambuyat Man will add up the local comic collection in
the creative industry produced by locals.
Source:
Borneo Bulletin, 19.12.2011
