KOTA KINABALU: For a month or so before every Chinese New Year in the past decade, Huang Poh Lo has been a fixture at a local shopping mall, displaying his Chinese calligraphy.
Heads turn as people pass by his stall. They are awed by his mastery of the art and impressed that he is not Chinese, but Indian.
“It’s normal already for me now,” said Huang, laughing. “What’s important to me is that I can share my art and spread motivational messages.”
Huang, whose real name is N Poolohgasingam, is obviously proud that he can send out positive messages through his art. He claims that he has managed, through his work, to help some people overcome obstacles in their lives.
“Whatever I write, they are highly motivational,” he told FMT. “So I use calligraphy to touch people’s lives. When they peer down to watch me work, I write the word ‘happiness’ and it changes them.
“So far, seven people who asked me for writings to help them conceive babies have come back to tell me they have been successful.
“But it’s not me. It’s the power of the writing. It is their total faith in what they believe. That’s how it happens.”
Huang, who is known as “Polo” to many of his fans, started practising Chinese calligraphy about 25 years ago after failing to make it in the publishing business.
The Johor-born Universiti Malaya graduate was employed in the book publishing industry in Singapore before coming to Sabah in 1976. He started his own publishing business in the state in 1990.
“I was doing reasonably well, but then I got greedy,” he said. “I got an invitation from a friend to go into the scuba diving business.”
He soon realised he didn’t have the required resources, and matters got worse after his partner was killed in an accident in Germany.
“Everything was in a mess. Everything was rock bottom. I gave up my business and did nothing for some time.”
But before long, he came across a book called Teaching Yourself Mandarin. “And I started dabbling with the brush,” he said.
“From then on, I had a reason to wake up. There was something to look forward to.
“I was drinking quite heavily at that time too. I wanted to kick the habit and concentrate on this and told myself ‘I want to do this all my life’ because I enjoyed it.
“And I wanted to be a world famous calligrapher, maybe not the best, but I wanted to build my name.
“I used to be on the fast lane before but ever since I went into calligraphy, my life has changed. It’s very quiet, simple and peaceful.”
Polo, now 70, prefers to keep a low profile, but nearly everyone in Kota Kinabalu has at least heard of him, thanks to media publicity over the years.
“They may not know me personally,” he said, “but they know about this Indian who does Chinese calligraphy.
“In fact, I’m quite confident in saying I’m the only professional Indian Chinese calligrapher in the world.”
He got his first publicity break in 2000, when he was featured on TV3, and has been on a roll ever since. He gets frequent invitations from banks, hotels and malls here to showcase his work.
Polo is also into khat.
“I do Roman Arabic calligraphy and I am the creator of the Shah Rumi-Jawi al-Arabia,” he said. “It looks like Arabic, but it’s actually Jawi.
“But I don’t write verses from the Quran, even though I can. I don’t want to offend anyone.”
His khat style has been approved by Islamic authorities as having no religious content.
Polo said the positivity he channels through his work was partly inspired by his experience of Sabahan life.
“I like Sabah because this is my home. It is peaceful, culturally diverse and has religious tolerance. The interfaith harmony is beautiful.”
He has picked up the Kadazan and Dusun languages and has even composed Kadazan songs, besides Hari Raya tunes. And these have been aired from local radio stations.
In doing his bit to give back to the community, he has done charity work to raise funds for schools, hospitals, the palliative centre and institutions for special children.
“Whenever they need my services for charity, I will do it free of charge,” he said. 0 FMT
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