[1][14] His achievement helped his father make the decision to sell their kampung estate and move the family to the town;[15] society in those days considered education at an English-medium school a springboard to a good future.

[1][19] Redza highlights Lat's move to Ipoh for higher schooling as a significant point in the cartoonist's development; the multi-racial environment helped establish his diverse friendships, which in turn broadened his cultural perspectives.

The company had accepted Lat's submission, mistaking him for an adult and paying him 25 Malaysian ringgits (RM) for a story about three friends who band together to catch thieves.

[25][nb 3] Moving throughout the city to report on crimes gave Lat opportunities to observe and interact with the myriads of lives in the urban landscape, enabling him to gather material for his cartoons and increasing his understanding of the world.

[4] Readers of the book were captivated by his "heart-warming" portrayal of Malaysian rural life,[38] rendered with "scribbly black-and-white sketches" and accompanied by "simple but eloquent prose".

[41] In 1984, partly from a desire to step away from the limelight, Lat resigned from the New Straits Times to become a freelancer,[4][42] but continued to draw Scenes of Malaysian Life for the newspaper.

[45] One of the park's attractions will be the sight of performers dressed up as Kampung Boy characters beside those in Hello Kitty and Bob the Builder costumes[46][47] and also reported in August 2012 will be a Lat-inspired diner called Lat's Place.

Released in November 1994, a 166-page hardcover and softcover book features his selected newspaper and magazine drawings dates back from 1964 as well as excerpts from The Kampung Boy and his other notable works.

Aside from retreating slightly from the cartooning scene, he wanted to be close to his old kampung and let his children experience life in a small town or village;[6][22] he had married in 1978,[57] and the couple have four children—two daughters and two sons.

[58][59] Lat said that raising his children has helped him cope with the pressures of his fame and made him realise that he might be losing touch with the new generation of Malaysians who have different tastes in cartoons.

[72] In April 2021, Lat announced that he would publish a sequel to his 1989 graphic novel, Mat Som after a three-decade hiatus with its focus on younger generation were in the midst of trying to find their purpose in life.

[80] Jennifer Rodrigo Willmott, writer for Reader's Digest, stated that: Lat's cartoon characters have always been ordinary people—a villager in his checkered sarong, a money-changer in his white dhoti, a Malay government servant in his bush jacket and sometimes even Lat himself: that character with the flat, round face; the nose slightly off centre; the untidy mop of dark, curly hair; and the constant toothy grin.

[81] Malaysian comics scholar Muliyadi Muhamood commented that the humour in Lat's cartoons is evoked through graphical and textual means; "short, compact dialogues" and puns form the text while "facial expressions and actions" of the characters help to bring out the funny side of things.

Far Eastern Economic Review journalist Suhaini Aznam remarked that Lat's strength was his ability to portray the plight of the common man in a satiric light without any form of bias.

[88] He also received encouragement from outside his family; Lat's primary school teacher Mrs Moira Hew (the inspiration for one of his characters, the Butterfly-Glassed Lady),[14] helped nurture his gift, frequently asking him to illustrate lessons in class.

As he was taking breaks from investigating the dead victims of crime brought to the morgue, Lat chanced upon the circumcisions performed by the hospital on ethnic Malay boys.

[97] After his study trip to London in 1975, Lat's works exhibited the influences of editorial cartoonists such as Frank Dickens, Ralph Steadman, and Gerald Scarfe.

[98] In 1997, Ron Provencher, a professor emeritus at Northern Illinois University, reported that Lat's style reminded his informants on the Malaysian cartooning scene of The Beano.

The drawings are bold strokes, expressive dialogue in English and Bahasa Malaysia, as well as in what portends to be Chinese, Tamil, and entertaining backgrounds that tell their own stories.

[4]Lat's work with pen and ink so impressed Larry Gonick that the American cartoonist was tempted into experimenting with this medium for part of his The Cartoon History of the Universe.

Jaafar Taib, cartoonist and editor of Malaysian satirical magazine Gila-Gila, found Lat's cartoons retained their humour and relevance throughout time.

[111] Mahathir Mohamad, Malaysia's fourth Prime Minister, was Lat's frequent target for much of his political career, providing more than 20 years worth of material to the cartoonist—enough for a 146-page compilation Dr Who?!

[131] Invited to give a speech at the 9th Osaka International Symposium on Civilisation in 1988, Lat talked about the environmental problems associated with overpopulation and heavy industrialisation.

[132] In 1977, when a protest was organised against logging activities in the Endau-Rompin Reserves, Lat helped gain support for the movement by drawing cartoons in the newspapers that highlighted the issue.

He believes that such developments have contributed to the loss of the traditional way of life; people forget the old culture and values as they ingratiate themselves with the rapid pace and sophistication of urban lifestyles.

[134] Recognised globally, and widely popular in his country, Lat has been styled "cultural hero",[135] "his nation's conscience in cartoon form"[136] and "Malaysian icon"[137] among other effusive titles.

[3][140] Groening, creator of The Simpsons, gave a testimonial for the United States version of The Kampung Boy, praising Lat's signature work as "one of the all-time great cartoon books".

After visiting Malaysia in 1987, Aragonés used the experience to create a story for Groo in which the bumbling swordsman chances on the isle of Felicidad, whose inhabitants and natural habitat were modelled after those of the Southeast Asian country.

[31] Redza pointed out although one may argue that Lat was forced into the role of racial and cultural mediator (because of his employment with his country's "leading English-language newspaper serving a multi-racial readership"), he possessed the necessary qualities—intimate knowledge of various races and culture—to succeed in the job.

[1] The comfort that readers sought from his works was such that when in September 2008 Lat deviated from his usual style, to draw a cartoon about racially charged politicking in his country, it shocked journalist Kalimullah Hassan.