ON a recent afternoon in Subang Jaya, the quiet authority of a seasoned academic gives way to something softer, almost mischievous. The study where Prof Hj Mohd Said Bani CM Din (or Prof Bani, as he’s fondly known) works isn’t just lined with books and papers, but animated by the presence of three cats who move through the space as if they own it — which, in many ways, they do.
One charges in when tempers rise, another poses with regal self-awareness, while a third watches quietly from a distance. These cats are not incidental details but the emotional and imaginative core of A Book of Poems — The Meowgical Tails of Malaysia, the debut by Prof Bani — known as Prof Bee in print — a figure better recognised as president of PRCA (Public Relations and Communications Association) Malaysia and founder of communications consultancy bzBee Consult Sdn Bhd than as a poet. The book was launched recently at the Selangor International Book Fair.
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At 58, with a career defined by strategic thinking, leadership and public communication, Prof Bani’s first foray into publishing arrives not as a manifesto or memoir, but as something unexpectedly tender: a collection of poems that reimagines Malaysia through the travels of cats.
The premise is whimsical, even disarming. Yet beneath the playful surface is a serious, deeply felt attempt to tell the story of a nation — its geography, cultures, histories and contradictions — in a way that invites curiosity rather than instruction.
SEED OF AN IDEA
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The book’s origins are intensely personal. Long before it became a nationwide poetic journey timed to coincide with Visit Malaysia Year 2026, Meowgical Tails of Malaysia began, quite simply, at home. The Penang-ite has always written poems as a way to process emotion — daily frustrations, moments of reflection, the quiet accumulation of lived experience. But when three cats entered his life — Basyirah, Ashqar and Muezza — the writing took on a new texture.
“They became irresistible storytelling sparks,” he confides, describing how their quirks and warmth opened a different imaginative door. Muezza, in particular, seems uncannily attuned to human moods, charging into the room, leaping onto his desk and snuggling him whenever tempers rise, as if to insist on pause and gentleness. These moments, small and domestic, planted the seed of a larger idea: what if these cats could follow him wherever he went?
Travel, after all, has long been a constant in Prof Bani’s life. His work frequently takes him across Malaysia, especially to Kuching, Sarawak. For years, his cats stayed behind in boarding facilities — until illness made that arrangement untenable.
The solution was practical, but the consequence was imaginative. Unable to bring them along physically, he began bringing them along in his mind. As he travelled, he imagined what his cats would notice, how they would react, what details would catch their attention. Slowly, these imagined journeys turned into poems.
At first, the cats explored Sarawak — its food, festivals, landscapes and rhythms of daily life — through curious feline eyes. The poems multiplied, and something unexpected happened. They began to cohere. What started as fragments of personal amusement revealed itself as a larger narrative, one that could stretch beyond a single destination.
With Visit Malaysia Year 2026 on the horizon, Prof Bani recognised an opportunity. The project expanded into a nationwide journey, with each state becoming its own chapter — not as a checklist of attractions, but as a poetic invitation to rediscover the country through wonder, warmth and whiskers.
OF EXPERIENCE AND DISCOVERY
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The timing is deliberate, but the intention is not promotional in any conventional sense. The affable writer is careful to distinguish his work from guidebooks or tourism campaigns. “I didn’t want to lecture or list facts,” he explains simply.
Instead, he wanted culture to be experienced — tasted through food, felt in festivals, heard in local voices and seen in everyday rituals. By placing cats at the centre of the narrative, the book sidesteps the didactic.
Animals, he notes, are universally loved. They disarm readers, lower defences and invite affection. For cat lovers, the bond is immediate. For animal lovers more broadly, the entry point is emotional rather than intellectual.
Each state in the book introduces its own feline character, some inspired by real cats belonging to friends across the country, others delightfully imagined. Their personalities are not random. Each cat is matched to its environment and cultural setting, shaping poems that reflect not just places, but the spirit of the people who inhabit them.
In Penang, cats named Che and Chombi carry local inflections. In Perak, a cat named Megat evokes royal heritage, while in Kelantan, Che Mek grounds the narrative in lived cultural context. These details may seem small, but they anchor the whimsy in authenticity.
That authenticity is hard-won. Despite the playful premise, Prof Bani insists that accuracy was non-negotiable. His background in tourism promotion, particularly his seven-year involvement with the Sarawak Tourism Board, sharpened his understanding of what tourism really means.
It’s not, he emphasises, about destinations alone, but about experience and discovery: people, memory, food, rituals and the emotional residue a place leaves behind. Research for the book went far beyond guidebooks and websites.
He immersed himself in materials from tourism boards, books and online resources, but found that text alone could not capture a place’s essence. Conversations with locals and natives of each state proved invaluable, shaping both tone and detail.
IMPORTANCE OF VISUALS
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The challenge, creatively, was distillation. How does one capture a state’s soul in poetry, weave in feline personalities, and still make everything rhyme? The constraints of verse are unforgiving. There’s only so much that can be said in a few lines without losing rhythm or warmth. This is where the book’s illustrations step in as equal storytellers.
From the outset, visuals were never an afterthought. As Prof Bani wrote, he was already visualising scenes — architecture, landscapes, colours, food and atmosphere. Some ideas he sketched himself before working closely with designer Shahren Retashah to bring them to life.
Ashqar, the most camera-ready of the cats, became an unexpected collaborator, his expressive poses serving as visual reference for several illustrations. The images anchor the poems in real geography and lived culture, capturing iconic buildings, destinations and traditions at a glance.
The result is a book that moves fluidly between humour and reflection.
LAYERED STORYTELLING
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Cats, by nature, are curious, mischievous and unpredictable — qualities that make them natural mirrors of human behaviour. Beyond Prof Bani’s own trio, many of the feline characters belong to friends from across Malaysia, including three cats owned by a German friend who has lived in the country for over two decades.
Despite her long residence, she remains in a state of continual wonder, eager to keep exploring. Her cats embody that sense of discovery, reflecting how Malaysia captivates not just its own people, but those who grow into belonging over time.
Through these whiskered storytellers, subtle reflections of Malaysian society emerge. There’s warmth and welcome, but also diversity, layered histories and a quiet inquisitiveness. The cats’ playfulness allows the poems to touch on deeper themes without heaviness. Humour becomes a doorway to cultural depth, not a distraction from it.
One of the book’s quiet strengths is its ability to speak across ages. Prof Bani doesn’t write down to children or up to adults; he writes through story. The language moves fluidly between simple and slightly more advanced expressions, allowing younger readers to grow with the text while offering adults nuance and resonance.
Rhythm, rhyme and flow do much of the work, carrying readers along. The cats’ expressive reactions — curiosity, empathy, mischief and pauses of wonder — mirror human emotions in ways that are instantly recognisable.
Consider Basyirah in the poem The Lady. To a child, she’s elegant, aloof and amusing in her quiet confidence. To an adult, she becomes a study in grace and boundaries — knowing when to offer affection and when to step back.
The same poem speaks differently across ages, allowing meaning to unfold according to experience. It is layered storytelling that invites shared reading, where laughter comes easily but reflection lingers.
If imagination is the book’s engine, humility is its lesson. Despite travelling widely around the world for much of his adult life, Prof Bani realised, through this project, how much of Malaysia he had not truly experienced.
PROFOUND IMPRINT
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The cat-loving writer’s work with Sarawak Tourism was a turning point, opening his eyes to the richness and complexity of his own country. That realisation reshaped his understanding of travel itself.
It’s not about ticking destinations, says Prof Bani, but about slowing down, looking beyond highlights, and valuing the small details that give places meaning — lessons his cats, instinctive observers, seem to understand naturally.
Sarawak, in particular, left a huge imprint. Beyond its iconic rainforests, caves and longhouses, what struck him was its quiet confidence: the layered cultures of indigenous communities, the rhythms of river life, the spiritual calm of places like Santubong and Bario, and the gentle, almost timeless peacefulness of Kuching. It’s a city that doesn’t rush you, yet leaves a lasting mark, reminding visitors that depth often lives in stillness.
Other states revealed themselves in unexpected ways. Labuan emerged not merely as a federal territory, but as an island shaped by maritime history and understated charm. Negeri Sembilan’s Adat Perpatih, often reduced to textbook mention, stood out as a living testament to indigenous wisdom, a matrilineal system rooted in justice, balance and communal responsibility.
Kelantan, Terengganu and Pahang unearthed traditions that are still lived rather than displayed; where dance and craft flow naturally through daily life. Johor’s food told stories of migration and identity, while Perak’s royal heritage and tin-era legacy added layers previously overlooked.
Some discoveries were deeply personal. Ipoh, where Prof Bani spent part of his childhood and where his late mother rests, stirred a complex mix of joy, loss and gratitude. Penang, where he was born, surprised him most of all; in writing about it, he realised how little he truly knew the island beyond its surface. Selangor, where he has lived since the age of eight, emerged not just as a modern powerhouse, but as a state rich in royal legacy, rivers, villages and cultural intersections that shaped who he is today.
Kampung Baru, nestled against Kuala Lumpur’s gleaming skyline, resonated as a powerful symbol of Malay heritage — land, traditions and community preserved against relentless development. Writing about it prompted reflection on how easily such heritage is taken for granted, dismissed as outdated rather than invaluable.
Yet within its wooden houses, mosques and communal rhythms lies a quiet dignity, a resilience that anchors identity.
Threaded through these reflections is a broader concern: the risk of overlooking roots in the rush toward modernity. For Prof Bani, Meowgical Tails of Malaysia is, at its heart, an act of reconnection. With Visit Malaysia Year 2026 in mind, he hopes the book gently shifts perspective — away from the assumption that the grass is always greener elsewhere, toward a renewed appreciation of home.
As the world begins to recognise what Malaysia has to offer, he believes it’s equally important for Malaysians themselves to rediscover and value their own country.
STORY STILL UNFOLDING
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The book’s “meowgical” lens revives imagination, encouraging readers to see familiar places with fresh eyes and renewed pride. It invites exploration not as escapism, but as reconnection — to history, heritage and identity. Travel, in this sense, becomes a way of understanding who we are as a nation: diverse yet intertwined, revealed through shared experiences and quiet moments of wonder.
That sense of wonder is the book’s quiet legacy. Meowgical Tails of Malaysia is more than a collection of poems or an inventive tourism narrative; it shows how imagination can deepen understanding, and how warmth can carry cultural weight without heaviness.
By letting cats — curious, observant and unburdened by preconception — lead the way, Prof Bani invites readers to slow down, notice and fall in love again with a country he describes as “a story still unfolding.” What follows is more than whimsy: Meowgical Tails of Malaysia becomes a homecoming, for its author and, perhaps, for its readers too.
Meowgical Tails of Malaysia is available at Hikayat Fandom Book Gallery at GMBB Mall, Kuala Lumpur.
© New Straits Times Press (M) Bhd
