KUALA LUMPUR: The late Tun S. Samy Vellu was the original "clickbait" back in the days when the New Straits Times was running Lat's comic strip.
Lat, whose real name is Datuk Mohammad Nor Mohammad Khalid, said Samy Vellu was well known and he enjoyed drawing him.
He said the leader was the source of much cheer, laughter and goodwill for the paper's readers when he was tasked with caricaturing the news.
"He was difficult to draw at first because like Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad, Samy (Vellu) was a handsome man and caricaturing him was difficult.
"When I managed to draw him, readers recognised him instantly and within two or three seconds they usually broke out into laughter or smiled. This was the test of how relatable one's work could be."
Lat said he did not pick Samy Vellu but the former works minister was always in the news.
So, leaders with colourful quotes would always be source materials for his comic strips.
Lat also said there was no one who was that recognisable in Malaysia in recent times.
Having served the cabinet for almost three decades, Samy Vellu was the longest-serving minister.
He was the source of many good humours often generated by his own quotes.
One of it was when people called him out for criticising then MIC president Datuk Seri G. Palanivel in an interview in 2014.
The ex-MIC president had then said: "My God. When you become a president of MIC, even the cat on the road has got the right to criticise you."