Hafizul Mohd Razali
FORMER engineering student, Hafizul Mohd Razali, likes to study about any technology related to the environment.
This interest is further nurtured whenever he learns more about the biomimicry and biomimetics – the sciences inspired by and modelled after nature.
It was in 2009, after almost two years of studying, when Hafizul thought that biomimetic engineering needed to be shared with the public.
“But how? I was not a well-known author or an expert in this field of science.
“Thus, I resorted to reading more journals about the environment and its relationship to human life. This was around the end of 2010,” Hafizul, who hailed from Kuala Lumpur but is now living in Senadin, told thesundaypost in Miri.
At first, he only shared stories with his family and close friends.
“Over time, I thought that it’s worth telling the younger generation so that they could gain awareness of biomimetic engineering and its relationship to humanity and the environment,” said the sci-fi enthusiast, who is now in his 40s.
In 2010, Hafizul came up with the idea of a book relating his interest in engineering technology that could provide deeper insights into its relationship to humanity and the environment.
Graphic novel project
According to Hafizul, the Nanoken Series’ key message is that ‘Nature is a man’s best teacher’.
However, he soon realised that translating this idea into a book was not easy – it required a long time and lots of resources.
“In 2018, I decided to break down the original idea of the Nanoken graphic novel project into a few smaller parts, starting with the publication of a science-fiction ‘Kapten Neo: Manusia Makrokosmos’ (Kapten Neo: The Macrocosmos Man).
“The idea developed as I strove to understand more about nature, how it could teach humans to stay healthy, happy and be in touch with one another.”
Realising that he could not undertake this alone, he embarked on a mission of searching for a writer to help materialise his idea.
“I pitched this collaboration to some people in the creative-writing industry but unfortunately, they refused – citing reasons like weak storyline, unattractive character details, no sponsorship, and it being a common idea and not seen as potentially popular as other more established Malaysian animations like ‘Upin Ipin’, ‘Boboi Boy’ and ‘Ejen Ali’.
“I realised then that I was still a newbie, and that I needed to work harder as I was not a popular author like other great talents such as Ahmad Patria, Hilal Asyraf and Ramlee Awang Murshid,” he said.
Hafizul then spent many years buying story books, continuing to pitch his idea to potential collaborators and seeking novelists to produce his story, but these efforts seemed to be going nowhere – to a point that he thought about giving up.
The in 2020, he received a wonderful surprise.
“I received a text message, asking me if I had found my writer. It was then when I found out that ‘bestseller author’ Fizziany Ahmad had offered to help.
“I was a bit shocked at first, but eventually, I realised that it was not a dream,” he reminisced.
A discussion later took place, where Hafizul and Fizziany talked about materialising the project as a trilogy, which eventually transitioned into a pentalogy, with numerous characters being added in as the story progressed.
From there, ‘Kapten Neo: Nanoken Series’ came to life.
Homegrown superheroes
Photo shows ‘Isadora’, one of the members of Kapten Neo’s special-ability squad.
Set in 2059, the futuristic series features Kapten Neo, a superhero who saves the world from environmental destruction.
The final product, the Nanoken pentalogy, recounts the adventure of a young scientist from Malaysia named Prof Nano, who is highly-skilled in biomimicry science.
Aided by a team of superheroes led by Kapten Neo, Prof Nano goes all out in protecting the world from the arch-villains, the ‘Four Knights of the Apocalypse’ led by Dr Ion.
The character Kapten Neo is portrayed as a brave, young and kind-hearted genius who is also a highly-charismatic team leader.
Other members of his special-ability squad include ‘Isadora’, ‘Chi’, and ‘Pendeta Kudus’.
“His parents are environmental activists. Tragedies and life experiences have made Kapten Neo highly appreciative of the environment.
“Like his father, Kapten Neo loves environmental science and wants to make a change.
“Equipped with the ability of harnessing a unique force known as ‘Nanoken’ and also a time portal, he is always battling his archenemy, a wicked scientist who sets out to rule the world by ruining the environmental sustainability and the green ecosystems of Planet Earth,” Hafizul described the main characters of the series.
On these characters, Hafizul said the main challenge was to make the public understand the message of environmental preservation and sustainability.
“It seems that such a message is not being held in high esteem in society.
“It’s also quite difficult to let the writer (Fizziany) know at first because of some technical factors, but having high perseverance and being an extraordinary writer, she’s able to complete the series – originally a trilogy, but ended up as a pentalogy.”
Hafizul said they did their very best to make the story ‘more relaxed and easier to understand’, acknowledging that not all readers knew scientific, technical or engineering lingo.
“So, we strove to simplify it through easy-to-understand storytelling, although I must say it was a bit difficult with me not being an expert in the field of writing and having never published any book before,” he said.
Promotion amidst pandemic
A model wears a mask depicting one of the main characters in the Nanoken series.
Hafizul acknowledged that the Covid-19 pandemic had thrown the spanner into all the promotional works for the Nanoken series.
“As a result, everything had to be done 99 per cent online.
“The key marketing strategy during the pandemic had been ‘online marketing’. I tried to learn ways to generate ‘online hype’ on social media using the latest IoT (Internet of Things) technology and software available in the market.
“I developed creative content via Facebook, Instagram, Twitter and YouTube platforms for copywriting and promotion.
“I collaborated with many young artists, videographers and photographers to produce all the creative works that would fit the Nanoken theme.
“In addition, I sought out and worked together with the social media influencers to increase the spread of ads – I still do.
“Although not many social media influencers in Malaysia are interested in promoting local sci-fi novels, I’m confident that all these persistent efforts would bear fruit one day.”
Hafizul said competitions were also run on social media including colouring, best review and book-cover design contests.
“The largest online competition for the Nanoken series was held in late 2020 – it’s for the SFX (special effect) make-up artists to physically recreate the looks of the main characters in the novel. For this competition, I worked together with well-known local make-up artists including the popular Tasia Arlina, and also with the Sarawak Multimedia Authority (SMA) office in Kuching for the issuance of certificates of participation.
“The competition also received the grand-prize sponsorship from Deputy Minister of Tourism, Creative Industry and Performing Arts I, Datuk Sebastian Ting.”
Hafizul also strove to reach out to the folks in the rural areas of Sarawak and Sabah where Internet access was still poor, by sharing his story through the local newspapers.
“I hope the Nanoken series would gain encouraging response from all over Malaysia one day and perhaps someday, it could penetrate regional markets such as Indonesia, Brunei and Singapore.”
‘Nature is man’s best teacher’
Hafizul says the ‘Kapten Neo: Nanoken Seris’ began as a trilogy, but later it developed into a pentalogy.
Having gone through over a decade trying to have his idea materialised and going through various challenges including the pandemic, Hafizul could finally breathe a little sigh of relief now.
“After more than 10 years of spending much resources, time and energy, I am now grateful to have been given the strength and space to convey the messages behind ‘Kapten Neo: Nanoken Series’.
“Without the strong determination and perseverance, this mission would have been impossible. Therefore, I would like to express my appreciation to Fizziany and friends who have worked tirelessly in completing this project – from shaping the basic idea, rearranging the plots, modifying, publishing, promoting and selling the Nanoken series,” he said.
According to Hafizul, the Nanoken’s key message is ‘Nature is a man’s best teacher’.
“Nature is a great teacher – if we could observe it closely and master its language.
“In these modern times, scientists around the world are still trying to understand the language of animals and plants.”
Hafizul also believed that by learning from nature, scientists would someday be able to truly overcome Covid-19.
“How can we learn from nature, in moving on and living this increasingly challenging life?
“Certainly there are plant or animal cells that can become the cure, it’s just that they have not been found and identified yet.
“I just hope that the Nanoken pentalogy could pique the interest of the younger generation to explore high-tech science inspired by nature, and encourage them to spread the understanding of humanity, the love of the whole world, and the importance of taking good care of our environment.
“It would be a great honour to leave ‘this little legacy’ to my grandchildren, knowing that people from all walks of life would look at Kapten Neo as a symbol of a good cause,” he added.
Hafizul (right) hands over a copy of the book to his friend, Datuk Medan Abdullah.
Asked about any advice that he would like to impart to the readers, Hafizul remarked: “It is to always have a sense of consciousness and awareness to love yourself, other human beings as well as the environment.
“Keep spreading goodness throughout the world and hopefully, this Nanoken series could inspire everyone to do so.”
from Borneo Post Online https://bit.ly/34g2l52
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