Growing up in a typical Malay village, Lat's life was simple and friendly, as everyone always had a smiling face. A huge fan of Raja Hamzah's Pahlawan (`Warrior') stories, Lat started out at a very tender age by illustrating those tales that he loved, and selling the comic books to his classmates for 20 cents each. This he could do successfully for he had a very supportive father who would take home paper from the office for Lat to practise on.

After passing the Special Malay Class Examination, the then 11-year-old Lat entered the Special Malay Class 1 of the National Type Primary School (English medium) in Jalan Pasir Puteh, Ipoh. Now this was totally new not only for Lat, but also for his classmates, as they would all be learning English for the very first time.

Lat was taught by a Mrs Moira Hew, who later became the inspiration for the creation for one of his most well-know characters, The Butterfly-Glassed Lady.

Subsequently he was enrolled in Anderson School, Ipoh, where he became the Art Editor for the school's newsletter The Opinion. One of his other co-curricular activities that he took great delight in was the Cadet and Military Band, when he played the flute. He loved band music so much that he is still supporting the school's band today! He became the patron of the Anderson Premier Military Band on January 24th 1998.