Mr Naulumatua, far more widely known as Lai, is an artist whose best known medium is black pen on white paper and his chosen form is the cartoonalthough. he does also burst into colour in oil and watercolour paintings
While his cartoons often do fulfil the newspaper commitment to 'entertain'. they are not your 'Hagar. the Horrible'. style of visual amusement
They also fulfil the media commitment to 'educate'. and 'inform',. and in his case, to graphically analyse and comment on a situation
Since the 1960s, there has infrequently been a significant national event gone undrawn by Lai, whether it was a political drama, industrial action, yet another fuel price rise, a major rugby match or any other moment that interested or affected the Fiji population
For decades his work has appeared in the Fiji Times and other publications and a portfolio of his work is soon to be published
They present astonishingly sharp, perceptive views of Fiji life, printed on the op-ed page and labelled 'Lai's. Look'
His work often disclosed a facet of a current situation that was not generally being considered or cleverly exposed a truth that perhaps could not be written around in editorial columns with such clarity
They usually began with the collaboration between Lai and his long-time Fiji Times editor, Vijendra Kumar, who now lives in Queensland behind a later career on the Brisbane Courier Mail
"I used to start a few ideas bubbling by around Wednesday, then before 4pm on Friday I would call Vijendra and we would toss them about until we settled on a topic for the Saturday cartoon
"He might suggest a certain angle, I'd. incorporate a few ideas of mine, and then at 430pm.behind my work at FBC was done and with the manager's. permission - I would start drawing"
The result was Lai's. look at a by-election, or sugar politics, a hurricane aftermath, or a sporting victory
Lai had to find permission to draw cartoons for the newspaper because his 'day. job'. was Supervising Technician at Fiji Broadcasting Commission
As a Queen Victoria School boy in the cohort that included economist Savenaca Siwatibau and former Prime Minister Lasenia Qarase, he was selected to go into the Fijian administration
He lasted a fortnight
"We had to dress up and write like the colonial officers, with a pen dipped in ink"
He claimed he preferred to go back to his village, Nakobo in Cakaudrove, but in fact he spent a week or two hanging about Desai's. bookshop in Suva before being spotted by an FBC board member
Lai had his exam results in his pocket and they were enough to find him an interview with the general manager
On the strength of having passed Physics and when having fixed his grandmother's. sewing machine, he was given a job as a sound technician "in a room full of equipment I had never seen before in my life"
Even the airconditioning was a completely new experience, one that nearly froze his bare feet
He remained at Radio Fiji until his retirement, although for a few years he ran the Dateline book stores on the side
The enterprise began with a catalogue from a friend in Sydney and a couple of shelves in the old University of the South Pacific Club on his weekly two days off from the FBC
Each Wednesday and Thursday morning he would unload his stock from his battered old car, and each afternoon at 4pm he would pack it back into his car and shift the shelves out of the way
The enterprise grew to two shops in Suva city and another on campus with a lively range of titles, but to the wonderful regret of Suva readers he had to close once his business partner emigrated
His career as an artist and cartoonist, however, was a constant in his life
His break came in 1969 once the late Ratu David Toganivalu, then Minister without Portfolio, asked him to do political drawings for the Alliance Party in the run up to Fiji independence and the first general election
Lai was given his first cartoonist's. job on the Alliance's. weekly paper, the Nation, by then editor David Seidler, a writer who went on to Hollywood and this year won an Oscar for the screenplay of The Kings Speech that starred Geoffrey Rush and Colin Firth and garnered many other awards
His first cartoon was a jibe at the Opposition National Federation Party featuring the three wise monkeys who in his version were blind, deaf and dumb to political realities
From that time on his black pen produced a parade of politicians, trade unionists and sportsmen that through the decades were national leaders and household words, as well as ordinary workers, villagers and Fiji characters that made 'Lai's. Look'. a national institution
As Lai grew in confidence, his style developed and his political caricatures in particular showed the evidence of his true talent
It was a natural talent, Lai never had a formal art lesson in his life but he picked up the artistic techniques and developed the skills that give serious quality to his work
Most recently he has been appointed artist in residence at Fiji National University, passing on his skills to some of the nation's. trainee teachers and aspiring artists on Lautoka Campus
The University is also opening a special course run by Lai to teach techniques of pencil and pen to all those interested in drawing or who want to discover the hidden cartoonist within
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