FDAM President Mat London Has Passed Away at 74

The 74-year-old was first admitted due to a lung infection in June and his son, Salmany Akir Ahmad, made the announcement of his passing on his Facebook page.

Ahmad Ibrahim, or Mat London as he's affectionately known, was a director and actor who most recently starred in Astro's Kampong Pisang Bersiri-siri. His love for movies started at a young age and he was an assistant director to his teacher at his primary school's theatrical production of Cinderalla when he was in Standard Three.

He led the theater group as a director when he turned 11 years old, as a Standard Five student. Though he could not pursue his passion for directing in secondary school, he still ran a culture club in his kampung where they would recite poems, sing, and conduct traditional dances.

On the origins of his name, the director had attended the National Film School in London in 1978 and had studied in Italy and England as well. When he got back from London, he worked an an advertising agency and there were 3 others with the nickname "Mat". So to differentiate himself, he was called Mat London because he had just come back from there.

His biggest claim to fame as a director in the early days was for the series Pukul Dua Petang on NTV7 that had a rating of 2.8 million viewers.