Dzulkifli Buyong’s cats are one of the most expensive cats in the world, and what’s strange, they can’t even ‘meow’. His Masterpiece Auction’s cat, Manja, sold for RM84,000 premium on Oct 30, 2016, and Henry Butcher achieved a premium RM78,400, upwards of its RM60,000 high estimate, for Tiga Kucing (oil on plywood, 1994) in its Nov 9, 2014 auction. Also, Dzulkifli seemed to like black cats, but this one is not, so it’s different from his usual. But the Dzulkifli Buyong auction record, not anything to do with cats, is still held by Henry Butcher, for Tidurlah Anakku (1967) at its May 2012 auction, for a premium of RM93,500. The domestic cat is a revered animal in Islam, because it was loved by the Prophet Muhammad. Cats are a Malay’s best friend, although such felines are known to have inexplicably disappeared one fine day, leaving their owners totally distraught. Dzulkifli Buyong is regarded as a child art prodigy when he won the 1st, 2nd and 3rd Prizes, for pastels, in the Young Friends art competition at the age of 14 in 1962. He repeated his feat the next year by winning the 1st and 2nd Prizes. In 1964, he won 2nd Prize in the Joy Of Living competition, again for a pastel work. He was a leading member of the Wednesday Art Group, together with his mentor Patrick Ng Kah Onn when studying under him at the Victoria Institution in Kuala Lumpur in 1961-1965. He was sent to Japan for art training for three years in the late 1960s. Dzulkifli had said: “I like to paint children, colourful games, and subjective paintings about my surroundings. Beauty is not important. Better common things that other people don’t see. Everyday happenings, children particularly, their gaiety and liveliness.”