Arena Wati

Who was Arena Wati?

Muhammad Dahlan Abdul Baing, whose pseudonym was Arena Wati, was an award winning Malaysian writer. He was declared as the Malaysian National Laureate in 1988. His writings were in the Malay language.

He was born in Jeneponto, Makassar, Indonesia. In 1943 at the age of 17, Arena Wati became a seaman. In 1954, Arena Wati became a journalist, and later served as the editor of Pustaka Antara.

He was married with six children. He died of lung cancer.