Lyna Mohammad
From having no formal background in painting to eventually becoming a diplomat helping promote Brunei Darussalam through his paintings, Dato Paduka Haji Haini bin Haji Hashim served as the Brunei Darussalam Ambassador to Russia for 10 years.
The former ambassador was awarded by the Russian Academy of Arts as the honorary member of the Academy during his fifth year as the Bruneian ambassador, making him the first Bruneian to receive an honourable recognition putting Brunei on the map.
Ten chairmen from Russian Art Societies nominated him to receive the honorary academic award. The nomination was forwarded to the Senate of the Presidium to be discussed and approved to the highest authority in Russia. Having the consent from the highest authority, his name was among the list of recipients of the honorary award alongside public figures including United Nations (UN) Secretary General Ban Ki-moon, actor Richard Gere, designer Pierre Cardin and renowned Spanish painter Pablo Picaso among others.
A painting of his was recognised before he received his academic award. Chairman of the Russian Art Bureau Anisimov said there is no price in the world for this masterpiece. The artwork in question was Dato Paduka Haji Haini’s painting of Kota Batu at night, for which he said that even if someone offered half a million dollars, he would ask them to keep the money as the masterpiece is very precious and sentimental to him which he will keep for the future generation to treasure and appreciate.
His painting titled Sunset at Brunei River was his entry into the International Art Project and won the hearts of judges, placing his painting as the number one in the world in the event.
Sharing his story with the Bulletin during an interview at his own private gallery at his residence in Kampong Sungai Tilong, Dato Paduka Haji Haini said he never attended formal education or training in the field of art and regarded himself as a self-taught artist. His process of learning has been through observation and reading, which subsequently refined his own visual style in art.
Being a diplomat has given him vast advantages in exploring the values and related experience in art and, aside from his interest in abstract painting, he also enjoys painting landscape and nature with oil colour.
Using his art exhibitions in many parts of Russia as a tool to promote bilateral cooperation between the two countries, he believes that art provides a bridge that connects people from all nation, cultures and races.
Among his significant achievements throughout his 10-year term in Moscow was a growing number of people who wanted to know more about Brunei and managing to encourage officials and the public to venture on more opportunities for cooperation as well as 14-day visa free arrangements between Brunei and Russia encouraging tourism.
He also enhanced bilateral relations, especially in education and tourism and established closer understanding and enhanced relation in the field of Islamic religion.
Getting back to his passion in painting, Dato Paduka Haji Haini shared that his passion in painting began during his childhood.
He liked painting so much that, for example, he did not have to ask people how to paint a tree but instead would observe and then end up creating a good painting.
“I tried my very first oil painting when I was nine years old. At that time, there was this person whose name I cannot remember, who gave me a tube of white paint and a tube of black paint and asked me to start painting.”
However, there were no canvases nor any knives for him to get started, so he tried to be creative. During the olden days, his father had a mosquito coil, which he broke and used as his very first knife for painting. He also used the hard cover of a drawing block and turned it into his first canvas.
He then mixed the white and black paint, with degrees of lightness and darkness, and he built his first landscape scenery at night – a bright moon and dark atmosphere but grey, and a house. That was his very first painting. However he tried to hide his talent from everyone at the time.
His strength for painting was originally with a knife but gradually his painting techniques began to expand to finger, sponge, foil paper and paint brushes, while his paintings’ themes were impression, realism, abstract impressionist, impressionist and abstract-intuitive or objective abstract.
“I am a painter from a young age but I hid my talent. I didn’t want to reveal it and I didn’t want to make my interest a blunder to my career, so I focussed very much on my work, doing reports and getting my work done.” When I became an ambassador, I started buying canvases, brushes, paint and oil and began creating paintings to be given as gifts. I gave a painting to Russian President Vladimir Putin, a painting to Russian Minister of Foreign Affairs Sergey Lavrov and to the Duma (Russian Assembly) – which is the first time a foreign ambassador’s painting was put up in the Duma.”
He also gave his paintings to ministers, governors and mayors and to many universities.
When he delivered talks at universities, it started with his painting as a gift as well as gifting his paintings as farewell gifts to his Russian friends or fellow diplomats who were leaving.
In his speech during his last exhibition in February 2022, most of his colleagues upon finishing their term would normally come up with a memoir or biography. However, he did it a different way, not because he was not able to do it but because he felt that it was more colourful if he painted himself in art form with each painting representing himself; from receiving credentials from His Majesty Sultan Haji Hassanal Bolkiah Mu’izzaddin Waddaulah ibni Al-Marhum Sultan Haji Omar ‘Ali Saifuddien Sa’adul Khairi Waddien, Sultan and Yang Di-Pertuan of Brunei Darussalam and presenting credentials to President Putin.
At this exhibition, he had 73 statements projected through paintings and this is the first time Russia saw this painting technique, where he had to introduce a new way of painting.
Prior to the exhibition he also organised the first Forum on Art and Diplomacy – The Strength of Art in Diplomacy, with the event having a full house.
“In my speech I mentioned that this is all about myself regarding my career as a diplomat, where I use painting as my tool of diplomacy. A professor in one of the universities observed and was attracted to my statement on painting art and diplomacy and he came out with a book which included my statement.”
In this book, it was shared that according to the professor’s research, there were two foreign ambassadors in Russia using the strength of art; the first was French painter Peter Paul Ruben and the second was him.
The professor used Dato Paduka Haji Haini’s statements for his book to explain to his students there are successful painters who became diplomats.
“My paintings are exhibited in many museums and universities in Russia. One of the universities was so impressed with my abstract painting entitled MGIMO …. AIM HIGHER, AIM BIGGER that it became the cover book for an international forum. I was surprised from the honour they gave to Brunei. Out of the many ASEAN member countries, this is one of the sessions on ASEAN matters, and I was given a few pages in the publication.”
Dato Paduka Haji Haini said he did not take money for his paintings, and in 2019 when Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Igor Morgulov suggested to have his painting under the hammer for auction, the total money was donated to charity. He had the honour with Russian majority state-owned multinational energy corporation Gazprom buying the painting.
Returning back to Brunei, he has participated in two exhibitions here, first during the opening ceremony of the waterfront and recently at Mabohai Shopping Complex for charity. Looking back at his experiences in Moscow, he said while he was there he promoted Brunei through his paintings, especially during occasions like National Day.
“My public gallery is open only by appointment. Currently I have 1,000 paintings in the gallery,” he said, adding that his ambition now is to give back to the local community through his paintings.
