The effects of Lat's works were not confined to the artistic sector. In the period before his debut, Malaysian cartoonists supported calls for national unity. The characters in a cartoon were often of one race, and negative focus on the foibles of particular races or cultures worked its way into the mainstream. Such cartoons did not help to soothe racial tensions that were simmering then. The situation erupted with the racial riots of 1969, and for several years after these incidents relationships among the races were raw and fragile. According to Redza, Lat soothed the nation's racial woes with his works. Drawing members of various races in his crowd scenes and showing their interactions with one another, Lat portrayed Malaysians in a gentle and unbiased comic manner. Redza pointed out although one may argue that Lat was forced into the role of racial and cultural mediator (because of his employment with his country's "leading English-language newspaper serving a multi-racial readership"), he possessed the necessary qualities—intimate knowledge of various races and culture—to succeed in the job. Lat's fans recognised the trademark of his oeuvre as "a safe and nice humour that made everyone feel good and nostalgic by appealing to their benevolent sides rather than by poking at their bad sides". It proved to be a successful formula; more than 850,000 copies of his books were sold in the twelve years after the first compilation of his editorial cartoons went on sale in 1977. The comfort that readers sought from his works was such that when in September 2008 Lat deviated from his usual style, to draw a cartoon about racially charged politicking in his country, it shocked journalist Kalimullah Hassan. She found the illustration of a group of Malaysians huddled under an umbrella, taking shelter from a rain of xenophobic phrases, full of profound sadness.