Kota Belud: Sabah laureate Datuk Ismail Abbas or better known as Amil Jaya died of a heart attack in his Tamparuli home on Wednesday.Ismail, 69, leaves wife Datin Mariam Abu Bakar and six children.
His remains will be buried at Kampung Pirasan Muslim cemetery, near here.
Ismail was Sabah Dewan Bahasa dan Pustaka Director in 1990 until his retirement in 1994.
A Bachelor's of Literature degree holder from Universiti Sains Malaysia (USM) in 1982, he was active writing poems, short stories, novels and essay critics.
Ismail was known for his novels Cerah (DBP, 1976), Ngayau (DBP, 1979) and Bogaton (DBP, 1987.
He was recipient of the Sabah Laureate Award in 1990 and the SEA Write Award from Thailand in 1992.
Posts held include President of the Sabah Language Society (Bahas) and committee member of the Federation of Malay Writers Associations (Gapena).
