Obituary: Mourning the Passing of Dr Syed Husin Ali, Renowned and Committed Social Scientist, Public Intellectual, Thinker and Resolute People’s Champion

  1. It is with deep sorrow that we received the news of the passing of Dr Syed Husin Ali, renowned social scientist, public intellectual and people’s fighter who had left an indelible legacy in academia, in the field of progressive politics, and in championing the cause of the people of all ethnic groups in the country. A highly respected and upright scholar and public intellectual with impeccable integrity, humility and quiet defiant courage, he succumbed to cancer at 12.20 am on 29th June, 2024 at Selayang Hospital after battling the disease for several months. He was 87. We would like to extend our deepest condolence and deep sense of bereavement to his children and close relatives. His passing is a great loss to his family, friends and his many former students, his comrades in arms with whom he had stood through thick and thin in championing the cause of the people, and the nation as a whole. The nation mourns the passing of this great selfless patriot who had devoted his entire life for the cause of a just, democratic, peaceful, united and progressive Malaysia!
  1. Dr Syed Husin Ali (affectionately known as Pak Syed) was a Professor in Sociology at the Department of Anthropology and Sociology University Malaya who retired in 1990 after 28 years of service at UM. He was born in Batu Pahat, Johor, on September 23, 1936 and had seven siblings including himself. His parents were of  royal origin, being descendants from the  Siak Sultanate, Sumatera. He was married to Puan Sabariah Abdullah from Kelantan and had three children. Puan Sabariah passed away in 2013.
  1. After his secondary education, he continued his studies at  Universiti Malaya in Singapore, obtaining B.A. Hons in the  1959  and MA in 1962. In 1963, he became a lecturer at the Malay Studies Department, Universiti Malaya, in Kuala Lumpur.  He subsequently earned his Ph.D. in Social Anthropology from the London School of Economics and Political Science (LSE), University of London in 1973.
  1. Pak Syed was an eminent scholar with an illustrious academic career. As one of the pioneering sociologists in the country, he was associate professor and head of the Department of Anthropology and Sociology in 1971, and full professor in 1980 until his retirement ten years later to join full time politics. Over the years, he had taught many students, a number of whom subsequently became well-known in various fields including politics, the most notable being the 10th prime minister of Malaysia, YAB Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim. Pak Syed was also one of the six founders of Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia (UKM) which was officially set up in May 1970.
  1. Pak Syed had a deep concern for justice, in particular the plight of the poor and the down-trodden. He courageously championed their cause, an example being the struggle of Hamid Tuah and the landless peasants in Selangor in the  1960s. He also firmly supported the struggle of the homeless urban squatters, the peasants in Baling, Kedah, and the students who rose up to champion the cause of the people. These struggles culminated into a series of  huge demonstrations in late 1974 in Kuala Lumpur. Following a massive crackdown by the government in December that year leading to the arrest of many student leaders and intellectuals, Pak Syed was arrested and detained under the Internal Security Act (ISA) for six years until he was released in 1980.
  1. A prolific bilingual writer who pursued his passion in writing until his final days, Pak Syed left a rich legacy for posterity. He wrote and edited about 20 books, prepared over 100 papers for journals, and many articles for local media. Among his famous books are: Social Stratification Kampung Bagan (1964); Malay Peasant Society and  Leadership (1975); The Malays: Their Problems and Future (1981; written in prison); Ethnic Relations in Malaysia: Conflict and Harmony (2015); A People’s History of Malaysia (2018); and in 2023, an edited book with two others, Tokoh-tokoh Pejuang Rakyat. He also published two memoirs: Dua Wajah (Two Faces) about his detention years, and Memoir Politik Syed Husin Ali (Political Memoir of Syed Husin).
  1. Pak Syed was also well-known internationally. He was a researcher and consultant with the United Nations University (UNU) and UNESCO, and completed several evaluation reports on the workers’ and women’s movement for international bodies. He was a British Academy Visiting Fellow, at Cambridge University in 2005. He was a member of the International Mission to Investigate Genocide in Bangkok, the Panel of Judges for the People’s Tribunal on Industrial and Environmental Threats in Bhopal, India, and the International Inquiry into Displaced Persons in Sri Lanka.
  1. Pak Syed was a well-known figure in national politics especially after his university retirement. He was the former President of Parti Rakyat Malaysia (PRM) (1990-2003), and later became one of the founders of Parti Keadilan Rakyat and its Deputy President when PRM merged with the then Parti Keadilan Nasional to become PKR. He was Deputy Chairman of the PKR Advisory Council and a Member of its Political Bureau, and was appointed a Senator of the Malaysian Upper House between 2009-2015.
  1. During his student days between 1956 and 1959, Pak Syed was very active as a student leader. He was Secretary and later President of Persekutuan Bahasa Melayu Universiti Malaya (PBMUM) and General Secretary and later Deputy President of Gabungan Pelajar Melayu Semenanjung (GPMS). He was also active in the literary field, and became a founder of Persatuan Penulis Nasional or National Writers’ Association (PENA) and its secretary for five years. In the last more than ten years of life, he was active in leading Pusat Sejarah Rakyat (Centre for People’s History) as Chairman of its board of directors, whose mission was to reexamine history from the people’s perspective, and produced his work, Sejarah Rakyat Malaysia (People’s History of Malaysia).
  1. As a thinker and public intellectual and one of the pioneering scholars in Malaysian social science, Pak Syed had a long and lasting relationship with the Malaysian Social Science Association.  In fact, soon after his release in 1980, he was elected President of the Malaysian Social Science Association (PSSM) which he led for ten years until 1990. A festschrift in his honour was published by PSSM in 1996 entitled  Malaysia, Critical Perspectives: Essays in Honour of Syed Husin Ali edited by Ikmal Said & Zahid Emby. At the 13th International Studies Conference (MSC13) in August 2023, PSSM honoured him with a Special Award “Mahaguru Ulung Perintis Sains Sosial Malaysia” (Eminent Malaysian Social Science  Pioneer Laureate) for his outstanding contribution to social science and his commitment to social justice.
  1. Professor Syed Husin Ali’s passing brings to a close an historic post-independence era that had produced many outstanding scholars, intellectuals, leaders and thinkers who had shaped the course of the nation’s history.  It is a sad day for Malaysia.

May Allah bless his soul. Alfatihah!

By
Emeritus Professor Dato’ Dr Abdul Rahman Embong
Special Advisor and Former President of the Malaysian Social Science Association (PSSM)
29 June 2024

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