In memory of Allahyarham Rustam Sani
I was quite shocked to learn about Rustam Sani’s demise through Nuraina’s 3540 Jalan Sudin. Although I have never met this great man, I, and I believe many of you as well, have certainly not missed to read many of his thought-provoking articles in his blog, Suara Rakyat, which centered mostly around socio-political scenarios in Malaysia. Coincidently, his last post in his blog was titled: Trust is dead - but miracle is still as alive as hope itself. Rustam Sani is dead but his thoughts and spirits will remain alive with us for a long time to come, if not forever.
Rustam A. Sani has been described as “arguably Malaysia’s leading public intellectual” (Jomo, 2001:9)*. He is an academician, a newspaper columnist and a poet, besides being involved in a multitude of political, social and literary activities.
As an academician and scholar he has served at Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia, Universiti Malaya and ISIS Malaysia. His anthology of poems – Riak-riak Kecil (1977) – was published by the Dewan Bahasa dan Pustaka. In 1988/89 he was awarded the prestigious ‘Hadiah Sastera Negara’ (National Literary Award) in the category of essays and literary criticism.
In politics, he was formerly the Deputy President of Parti Rakyat Malaysia, which have since merged with the Parti Keadilan Nasional to form the Parti Keadilan Rakyat (People’s Justice Party).
Rustam obtained his first degree from Universiti Malaya, and later furthered his studies at the University of Reading, University of Kent at Canterbury (both in UK) and Yale University (US).
He is a prolific writer, both in Bahasa Malaysia and English, covering a wide range of areas that include politics, social issues, history, culture, statistics and literature. Besides, he has produced translation of literary and non-literary works (from English to Bahasa Malaysia and vice versa).
Read more about Allahyarham Rustam Sani here
Photo credit : Clare Street
My deeepest condolescense to his family and relatives. May Allah bless his soul and award him with Jannah for his good deeds. Al-Fatihah.
Related Stories
POSTED IN: People
0 opinions for In memory of Allahyarham Rustam Sani
No one has left a comment yet. You know what this means, right? You could be first!
Have an opinion? Leave a comment: