Rustam as Poet: Extracts from Emas Tempawan/Burnished Gold

[The following are extracts from the pages of Muhammad Haji Salleh (Editor), Emas Tempawan/Burnished Gold (An Anthology of Contemporary Malaysian Poetry), Kuala Lumpur, Dewan Bahasa dan Pustaka: 2004. (Pages 175-176).]

Rustam A. Sani was born in Tanjung Malim, Perak, in 1944. He grew up in a world of political struggle, and eventually became the Deputy President of Parti Rakyat Malaysia (PRM). He studied at the University of Malaya (KL), University of Reading, University of Kent at Canterbury (UK), Yale University (US) and Uppsala University (Sweden) – specializing in political sociology. Rustam is a well-known political analyst and translator. His only published book of poems is Riak-riak Kecil (1977)


A Poem for Azrani Rustam

Forgive your dad
for at the moment of your birth
he did not build you a palace of dreams
of cold bricks and stones
eerily fashioned out of chants of praise

He was on a journey
when you arrived
looking for illusive shadows
of the dreams he has destroyed
but yet to bury

The misty darkness of London
promised an unending pasture of mystery
at your first cry
the autumn wind did not subside
but incessantly rocked
to the rhythm of the dance of the mirage
tormenting the lone traveller.

London,
1974.



The Monotonous Plain

Tulips in a festival of colours
shyly swaying in the breeze
that turned the sails of the windmill
struggling to hide its own face

Everything seems powerless
to prevail over this boredom
on yet another inch of level ground
to traverse

Here the inhabitants have dammed the sea
in order to become man
for nature has failed to offer mountains
for him wrestle with.

Amsterdam,
1974.

Rustam Sani’s Vox Populi

M. Bakri Musa

| This piece, on Rustam Sani as a blogger, was posted by Dr M. Bakri Musa in his blogsite: http://www.bakrimusa.com on September 17, 2006. Malaysian-born Bakri writes frequently on issues affecting his native land, Malaysia. Bakri’s day job is as a surgeon in private practice in Silicon Valley, California. He and his wife Karen live on a ranch in Morgan Hill. |

One heartening development in Malaysia (and elsewhere) in the last few years is the emergence of personal blogs and the Internet news and commentary portals. This development may prove to be even more transforming socially, politically and in many other ways than the introduction of the printing press five centuries ago.

Rustam Sani’s Vox Populi is the latest. He came on aboard a few weeks ago, and has been busy updating it regularly. His recent essays dealt with the current political leadership crisis, as well as commentaries on such topical issues as education.

A sampling of recent topics includes “The Silat Bunga of Abdullah and Mahathir,” and “Something is Rotten in the Kingdom of Higher Education.” Rustam is indeed the voice of the people.

As elsewhere, blogging is now fast becoming mainstream in Malaysia. This process is hastened considerably by the many bloggers who were once mainstream journalists, beginning first with the late MGG Pillai, and later with the likes of Kadir Jasin, (www.kadirjasin.blogspot.com) and Ahirudin Atan (www.rockybru.blogspot.com) entering the scene.

The younger pioneers like Nizam Zakaria are still there, active as ever and expanding their field of commentary. I particularly enjoy his take on the local arts scene and his excerpting his new novels.

Even more encouraging is the appearance of many blogs and Internet portals using the Malay language, as with Kassim Ahmad’s (www.kassimahmad.blogspot.com). His website also serves as a readily accessible repository of his earlier essays and commentaries, including his banned works like Hadith: A Re-Evaluation. Kassim, like Rustam, is facile in both Malay and English. Unlike many, they both stick to one or the other language with their essays; there is thankfully no jumbling mixture of rojak that I find so irritating and difficult to read.

The appearance of many blogs in Malay indicates that the Malay masses are now no longer captive to the mainstream media and government propaganda machinery (they are both the same). My favorites include Laman Marhean and Agendadaily.

While many are lamenting the current political leadership crisis in UMNO, there is already one positive consequence to this: the spawning of many new websites and blogs in the Malay language.

These enterprising and productive individuals are doing more than those bureaucrats and pseudo scholars at Dewan Bahasa dan Pustaka and other public agencies to project our national language globally. Unlike Dewan’s glut of salaried men and women, these cyber contributors cost the government not a penny!

Introducing Rustam Sani

I first heard of Rustam Sani in 1985 when he delivered the public oration on the occasion of Kassim Ahmad receiving an Honorary Doctorate of Letters from Universiti Kebangsaan. That Kassim deserved the honor was beyond question, nonetheless I found the university’s action surprising, although a very pleasing one. Kassim had then just released his harrowing account of detention under the ISA, Universiti Kedua (Second University).

Kassim is an independent thinker; it must have taken great courage for those at the university to so honor him. Rustam was then head of its Department of Sociology and Anthropology, and who nominated Kassim. I was heartened that at least there was one soul at the university brave enough to go against the grain and managed to convince his colleagues in the university senate to go along.

Rustam and I share many commonalities. We both attended English schools in our respective little towns (Tanjong Malim for him, and Kuala Pilah for me). We then went on to the “big school” for our Sixth Form, the venerable Victoria Institution for Rustam, and Malay College for me.

From the University of Malaya Rustam went on to Reading and Kent in Britain. Later as a Fullbright-Hayes scholar, he obtained double masters from Yale. Like me, he returned home, but unlike me, he stayed and put up with the system.

Ponteng (opting out) was never a consideration for him; the nationalist’s blood runs too deep in Rustam’s veins. His father, the late Ahmad Boestaman, was a firebrand nationalist and an early leader in the movement for Merdeka. Firebrand is an apt adjective, for Boestaman was active in API (lit. fire), the acronym for Angkatan Pemuda Insaf (The Committed Youth Movement).

Boestaman later founded the socialist Parti Rakyat Malaysia and served in Parliament in the early 1960s. It was tribute to the way things were then that young Rustam did not suffer the consequences of having a father active in opposition politics. How different things are today!

Tribulations of A Social Scientist

Life as a social scientist in Malaysia must be terribly trying, both professionally and personally. Your field of enquiry touches on so many “sensitive issues,” at least sensitive to the establishment. You cannot follow your intellectual interests, unless the authorities grant you permission. That is quite apart from the funding issue.

When you have someone like Rustam who dares to think differently, life could be even more difficult, on as well as off campus. Rustam was lucky to have been spared the harsh fate meted out to Kassim Ahmad, Syed Hussin Ali, and others. Perhaps Allah in His Infinite Mercy and Wisdom decided that the Boestaman family had suffered enough, and thus spared Rustam the fate endured by his father. The British detained Ahmad Boestaman for eight years for his leftist activities during the Emergency. Just to show that Malaysian leaders did learn a thing or two from their British masters, the Tunku later jailed Ahmad Boestaman for four years under the ISA in 1963. He became the first sitting Member of Parliament to be so detained. That is a mark of distinction and honor in my book, not a blemish.

On campus, unless you toe the official line you would definitely be sidelined no matter how productive you are. Rustam was one productive academic; I came across his writings many times when researching for my books. Unfortunately, on Malaysian campuses intellectual productivity is not valued. To advance, suffice that you are an enthusiastic cheerleader for the authorities.

Far from being satisfied as a detached scholar-analyst, Rustam was actively engaged as a political practitioner and activist with Parti Rakyat Malaysia. He walks the talk; he practices what he preaches.

Off campus, the same oppressive atmosphere prevails. The pages of the mainstream publications and airtime of radio and television are the exclusive preserve of unabashed supporters of the status quo. To these pundits, their sultans would always be donning a samping sutra (silk cummerbund) even when they are wrapped in bark loincloth. Once that sultan is out of power, these cheerleaders would, without skipping a beat, go on praising the next one and unhesitatingly damning the old one. Witness the current vulgar vilification of Mahathir by his once ardent supporters.

The mainstream media have lost their precious credibility, as well as balance and objectivity! In the end it is their readers (and thus the nation) who are not being well served. It is not a surprise that the blossoming of the Internet news portals and blogosphere coincides with (or perhaps the cause of) the decline of the mainstream media.

When Gutenberg introduced his printing press five centuries ago, he did more than simply made reading materials readily available for the masses. He emancipated them, freeing them from the tight controls of the clergy and ruling class who then had exclusive access to written works. They were the exclusive arbiter and interpreter on matters religious and others. The masses need only follow them meekly, as a flock of sheep would their shepherd.

The ready availability of the printing press upended all that. The resulting mass literacy made possible the reformation, and an end to the Medieval Age.

The Internet, by democratizing news, information, and commentaries, would have a similar if not far greater transforming effect. Rustam Sani’s Vox Populi (Voice of the People), and others like his, would ensure that we would not regress.

CV Ringkas Rustam A. Sani

MAKLUMAN PERIBADI

NAMA PENUH
Rustam Abdullah Sani

TARIKH LAHIR
11 Ogos 1944

TEMPAT LAHIR
Ipoh, Perak (Malaysia)

PERSEKOLAHAN
Rendah
Sekolah Kebangsaan Behrang Ulu
Tanjung Malim, Perak
(1951-1963)

Menengah
Methodist English School
Tanjung Malim, Perak
(1956-1963)

Tingkatan Enam
Sekolah Victoria

Kuala Lumpur
(1963-1964)

UNIVERSITI

  1. Universiti Malaya, Kuala Lumpur (1967-1970): BA (Hons) Pengajian Melayu (1970).
  2. University of Reading, England (1972-1973): Postgraduate Diploma in Sociology (Dip.Soc) (1973).
  3. University of Kent at Canterbury, England (1973-1975): MA in Southeast Asian Studies (1975)
  4. Yale University, New Haven CT, USA (1978-1981): (1) MA in Sociology (1980), (2) M Phil in Political Sociology (1981).
  5. Uppsala University, Uppsala, Sweden (1991): Advanced International Program in Conflict Resolution (Diploma)

BIDANG MINAT
Teori Sosiologi; Teori Sains Politik; Sosiologi Politik; Statistik; Nasionalisme Melayu; Kajian Elit Politik dan Pemodenan; dan Sosiologi Sastera.

PENGALAMAN KERJA
  1. Oxford University Press, Kuala Lumpur: Penolong Editor (1965-1967); Editor (1970-1971).
  2. Universiti Malaya, Kuala Lumpur: (1) Penolong Pendaftar (Akademik dan Rekod) merangkap Setiausaha, Unit Pusat Universiti-Universiti (UPU) (1971-1972); (2) Pensyarah (Pusat Bahasa)(1975-1976).
  3. Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia, Bangi: (1) Pensyarah (Jabatan Antropologi dan Sosiologi) (1976-1988); [Ketua Jabatan Antropologi dan Sosiologi) (1984-1986)]; (2) Pensyarah (Jabatan Sains Politik) (1988-1989); (3) Profesor Madya (Jabatan Sains Politik) (1989-1990).
  4. Institut Kajian Strategik dan Antarabangsa (ISIS) Malaysia: Fellow Kanan/ Ketua Editor/Pengarah Ekesekutif (Penerbitan) (1990-1995).
  5. Pascabaru (M) Sdn Bhd.: Pengerusi Eksekutif (1995-1997).
  6. Pusat Dialog Peradaban, Universiti Malaya: Fellow Kanan (1997-1999).
ANUGERAH DAN BIASISWA

  1. Oxford University Press Meritorious Service Award, 1966.
  2. Biasiswa Oxford University Press untuk mengikuti ijazah pertama di Universiti Malaya (1967-1970).
  3. Zamalah Fulbright-Hays untuk pengajian siswazah di Yale University, USA (1978-1981)
  4. Hadiah Sastera Malaysia (Bahagian Esei-Kritik), 1988-99.
PIDATO UMUM
  1. Pidato Umum Penganugerahan Ijazah Kehormat Doktor Persuratan kepada Kassim Ahmad (Konvokesyen UKM Ke-13, Bangi, 17 Ogos, 1985).
  2. Anwar Ibrahim: Tokoh Pembaca. Pidato Umum Majlis Penganugerahan Gelar ‘Tokoh Pembaca’ kepada Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim oleh Majlis Buku Kebangsaan
PENERBITAN [Senarai Ringkas Pilihan]
  • The Origins of the Malay Left: An Analysis of the Social Roots (MA Thesis, University of Kent at Canterbury), 1975.
  • Education and Malay Political Elites in the Thirties. Jurnal Pendidikan (UKM), Bil. 5, April, 1977.
  • Malaya Pada Tahun-tahun Tiga Puluhan: Latarbelakang Sosial Bagi Permulaan Perkembangan Politik Malaysia. Jurnal Antropologi dan Sosiologi, Jld. 6, Hlm. 18-29. 1978.
  • Pembentukan Elit Politik Melayu (Kertas Kerja Untuk Persidangan Pelajar-pelajar Malaysia Amerika Utara), SUNY Binghampton, 18 Disember 1980.
  • Kesatuan Melayu Muda as the Organisational Origins of the Malay Left. Nusantara, Bil 9, June, 1982.
  • Kepimpinan dalam Perkembangan Politik Melayu Awal: Aspek Sosial. Dlm. DBP (ed.), Isu-isu Ekonomi, Sosial dan Politik Malaysia, Kuala Lumpur, 1983.
  • Robohan Nasionalisme Melayu: Asas Sosial Bagi Terbentuknya Ideologi Perpaduan Nasional. Ilmu Masyarakat, Bil. 4, Hlm. 9-15, 1983.
  • Melayu Raya as a Malay Nation of Intent. Dlm. Dahlan, H. M. (ed.), The Nascent Malaysian Society (Second Edition), Bangi, 1986.
  • Malay Identity in Islam (Book Review of Chandra Muzaffar, Islamic Resurgence in Malaysia), Far Eastern Economic Review, 23 April, 1987.
  • The Malay Ruling Elite in the Post-colonial State of Malaysia. Solidarity (The Phillipines), No. 144, September-October, 1987.
  • The Role of Translation in Creating a Modern Intellectual Tradition: Some Thoughts on the Malaysian Case. Tenggara, Bil. 21/22, 1988.
  • Tradisi Intelektual Melayu dan Pembentukan Bangsa Malaysia. Dlm. Ahmat Adam, et al (eds.) Intelektualisme Melayu: Satu Polemik, Bangi, 1990.
  • National Policies: Their Implications on the Preservation of Heritage. Dlm. Raja Fuziah Tun Uda (ed.), The Changing World: Our Heritage and Our Future (Second Edition), Kuala Lumpur, 1991.
  • Conflict Theory and Peace Research: Some Reflections. Dlm Goran Lindgrom, Kjell-Ake Norquist and Peter Wallenstein (eds.), Peace Process in the Third World, Uppsala University, Sweden, 1991.
  • The Social Sciences in Malaysia: A Critical Scenario. (With Norani Othman). Akademika, Bil. 38, Januari 1991.
  • Projek 2020: Melewati Dimensi Ekonomi. Negarawan, Bil. 21, 1991.
  • Politik dan Pembentukan Bangsa di Malaysia: Realiti dan Visi. Ilmu Masyarakat, Bil. 20, Julai-September, 1992.
  • Ke Arah Pembentukan Satu Bangsa Malaysia. Dlm. Hairany Naffis (ed.), Politik Malaysia Dekad 1990an, Bangi, 1992.
  • Badan-badan Bahasa dan Sastera Melayu: Satu Perspektif Sosiopolitik. Dlm. S. Othman Kelantan (ed.), Seratus Tahun Pergerakan Bahasa dan Sastera Melayu 1888-1988, Kuala Lumpur, 1992.
  • Melayu Baru: Beberapa Persoalan Sosio-Budaya, ISIS Malaysia, Kuala Lumpur, 1992.
  • Politik dan Polemik Bahasa Melayu, Kuala Lumpur, 1993.
  • Melayu Baru dan Bangsa Malaysia: Tradisi Cendekia dan Krisis Budaya, Kuala Lumpur, 1993.
  • Ke Arah Mewujudkan Suasana Politik Yang Merangsang Pencapaian Matalamat Wawasan 2020. Dlm. Kamaruddin Jaafar dan Hazami Habib (eds.), Wawasan 2020, Kuala Lumpur, 1993.
  • Phoenix-like, A New Kind of Malay Arises. ISEAS Trends (Singapore), March, 1993.
  • The Emergence of Melayu Baru. Business Times (Singapore), 30 June, 1993.
  • Perceiving ‘National Security’ (Australian-Asian Perceptions Project Working Paper Number 5, edited by Anthony Milner) (Ditulis bersama sekumpulan para sarjana dari ANU dan Universiti Tokyo), Academy of Social Sciences in Australia, April 1994.
  • Globalisasi, Krisis Ekonomi dan Politik 1998. Dlm. Norani Othman dan Sumit Mandal (eds.), Malaysia Menangani Globalisasi: Pesereta atau Mangsa?, Bangi, 2000.
  • Malaysia’s Economic and Political Crisis Since September 1998. Dlm. Jomo K. S. (ed.), Reinventing Malaysia: Reflections on its Past and Future, Bangi, 2001.
  • Menjelang Reformasi, Kuala Lumpur, 2004.
  • Ke Mana Nasionalisme Melayu?, Kuala Lumpur, 2004.
  • Bercanda dengan Mahathir, Kuala Lumpur, 2006.

PENULISAN KOLUM TETAP

Pernah menjadi penulis kolum tetap untuk akhbar dan majalah berikut: Dewan Masyarakat, Utusan Malaysia, New Straits Times, The Edge, Detik, Harakah, Suara PRM, Siasah, Suara Keadilan, Nanyang Siang Pau (Cina), Oriental Daily (Cina).

Tentang Rustam A. Sani

Rustam A. Sani dianggap antara ‘cendekiawan awam’ yang penting di Malaysia (lihat Jomo, 2001: 9)*. Beliau merupakan seorang ahli akademik, penulis kolum dan penyair – selain terlibat dalam pelbagai kegiatan politik, sosial dan sastera. Sebagai ahli akademik dan penganalisis, beliau pernah bertugas di Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia, Universiti Malaya dan ISIS Malaysia.

Antologi puisinya – Riak-riak Kecil (1977) – diterbitkan oleh Dewan Bahasa dan Pustaka. Pada tahun 1988/89 beliau telah dianugerahkan ‘Hadiah Sastera Negara’ dalam kategori esei dan kritik sastera. Dalam bidang politik, beliau pernah memegang jawatan Timbalan Presiden, Parti Rakyat Malaysia.

Rustam memperoleh ijazah pertamanya dari Universiti Malaya, dan kemudiannya melanjutkan pelajaran di University of Reading, University of Kent at Canterbury (UK) dan Yale University (AS). Beliau merupakan seorang penulis yang prolifik, baik dalam bahasa Malaysia maupun Inggeris – dan tulisannya meliputi pelbagai bidang seperti politik, isu-isu sosial, sejarah, budaya, statistik dan sastera. Selain itu, beliau juga telah menghasilkan terjemahan karya-karya sastera dan bukan sastera (dari Inggeris ke bahasa Malaysia dan sebaliknya).

Antara buku-buku karya beliau adalah: Melayu Baru: Beberapa Persoalan Sosio-Budaya (1992); Politik dan Polemik Bahasa Melayu (1993); Melayu Baru dan Bangsa Malaysia: Tradisi Cendekia dan Krisis Budaya (1993); Menjelang Reformasi (2004); Ke Mana Nasionalisme Melayu? (2004); dan Bercanda dengan Mahathir (2006).

__________________________________________________________________________________

*Jomo, K. S. (editor), Reinventing Malaysia: Reflections on Its Past and Future, Penerbit UKM, Bangi: 2001. h.9 (Introduction).

A Brief CV of Rustam A. Sani

PERSONAL INFORMATION

FULL NAME Rustam Abdullah Sani
BIRTH DATE 11 August 1944
BIRTH PLACE Ipoh, Perak (Malaysia)

SCHOOLS ATTENDED
Primary
Sekolah Kebangsaan Behrang Ulu,
Tanjung Malim, Perak
(1951-1963)

Secondary
Methodist English School,
Tanjung Malim, Perak
(1956-1963)

Sixth Form
Victoria Institution
Kuala Lumpur
(1963-1964)

UNIVERSITIES ATTENDED

  1. Universiti Malaya, Kuala Lumpur, 1967-1970: BA (Hons) in Malay Studies (1970).

  1. University of Reading, England, 1972-1973: Postgraduate Diploma in Sociology (Dip.Soc) (1973)

  1. University of Kent at Canterbury, 1973-1975: MA in Southeast Asian Studies (1974).

  1. Yale University, Connecticut, USA, 1978-1981: (1) MA in Sociology (1980); (2) M Phil in Political Sociology (1981).

  1. Uppsala University, Uppsala, Sweden, 1991: Advanced International Program in Conflict Resolution (Diploma) (1991).

AREAS OF INTEREST
Sociological Theory, Political Theory, Political Sociology, Social Statistics, Malay Nationalism, Political Elite Studies, Modernisation and Globalisation, Sociology of Literature.
WORK EXPERIENCE
  1. Oxford University Press, Kuala Lumpur: Assistant Editor, 1965-1967; Editor, 1970-1971

  1. Universiti Malaya, Kuala Lumpur: Assistant Registrar (Academic and Record) 1971-1972 ; concurrently Secretary, Universities Central Admissions Unit (UPU); Lecturer (in Translation at The Languange Centre) 1975-1976.

  1. Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia, Bangi: Lecturer (Department of Anthropology and Sociology) 1976-1988; [Head of Department: 1984-1986]; Lecturer, Department of Political Science, 1988-1989; Associate Professor, Department of Political Science, 1989-1990.

  1. Institute of Strategic and International Studies (ISIS) Malaysia: Senior Fellow /Editor-in-Chief/ Executive Director (Publications), 1990-1995.

  1. Pascabaru (M) Sdn Bhd, Kuala Lumpur: Executive Chairman, 1995-1997.

  1. Centre for Civilisational Dialogue, Universiti Malaya: Senior Research Fellow, 1997-1999.
AWARDS AND SCHOLARSHIPS
  1. Oxford University Press Meritorious Service Award, 1966.
  2. Oxford University Press Undergraduate Scholarship to study at Universiti Malaya (1967-1970).
  3. Fulbright-Hays Scholarship/Fellowship for graduate studies at Yale University, USA (1978-1981)
  4. Malaysia National Literary Award (Essays and Literary Criticism Category), 1990.
PUBLIC ORATORY
  1. Public Oratory for the Award of Honorary Doctor of Letters to Kassim Ahmad (UKM 13th Convocation, 17 August, 1985).
  2. Anwar Ibrahim: Tokoh Pembaca. Public Oratory for the “Examplary Reader Award” to Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim by the Malaysian National Book Council, Kuala Lumpur, 7 August, 1988.
PUBLICATIONS [A Select List]
  • The Origins of the Malay Left: An Analysis of the Social Roots (MA Thesis, University of Kent at Canterbury), 1975.
  • Education and Malay Political Elites in the Thirties. Jurnal Pendidikan (UKM), No.5, April, 1977.
  • Malaya Pada Tahun-tahun Tiga Puluhan: Latarbelakang Sosial Bagi Permulaan Perkembangan Politik Malaysia. Jurnal Antropologi dan Sosiologi, Vol. 6, Pp. 18 – 29, 1978.
  • Pembentukan Elit Politik Melayu (A Paper Presented at the Annual Conference of The Malaysian Students Association of North America), SUNY Binghampton, 18 December, 1980.
  • Kesatuan Melayu Muda as the Organisational Origins of the Malay Left. Nusantara, No. 9, June, 1982.
  • Kepimpinan dalam Perkembangan Politik Melayu Awal: Aspek Sosial. In DBP (ed.), Isu-isu Ekonomi, Sosial dan Politik Malaysia, Kuala Lumpur, 1983.
  • Robohan Nasionalisme Melayu: Asas Sosial Bagi Terbentuknya Ideologi Perpaduan Nasional. Ilmu Masyarakat, No. 4, Pp. 9 - 15, 1983.
  • Melayu Raya as a Malay Nation of Intent. In Dahlan, H. M. (ed.), The Nascent Malaysian Society (Second Edition), Bangi, 1986. (First Edition, 1976).
  • Malay Identity in Islam (Book Review of Chandra Muzaffar, Islamic Resurgence in Malaysia), Far Eastern Economic Review, 23 April, 1987.
  • The Malay Ruling Elite in the Post-colonial State of Malaysia. Solidarity (The Phillipines), No. 144, September-October, 1987.
  • The Role of Translation in Creating a Modern Intellectual Tradition: Some Thoughts on the Malaysian Case. Tenggara, No. 21/22, 1988.
  • Tradisi Intelektual Melayu dan Pembentukan Bangsa Malaysia. In Ahmat Adam, et al (eds.) Intelektualisme Melayu: Satu Polemik, Bangi, 1990.
  • National Policies: Their Implications on the Preservation of Heritage. In Raja Fuziah Tun Uda (ed.), The Changing World: Our Heritage and Our Future (Second Edition), Kuala Lumpur, 1991. (First Edition, 1989).
  • Conflict Theory and Peace Research: Some Reflections. In Goran Lindgrom, Kjell-Ake Norquist and Peter Wallenstein (eds.), Peace Process in the Third World, Uppsala University, Sweden, 1991.
  • The Social Sciences in Malaysia: A Critical Scenario. (With Norani Othman). Akademika, No. 38, Januari 1991.
  • Projek 2020: Melewati Dimensi Ekonomi. Negarawan, No. 21, 1991.
  • Politik dan Pembentukan Bangsa di Malaysia: Realiti dan Visi. Ilmu Masyarakat, No. 20, Julai-September, 1992.
  • Ke Arah Pembentukan Satu Bangsa Malaysia. In Hairany Naffis (ed.), Politik Malaysia Dekad 1990an, Bangi, 1992.
  • Badan-badan Bahasa dan Sastera Melayu: Satu Perspektif Sosiopolitik. In S. Othman Kelantan (ed.), Seratus Tahun Pergerakan Bahasa dan Sastera Melayu 1888-1988, Kuala Lumpur, 1992.
  • Melayu Baru: Beberapa Persoalan Sosio-Budaya, ISIS Malaysia, Kuala Lumpur, 1992.
  • Politik dan Polemik Bahasa Melayu, Kuala Lumpur, 1993.
  • Melayu Baru dan Bangsa Malaysia: Tradisi Cendekia dan Krisis Budaya, Kuala Lumpur, 1993.
  • Ke Arah Mewujudkan Suasana Politik Yang Merangsang Pencapaian Matalamat Wawasan 2020. In Kamaruddin Jaafar dan Hazami Habib (eds.), Wawasan 2020, Kuala Lumpur, 1993.
  • Phoenix-like, A New Kind of Malay Arises. ISEAS Trends-Business Times (Singapore), March, 1993.
  • The Emergence of Melayu Baru. Business Times (Singapore), 30 June, 1993.
  • Perceiving ‘National Security’ (Australian-Asian Perceptions Project Working Paper No. 5, edited by Anthony Milner) (In collaboration with a group scholars from ANU dan Tokyo University), Academy of Social Sciences in Australia, April 1994.
  • Foreword (pp. v-ix). Zainuddin Maidin, The Other Side of Mahathir, Kuala Lumpur, 1994.
  • Globalisasi, Krisis Ekonomi dan Politik 1998. In Norani Othman dan Sumit Mandal (eds.), Malaysia Menangani Globalisasi: Pesereta atau Mangsa?, Bangi, 2000.
  • Malaysia’s Economic and Political Crisis Since September 1998. In Jomo K. S. (ed.), Reinventing Malaysia: Reflections on its Past and Future, Bangi, 2001.
  • Menjelang Reformasi, Kuala Lumpur, 2004.
  • Ke Mana Nasionalisme Melayu?, Kuala Lumpur, 2004.
  • Bercanda dengan Mahathir, Kuala Lumpur, 2006.

NEWSPAPER/PERIODICALS

Has written regular columns in the following magazines and/or newspapers: Dewan Masyarakat; Utusan Malaysia; New Straits Times; The Edge; Detik; Harakah; Suara PRM; Siasah; Suara Keadilan, Nanyang Siang Pau (Chinese), Oriental Daily (Chinese).

About Rustam A. Sani

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).
___________________________________________________________________
Jomo, K. S. (Editor), Reinventing Malaysia: Reflections on Its Past and Future, Bangi: 2001. p.9 (Introduction).