Syed Hussein Alatas
Encyclopedia
Syed Hussein Alatas was a Malaysian academician, sociologist, founder of social science organizations, and former politician
. He was once Vice-Chancellor of the University of Malaya
in the 1980s, and formed the Parti Gerakan Rakyat Malaysia
(Gerakan). Syed Hussein wrote several books on corruption
, multi-racialism, imperialism
, and intellectual captivity as part of the colonial, and post colonial, project, the most famous being The Myth of the Lazy Native. e4
, Indonesia
. His grandfather, Sayyid 'Abd Allah bin Muhsin al-Attas, was a Hadhrami from Hadhramaut
and settled in Bogor. Syed Hussein is the older brother of Syed Muhammad Naquib al-Attas
.
. Gerakan was relatively successful in the 1969 general election, where it campaigned on a platform of social justice and the reduction or elimination of Bumiputra
privileges outlined by Article 153
of the Constitution
. Gerakan held a victory rally in the capital of Kuala Lumpur
to celebrate. However, it deviated from its planned route into Malay areas of the city, where party members jeered at the Malays
. Although an apology was issued the following day, the United Malays National Organisation
(UMNO), a major component of the ruling Alliance
coalition government, held a retaliatory rally. This rally soon degenerated into outright rioting with at least 180 people killed during the subsequent riots (although other estimates put it substantially higher). As a result, a state of emergency was declared, and Parliament
was suspended; it did not reconvene until 1971.
When Gerakan joined the Alliance coalition government in 1972, Syed Hussein left to help form Pekemas (Parti Keadilan Masyarakat Malaysia, or Social Justice Party of Malaysia), based on similar principles that Gerakan had been formed on. However, the party collapsed in 1978 due to massive defections to the Democratic Action Party
(DAP).
publishing house, where he worked as head of the research department from 1958 onwards. He began lecturing part-time in philosophy
at the University of Malaya
in 1960, and served as the Head of the Cultural Division at the University's Department of Malay Studies from 1963 to 1967. He served as the Head of the Department of Malay Studies in the National University of Singapore
from 1967 to 1988. He was appointed as the Vice-Chancellor of the University of Malaya in 1988, before becoming a professor at the Centre for General Studies in the Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia
in 1995. He later transferred to the Department of Anthropology and Sociology in 1997, before becoming principal research fellow at the Institute of the Malay World and Civilisation of the same university in 1999.
Syed Hussein authored a substantial number of books, the most well known, being "The Myth of the Lazy Native". In 1966, Syed Hussein began pondering the question of why Western colonialists had, for four centuries, considered the natives of the Malay archipelago
to be generally lazy, since Europeans had not arrived until the 17th century. His research eventually produced The Myth of the Lazy Native, a book which was published in 1977. In the book, he cited one instance of a "denigrating" view of the natives, when a German
scientist
suggested that the Filipinos
made their oar
s from bamboo
so they could rest more frequently: "If they happen to break, so much the better, for the fatiguing labour of rowing must necessarily be suspended till they are mended again." Syed Hussein criticized such beliefs in the book as ranging "from vulgar fantasy and untruth to refined scholarship." He also asserted that "[t]he image of the indolent, dull, backward and treacherous native has changed into that of a dependent one requiring assistance to climb the ladder of progress".
According to Bruno Fernandes, a writer of an article on Alatas Syed, Alatas was a "sociologist, philosopher, academic and policy analyst" who "worked out a critical and reflexive work from the point of view of the ex-colonized countries", and while Alatas was and is today well "known in the Malayan intellectual world (Indonesia, Malaysia, Singapore, Philippines) - and (by) a "broad Malayan intellectual (Indonesia, Malaysia, Singapore, Philippines) community", he is "broadly ignored elsewhere…." The respect for Syed Alatas and his influence is also discussed in "An Intellectual Life" in Asian Analysis by Asean Focus Group and Faculty of Asian Studies at The Australian National University: "The late Edward Wadie Said, for example, whose book Orientalism
recast post-colonial scholarship, acknowledged his debt to Syed Hussein whose critique of imperialism in his " Myth of the Lazy Native " (1977) and of colonial historiography in Thomas Stamford Raffles: Schemer or Reformer (1971) were pioneering efforts in Third-Worldist post-colonial responses to Western social sciences. He has been regarded as one of the founders of sociological investigation in Southeast Asia and as a mentor to many in the Malaysian Social Science and academic community, more generally. In the 1950s, he was already considering the significance of the contribution of Tunisian-born Ibn Khaldun
(1332-1406) to the philosophy of history and sociology. While undertaking postgraduate studies at the University of Amsterdam, Syed Hussein founded and edited the journal Progressive Islam (1954-55), fostering his links with intellectuals within the Muslim world, including Mohammad Natsir from Indonesia, Taha Husayn and Osman Amin, both from Egypt."
Citing Syed Alatas as an opponent of corruption another writer wrote,"Syed Hussein's pet domains had been Malay studies, progressive Islam and fighting corruption. Read his books if you have the time: The Democracy of Islam, Mental Revolution, Sociology of Corruption, and The Myth of the Lazy Native, among many more."; as a supporter for multiracism, "To the young, you should be reminded that Syed Hussein laid the foundation for multi-racial politics, obviously ahead of his time.....";
as an academic, Syed Hussein is remembered as a man with a sense of fairness and integrity. However, Dr Lim Teck Ghee, who was a lecturer at Universiti Malaya when the Prof was VC, said: "His insistence on the principles of excellence, justice and fair play irrespective of race made him unpopular in some circles. For this he paid a heavy price.”
. He was buried at Bukit Kiara Muslim Cemetery
, Kuala Lumpur
.
Politician
A politician, political leader, or political figure is an individual who is involved in influencing public policy and decision making...
. He was once Vice-Chancellor of the University of Malaya
University of Malaya
The University of Malaya is located on a campus near the centre of Kuala Lumpur, and is the oldest university in Malaysia. It was founded in 1905 as a public-funded tertiary institution...
in the 1980s, and formed the Parti Gerakan Rakyat Malaysia
Parti Gerakan Rakyat Malaysia
The Malaysian People's Movement Party is a political party in Malaysia. The party was founded on March 24, 1968, and , it is part of the ruling National Front coalition....
(Gerakan). Syed Hussein wrote several books on corruption
Political corruption
Political corruption is the use of legislated powers by government officials for illegitimate private gain. Misuse of government power for other purposes, such as repression of political opponents and general police brutality, is not considered political corruption. Neither are illegal acts by...
, multi-racialism, imperialism
Imperialism
Imperialism, as defined by Dictionary of Human Geography, is "the creation and/or maintenance of an unequal economic, cultural, and territorial relationships, usually between states and often in the form of an empire, based on domination and subordination." The imperialism of the last 500 years,...
, and intellectual captivity as part of the colonial, and post colonial, project, the most famous being The Myth of the Lazy Native. e4
Early life
Syed was born in BogorBogor
Bogor is a city on the island of Java in the West Java province of Indonesia. The city is located in the center of the Bogor Regency , 60 kilometers south of the Indonesian capital Jakarta...
, Indonesia
Indonesia
Indonesia , officially the Republic of Indonesia , is a country in Southeast Asia and Oceania. Indonesia is an archipelago comprising approximately 13,000 islands. It has 33 provinces with over 238 million people, and is the world's fourth most populous country. Indonesia is a republic, with an...
. His grandfather, Sayyid 'Abd Allah bin Muhsin al-Attas, was a Hadhrami from Hadhramaut
Hadhramaut
Hadhramaut, Hadhramout, Hadramawt or Ḥaḍramūt is the formerly independent Qu'aiti state and sultanate encompassing a historical region of the south Arabian Peninsula along the Gulf of Aden in the Arabian Sea, extending eastwards from Yemen to the borders of the Dhofar region of Oman...
and settled in Bogor. Syed Hussein is the older brother of Syed Muhammad Naquib al-Attas
Syed Muhammad Naquib al-Attas
Syed Muhammad al Naquib bin Ali al-Attas is a prominent contemporary Muslim philosopher and thinker from Malaysia. He is one of the few contemporary scholars who is thoroughly rooted in the traditional Islamic sciences and who is equally competent in theology, philosophy, metaphysics, history, and...
.
Political career
Syed Hussein was among several intellectuals who formed Gerakan in 1968 as an offshoot of the defunct Labour PartyLabour Party of Malaya
The Labour Party of Malaya was a political party of Malaya that was active between 1952 to 1969. It was originally formed as a confederation of state based labour parties known as the Pan-Malayan Labour Party or PMFP.-Origins:...
. Gerakan was relatively successful in the 1969 general election, where it campaigned on a platform of social justice and the reduction or elimination of Bumiputra
Bumiputra
Bumiputera or Bumiputra is a Malay term widely used in Malaysia, embracing indigenous people of the Malay Archipelago. The term comes from the Sanskrit word bhumiputra, which can be translated literally as "son of land"...
privileges outlined by Article 153
Article 153 of the Constitution of Malaysia
Article 153 of the Constitution of Malaysia grants the Yang di-Pertuan Agong responsibility for “safeguard[ing] the special position of the ‘Malays’ and natives of any of the States of Sabah and Sarawak and the legitimate interests of other communities” and goes on to specify ways to do this, such...
of the Constitution
Constitution of Malaysia
The Federal Constitution of Malaysia, which came into force in 1957, is the supreme law of Malaysia. The Federation was initially called the Federation of Malaya and it adopted its present name, Malaysia, when the States of Sabah, Sarawak and Singapore joined the Federation...
. Gerakan held a victory rally in the capital of Kuala Lumpur
Kuala Lumpur
Kuala Lumpur is the capital and the second largest city in Malaysia by population. The city proper, making up an area of , has a population of 1.4 million as of 2010. Greater Kuala Lumpur, also known as the Klang Valley, is an urban agglomeration of 7.2 million...
to celebrate. However, it deviated from its planned route into Malay areas of the city, where party members jeered at the Malays
Malay people
Malays are an ethnic group of Austronesian people predominantly inhabiting the Malay Peninsula, including the southernmost parts of Thailand, the east coast of Sumatra, the coast of Borneo, and the smaller islands which lie between these locations...
. Although an apology was issued the following day, the United Malays National Organisation
United Malays National Organisation
The United Malays National Organisation, is Malaysia's largest political party; a founding member of the National Front coalition, which has played a dominant role in Malaysian politics since independence....
(UMNO), a major component of the ruling Alliance
Barisan Nasional
Barisan Nasional is a major political coalition in Malaysia, formed in 1973 as the successor to the Alliance . Along with its predecessor, it has been Malaysia's federal ruling political force since independence...
coalition government, held a retaliatory rally. This rally soon degenerated into outright rioting with at least 180 people killed during the subsequent riots (although other estimates put it substantially higher). As a result, a state of emergency was declared, and Parliament
Parliament of Malaysia
The Parliament of Malaysia is the national legislature of Malaysia, based on the Westminster system. The bicameral parliament consists of the House of Representatives and the Senate. The King as the Head of State is the third component of Parliament....
was suspended; it did not reconvene until 1971.
When Gerakan joined the Alliance coalition government in 1972, Syed Hussein left to help form Pekemas (Parti Keadilan Masyarakat Malaysia, or Social Justice Party of Malaysia), based on similar principles that Gerakan had been formed on. However, the party collapsed in 1978 due to massive defections to the Democratic Action Party
Democratic Action Party
The Democratic Action Party, or DAP is a secular, multi-racial, social democratic Malaysian political party.The DAP is one of the three major opposition parties in Malaysia, along with the PKR and PAS, that are seen as electable alternatives to the Barisan Nasional coalition of parties...
(DAP).
Academic and Public Career
Syed Hussein's academic career began at the Dewan Bahasa dan PustakaDewan Bahasa dan Pustaka
Dewan Bahasa dan Pustaka is the government body responsible for coordinating the use of the Malay language in Malaysia and Brunei.-History:...
publishing house, where he worked as head of the research department from 1958 onwards. He began lecturing part-time in philosophy
Philosophy
Philosophy is the study of general and fundamental problems, such as those connected with existence, knowledge, values, reason, mind, and language. Philosophy is distinguished from other ways of addressing such problems by its critical, generally systematic approach and its reliance on rational...
at the University of Malaya
University of Malaya
The University of Malaya is located on a campus near the centre of Kuala Lumpur, and is the oldest university in Malaysia. It was founded in 1905 as a public-funded tertiary institution...
in 1960, and served as the Head of the Cultural Division at the University's Department of Malay Studies from 1963 to 1967. He served as the Head of the Department of Malay Studies in the National University of Singapore
National University of Singapore
The National University of Singapore is Singapore's oldest university. It is the largest university in the country in terms of student enrollment and curriculum offered....
from 1967 to 1988. He was appointed as the Vice-Chancellor of the University of Malaya in 1988, before becoming a professor at the Centre for General Studies in the Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia
Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia
The National University of Malaysia is a public university located in Bangi, Selangor which is about 35 km south of Kuala Lumpur...
in 1995. He later transferred to the Department of Anthropology and Sociology in 1997, before becoming principal research fellow at the Institute of the Malay World and Civilisation of the same university in 1999.
Syed Hussein authored a substantial number of books, the most well known, being "The Myth of the Lazy Native". In 1966, Syed Hussein began pondering the question of why Western colonialists had, for four centuries, considered the natives of the Malay archipelago
Malay Archipelago
The Malay Archipelago refers to the archipelago between mainland Southeastern Asia and Australia. The name was derived from the anachronistic concept of a Malay race....
to be generally lazy, since Europeans had not arrived until the 17th century. His research eventually produced The Myth of the Lazy Native, a book which was published in 1977. In the book, he cited one instance of a "denigrating" view of the natives, when a German
Germany
Germany , officially the Federal Republic of Germany , is a federal parliamentary republic in Europe. The country consists of 16 states while the capital and largest city is Berlin. Germany covers an area of 357,021 km2 and has a largely temperate seasonal climate...
scientist
Scientist
A scientist in a broad sense is one engaging in a systematic activity to acquire knowledge. In a more restricted sense, a scientist is an individual who uses the scientific method. The person may be an expert in one or more areas of science. This article focuses on the more restricted use of the word...
suggested that the Filipinos
Philippines
The Philippines , officially known as the Republic of the Philippines , is a country in Southeast Asia in the western Pacific Ocean. To its north across the Luzon Strait lies Taiwan. West across the South China Sea sits Vietnam...
made their oar
Oar
An oar is an implement used for water-borne propulsion. Oars have a flat blade at one end. Oarsmen grasp the oar at the other end. The difference between oars and paddles are that paddles are held by the paddler, and are not connected with the vessel. Oars generally are connected to the vessel by...
s from bamboo
Bamboo
Bamboo is a group of perennial evergreens in the true grass family Poaceae, subfamily Bambusoideae, tribe Bambuseae. Giant bamboos are the largest members of the grass family....
so they could rest more frequently: "If they happen to break, so much the better, for the fatiguing labour of rowing must necessarily be suspended till they are mended again." Syed Hussein criticized such beliefs in the book as ranging "from vulgar fantasy and untruth to refined scholarship." He also asserted that "[t]he image of the indolent, dull, backward and treacherous native has changed into that of a dependent one requiring assistance to climb the ladder of progress".
According to Bruno Fernandes, a writer of an article on Alatas Syed, Alatas was a "sociologist, philosopher, academic and policy analyst" who "worked out a critical and reflexive work from the point of view of the ex-colonized countries", and while Alatas was and is today well "known in the Malayan intellectual world (Indonesia, Malaysia, Singapore, Philippines) - and (by) a "broad Malayan intellectual (Indonesia, Malaysia, Singapore, Philippines) community", he is "broadly ignored elsewhere…." The respect for Syed Alatas and his influence is also discussed in "An Intellectual Life" in Asian Analysis by Asean Focus Group and Faculty of Asian Studies at The Australian National University: "The late Edward Wadie Said, for example, whose book Orientalism
Orientalism
Orientalism is a term used for the imitation or depiction of aspects of Eastern cultures in the West by writers, designers and artists, as well as having other meanings...
recast post-colonial scholarship, acknowledged his debt to Syed Hussein whose critique of imperialism in his " Myth of the Lazy Native " (1977) and of colonial historiography in Thomas Stamford Raffles: Schemer or Reformer (1971) were pioneering efforts in Third-Worldist post-colonial responses to Western social sciences. He has been regarded as one of the founders of sociological investigation in Southeast Asia and as a mentor to many in the Malaysian Social Science and academic community, more generally. In the 1950s, he was already considering the significance of the contribution of Tunisian-born Ibn Khaldun
Ibn Khaldun
Ibn Khaldūn or Ibn Khaldoun was an Arab Tunisian historiographer and historian who is often viewed as one of the forerunners of modern historiography, sociology and economics...
(1332-1406) to the philosophy of history and sociology. While undertaking postgraduate studies at the University of Amsterdam, Syed Hussein founded and edited the journal Progressive Islam (1954-55), fostering his links with intellectuals within the Muslim world, including Mohammad Natsir from Indonesia, Taha Husayn and Osman Amin, both from Egypt."
Citing Syed Alatas as an opponent of corruption another writer wrote,"Syed Hussein's pet domains had been Malay studies, progressive Islam and fighting corruption. Read his books if you have the time: The Democracy of Islam, Mental Revolution, Sociology of Corruption, and The Myth of the Lazy Native, among many more."; as a supporter for multiracism, "To the young, you should be reminded that Syed Hussein laid the foundation for multi-racial politics, obviously ahead of his time.....";
as an academic, Syed Hussein is remembered as a man with a sense of fairness and integrity. However, Dr Lim Teck Ghee, who was a lecturer at Universiti Malaya when the Prof was VC, said: "His insistence on the principles of excellence, justice and fair play irrespective of race made him unpopular in some circles. For this he paid a heavy price.”
Death
Syed Hussein died after a fall in his home on January 23, 2007. The cause of death was later declared to be a heart attackMyocardial infarction
Myocardial infarction or acute myocardial infarction , commonly known as a heart attack, results from the interruption of blood supply to a part of the heart, causing heart cells to die...
. He was buried at Bukit Kiara Muslim Cemetery
Bukit Kiara Muslim Cemetery
The Bukit Kiara Muslim Cemetery is a cemetery at the Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. It is located near Taman Tun Dr Ismail.- Notable burials :*Kamaluddin Muhamad — Malay author *Usman Awang — Malay author ...
, Kuala Lumpur
Kuala Lumpur
Kuala Lumpur is the capital and the second largest city in Malaysia by population. The city proper, making up an area of , has a population of 1.4 million as of 2010. Greater Kuala Lumpur, also known as the Klang Valley, is an urban agglomeration of 7.2 million...
.