Syed Hussein Alatas bin Syed Ali Alatas

Syed Hussein Alatas bin Syed Ali Alatas (Prof) (b. 17 September 1928, Bogor, Indonesia–d. 23 January 2007, Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia) was a prominent Malaysian public intellectual who dedicated most of his career to academia. He is best known for his work on themes relating to corruption, race, colonialism and socio-religious issues concerning Malay/Muslim society in the Malay world.

Early Life and Education
A Hadhrami Arab, Alatas was born to Sharifah Raguan Alaydrus and Syed Ali Alatas in the city of Bogor, Indonesia, then a Dutch colony. His grandfather, Syed Abdullah bin Muhsin, was a well-known Sufi saint who left Hadhramaut, Yemen, to serve as a religious leader in Bogor until his passing in 1933.¹ His formative years were spent in Johor, Malaysia, where he received his early education. After witnessing the Japanese Occupation (1942–45) in Sukabumi, West Java, he returned to Johor to complete his School Certificate at the English College Johor Bahru.² During these years, Alatas was exposed to anticolonial and independence movements as well as the struggle for decolonisation and nation-building. In pursuit of further intellectual development, Alatas continued his studies in The Netherlands and received his PhD from the University of Amsterdam in 1963. While a student there, he started the journal Progressive Islam (1954–55), of which he was editor.

Academic Career
Alatas began his academic career in 1958 as Head of the Research Department at Dewan Bahasa dan Pustaka (Institute of Language and Literature). Following the conferment of his PhD, he served as Head of the Cultural Division of the Department of Malay Studies at the University of Malaya (1963–67). He then moved to the University of Singapore (now the National University of Singapore) and founded the Department of Malay Studies, which he headed until 1987. After two decades in Singapore, he returned to Malaysia and was appointed as Vice Chancellor of the University of Malaya (1988–91), during which he dedicated his efforts to implementing reforms in the university. It is believed that his appointment came to an abrupt end in 1991 as a result of the reforms he sought to introduce. Alatas’s final academic appointments were with Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia. He was first with the Centre for General Studies (1995–97), followed by the Department of Anthropology and Sociology (1997–99). His last appointment was with the Institute of the Malay World and Civilisation.

Political Involvement
While Alatas is known to most as an academic, he had a brief stint in politics. In 1968, alongside prominent intellectuals such as Wang Gungwu, Lim Chong Eu, Tan Chee Khoon, J.B.A. Peter and V. Veerappen, Alatas cofounded Parti Gerakan Rakyat Malaysia—more commonly known as Gerakan—and served as its founding president. Gerakan aimed to be a non-communal party devoid of racial politics, which would serve as a viable and meaningful opposition to the ruling government. Gerakan won the Penang seat in the 1969 election, following which Alatas was appointed as a senator in the Dewan Negara (Upper House of Parliament). He was also a member of the National Consultative Council of Malaysia (1969–71), during which he helped to draft the Rukun Negara (National Principles).³

Alatas left Gerakan in 1972 when the party joined the Alliance Party. He then cofounded Parti Keadilan Masyarakat Malaysia (Social Justice Party of Malaysia) with former Gerakan members Tan Chee Khoon and V. Veerappen. The party collapsed in 1978. Alatas’s final political affiliations were with the Berjasa Party and the United Malays National Organisation, both of which were short-lived stints.

Works and Legacy
Alatas’s academic work was mainly concerned with colonialism, intellectual imperialism, modernisation, corruption and autonomous knowledge. His more prominent books include:

Thomas Stamford Raffles: Schemer or Reformer?⁴ (1971)
Modernization and Social Change in Southeast Asia⁵ (1972)
Islam and Socialism⁶ (1976)
Intellectuals in Developing Societies⁷ (1977)
The Myth of the Lazy Native⁸ (1977)
Corruption: Its Nature, Causes and Functions⁹ (1991)
Cita Sempurna Warisan Sejarah¹⁰ (2000)

Beyond the books he wrote, Alatas is also remembered for his contributions to national discourse in Singapore, such as the issue of cornea transplants in the Muslim community. In 1973, a debate ensued in Singapore’s main Malay-language newspaper, Berita Harian, on the permissibility of organ transplants from the Islamic perspective. Sparked by the establishment of the National Kidney Foundation in Singapore, the Fatwa Committee of the Majlis Ugama Islam Singapura (Islamic Religious Council of Singapore) announced in the newspaper that organ transplants were not permissible from the Islamic point of view, which Alatas disagreed with. His public debate with them was eventually compiled into a book titled Biarkan Buta¹¹ (Let Them Be Blind), illustrating his concern as a public intellectual about thought processes that would hinder a society's progress.¹²

Alatas passed away on 23 January 2007 in his home in Kuala Lumpur, but his works and ideas continue to be discussed not only in Malaysia and Singapore but internationally, both within and beyond university campuses.

Author
Sharifah Afra Alatas

References
1. Syed Farid Alatas, “Rogayah Hanim: Malaysia’s Ottoman Legacy,” in Roots Living Heritage, ed. Halimah Mohd Said, Danny Wong Tze Ken and Sivachandralingam Sundara Raja (Kuala Lumpur: Universiti Malaya Press, 2022), 22. (Not in NLB holdings)
2. “Biographical Notes: Syed Hussein Alatas (17 September 1928–23 January 2007)–Academic/Politician,” ISEAS–Yusof Ishak Institute, accessed 5 December 2024, https://www.iseas.edu.sg/wp-content/uploads/2021/10/Syed-Hussein-Alatas-Biographical-Notes.pdf.
3. Masturah Alatas, The Life in the Writing: Syed Hussein Alatas (Petaling Jaya, Selangor: Gerakbudaya Enterprise, 2024), 137.
4. Syed Hussein Alatas, Thomas Stamford Raffles: Schemer or Reformer? (Singapore: Angus and Robertson, 1971). (Call no.: RSING 959.570210924 RAF)
5. Syed Hussein Alatas, Modernization and Social Change (Sydney: Angus & Robertson, 1972). (Call no.: RSING 301.240959 ALA)
6. Syed Hussein Alatas, Islam and Socialism (Petaling Jaya: Gerakbudaya Enterprise, 2024). (Call no.: RSEA 335.088297 ALA). This was originally published in 1976 in Malay as Islam dan Socialisme.
7. S.H. Alatas, Intellectuals in Developing Societies (London: Cass, 1977). (Call no.: RCLOS 301.445091724 ALA)
8. Syed Hussein Alatas, The Myth of the Lazy Native (London; New York: Routledge. 2010 [1977]). (Call no.: RSEA 305.800959 ALA)
9. Syed Hussein Alatas, Corruption: Its Nature, Causes and Functions (Kuala Lumpur: S.A. Majeed, 1991). (Call no.: RUR 364.1323 ALA)
10. Syed Hussein Alatas, Cita Sempurna Warisan Sejarah (Selangor: Penerbit Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia, 2000). (Call no.: RSEA Malay 155.2 ALA)
11. Syed Hussein Alatas, Biarkan Buta (Singapore: Pustaka Nasional, 1974). (Call no.: RSING 297.1975 ALA)
12. Afif Pasuni, “Issuing Fatwas in the Name of the State: Reshaping Co-optation through Religious Decrees in Singapore,” doctoral dissertation (University of Warwick, 2018), 136–37.

Further Resources
1. Mona Abaza, “Syed Hussein Alatas and Progressive Islam between the Middle East and Southeast Asia: Essays in Honour of Professor Syed Hussein Alatas,” in Local and Global: Social Transformation in Southeast Asia, ed. Riaz Hassan (Leiden; Boston: Brill, 2004), 237–60.
2. Syed Hassan bin Muhammad Al-Attas, Nota Kembara Seorang ‘Abid: Sekelumit Riwayat Habib Muhammad bin Salem al-Attas dan Tebaran Anak Hadhrami (Singapore: Masjid Ba'alwi, 2010).

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The information in this article is valid as of October 2025 and correct as far as we are able to ascertain from our sources. It is not intended to be an exhaustive or complete history of the subject. Please contact the Library for further reading materials on the topic. If you have any feedback on this article, please submit it here.