Author, Blogger, Activist Rustam Sani

www.malaysiakini.com

April 23, 2008

Author and respected Academic, Blogger, and Social Activist Rustam A Sani passed away early this morning in his house in Gombak, Selangor. He was 64. He was an academician, a newspaper columnist and a poet, besides being involved in a multitude of political, social and literary activities. In politics, the Tanjung Malim-born social scientist was formerly the deputy president of Parti Rakyat Malaysia, which have since merged with the Parti Keadilan Nasional to form the PKR. He left behind a wife and two children – a son and a daughter. It is learnt that Rustam passed away after suffering from difficulties in breathing early this morning. According to daughter Ariani, he could have suffered a heart attack. In recent years, Rustam was known for his occasional blog postings in his ‘Suara Rakyat’ and ‘Karya Semasa’. Rustam obtained his Malay Studies degree from Universiti Malaya, and later took his Masters degree in United Kingdom (University of Reading and University of Kent) and later United States (Yale University) and Sweden (Uppsala University). A prolific writer, he had written half a dozen books in both Bahasa Malaysia and English on a wide range of topics including the Malay left-wing nationalist movement. Rustam was an associate professor at Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia’s political science department in the 1980s. The funeral will be held at 1pm at the Taman Ibukota Muslim cemetery in Kuala Lumpur.