Wednesday, April 23, 2008

Al Fatihah -- Rustam A Sani

Academician, scholar and political activist Rustam A Sani passed away suddenly at about 2.30am at his home in Gombak. He was 63.

He is survived by his wife, Rohani, his children (Azrani and Ariani) and grandaughter, Arissa.

He will be buried at the Taman Ibukota Muslim Cemetery in Gombak after Zuhur prayers.

Rustam was a newspaper columnist and a poet. He was also involved in a multitude of political, social and literary activities.

M Bakri Musa, describing Rustam, said this:

"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."
More here.

Rustam was a blogger - Suara Rakyat (Vox Populi) and Suara Ku. (See here and here. )

Here's a bit about him (which I got from his blog):

"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)."

For more about Rustam, click here.)

My deepest condolences to his family.

Al-Fatihah.



15 comments:

Kian Ming said...

My condolences. I didn't know him personally but knew that Rustam was a man of great conviction and well respected by his friends and his peers. Malaysia has lost an inspirational leader.

Anonymous said...

Al-Fatihah!

This is such a shock!

My deepest condolence to his widow and children.

JuJu Eyedaa said...

Al-fatihah...

tarings said...

Al-Fatihah for Allahyarham Rustam and condolences to his family and friends.

Guess that's why his blogs been quiet for awhile. Good peeps rest early.

Rest in peace mate.

Anonymous said...

Innalillah wainna ilaihirajiun. Terperanjat and sedih mendengar berita ni. Just read his posting on Mahathir, yesterday.
Takziah to all his family members. Semoga rohnya dirahmati Allah dan ditempatkan bersama dengan para solihin. Al Fatihah.

Kak Teh said...

Al Fatehah.
Salam takziah kepada Rohani sekeluarga.

Anonymous said...

Al Fatihah!

Monsterball said...

A towering Malaysian.

My condolences to his family.

Samuel Goh Kim Eng said...

Though I don't know him personally at all
Yet through his blog I can hear his call
With his sensible and balanced views he played ball
We pray that his blogging spirit continues to walk tall

(C) Samuel Goh Kim Eng - 230408
http://MotivationInMotion.blogspot.com
http://msi.Rocky101.com
Wed. 23rd April 2008.

Anonymous said...

Al Fatihah
Semoga roh beliau ditempatkan di kalangan orang-orang yang soleh.

Love his column in Utusan during Johan Jaafar's reign, prior to the 1998 political tsunami, the way he minutely dissects the contentious issues in a masterly fashion.

Rarely read Utusan these days. I guess we parted ways because I have grown up, whilst Utusan has regressed.

aMiR

Norizan Sharif said...

Semoga Allah s.w.t. mencucuri rahmat ke atas roh Allahyarham. Amin.

Rockybru said...

I never met the man but I sometimes left comments in his blog. When I received an sms from Reza and AAT this morning, I somehow felt a need to Google Rustam. I found an article written by Musa Bakri, the surgeon-blogger who lives in California. I mailed him if he'd heard. He said he read it from your blog, Ena, and a while later he mailed me his tribute to Rustam. I have posted that on my blog.

My mom died when she was around the same age. That was 11 years ago. Alfatihah. And takziah to the family, especially to his son.

Pemuda Pelapis said...

Al-Fatihah...

Semoga ALLAH mencucuri rahmat ke atas roh Allahyarham Rustam A. Sani dan bersemadinya beliau dengan tenang.

Juga Takziah kepada seluruh keluarga Allahyarham.

Amin!

PEMUDA PELAPIS - PEWARIS PERJUANGAN BANGSA

Anonymous said...

Saudara Rustam was a hero for the
indian, chinese and Melayu.
We hv lost a good malaysian!
All pakatan rakyat leader should go and pay the last respect to him.

Anonymous said...

Kak Nuraina,

Pak Rustam's passing is very saddening to me, although I only learnt about him and his contributions upon hearing about his death. He is a principled patriot whose loss is untimely and irreplaceable.