An intellectual giant passes away

We lost Prof Syed Hussein Alatas this week (January 23rd, 2007), an intellectual giant in Malaysia's educational landscape. He is arguably, one of Malaysia's greatest scholar in the social science tradition. His book, the Myth of the Lazy Native, is internationally renowned and is well known among scholars, including the likes of Edward Said. He is one of the few Malaysian social scientists who has a decent publication trail on google. There are not many in the Malaysian academia who have followed his footsteps of academic excellence. For a more eloquent essay on the life and achievements of Prof Syed Hussein Alatas, please read an essay by Prof Abdul Rahman Embong in Malaysiakini. My condolences to his family.