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).
___________________________________________________________________
Jomo, K. S. (Editor), Reinventing Malaysia: Reflections on Its Past and Future, Bangi: 2001. p.9 (Introduction).
About Rustam A. Sani
Rustam A. Sani has been described as “arguably Malaysia’s leading public intellectual” (Jomo, 2001:9)*. He is an academician, a newspaper columnist and a poet, besides being involved in a multitude of political, social and literary activities.
