Syed Husin Ali: Memoirs of a Political Struggle

by Syed Husin Ali

This book contains Syed Husin Ali's recollections and reflections on his struggles to establish justice, truth and welfare for the people. It relates his participation, activities, experiences and views on a number of political events related to the people.
The author describes early childhood experiences, parental influences, as well as family, educational, academic and non-academic environments as they have influenced to a great extent the attitudes and views of the writer towards politics, which he has been involved with for more than half a century.
The issues focused in the Memoirs are therefore related to the participation and experiences of the author, including his views and thoughts on the political development, events and controversies that have taken place over time within the parties he has been a member of and the country as a whole.
The Memoirs also provide backgrounds to and clarifications on several issues, such as: what happened after the opposition parties captured five states, the formation of PAKATAN, attempts by UMNO-BN to topple the PAKATAN-controlled state governments, especially Selangor, and the attempt by Anwar to win over the central government in connection with the 16th September event, which has been regarded by some as a failure.
An attempt is also made to reveal and even explain the decision process among the leaders of the parties and the things that led them to make various political decisions, most of which are unknown or unfamiliar to the public.
This book is a translation of the original Malay language version. It contains several amendments and corrections and includes two new sections – one on the APCET II conference and another on the author's deportation from Indonesia during the Suharto regime – both of which were unfortunately overlooked during the preparation of the Malay version. It also has a list of abbreviations and indexes which are absent in the Malay edition. In a way, this present version appears to be a better version of the author's Memoirs.

Paperback

Reviews

[Benz · Rating 3 out of 5]

Antara buku yang dibaca baru-baru ini. Mengisahkan lebih lanjut tentang kehidupan dan latar belakang Syed Husin Ali sebelum terjun ke dalam dunia politik yang serba liku kancahnya. Antara yang harus diberikan perhatian dan agak sensasi adalah tentang percantuman antara Parti Rakyat Malaysia dan keADILan. Dulu saya ingat apa benda tu eja "keADILan" macam tak sekolah. Rupa-rupanya bukan begitu. Dan hasil percantuman (merger) ini, menjadikan Parti Keadilan Rakyat. Dan itupun ada juga percekcokan di mana-mana, tentang Keadilan dapat satu perkataan, Parti Rakyat dapat dua perkataan. Agak 'dahsyat' perdebatan sebegini. Dan akhirnya Parti Rakyat yang mempunyai sejarah yang gilang gemilang semenjak dari diasaskan oleh Ahmad Boestamam, bersama pengikut-pengikutnya yang kental seperti Cikgu Ishak Surin, telahpun rontok. Bagaimanapun jika diikutkan lagi, lebih awal, di bawah Kassim Ahmad, Parti (atau Partai) Rakyat telah dibelahkan dengan nama PSRM - ya sekali lagi pergaduhan pada tetek bengek 'huruf' juga 'perkataan'. Dan apabila dikembalikan semula PRM dengan buangnya huruf 'S', maka kemudian wujudlah PSM.

[Abdullah Hussaini · Rating 4 out of 5]

Memoir tokoh kiri tak pernah tak menarik!

[Khairul Shafee · Rating 4 out of 5]

Interesting read. Minor spelling mistakes at times. It shouldn't be there. After reading this book, I have the impression that SHA is an underrated politician. His politics is about the people. It's not about power,wealth and fame. He opened the reader's eyes on unsung heroes such as Ahmad Boestamam, Pak Sako and others who were also nationalists but has been given a bad light because their philosophies are different from the current government.

[Izzat Isa · Rating 5 out of 5]

Buku ini merupakan karya terbaik Syed Husin Ali selain buku Dua Wajah. Buku ini dimulakan dengan latar belakang penulis, pengalaman awal, latar pendidikan, sumbangan dalam berpesatuan sehinggalah penulis berkejaya di universiti. Penulis secara umum menceritakan pengalamannya semasa melibatkan diri dalam kancah politik, penglibatan bersama Parti Rakyat Malaysia sehingga kemuncak bersama Parti Keadilan Rakyat. Penulis memerihalkan hubungannya bersama tokoh-tokoh lain yang berbeza latar seperti Keris Mas, Usman Awang, Asmah Omar, Dr. Burhanuddin al-Helmy, Ishak Haji Muhammad, Ahmad Boestaman, Anwar Ibrahim, Tengku Razaleigh Hamzah, Ungku Aziz, Syed Hussein Alatas, Syed Muhammad Naquib al-Attas, Kassim Ahmad, Mahathir Mohamad, A Samad Ismail dan ramai lagi. Ralatnya, terdapat kekurangan dalam buku ini seperti kesalahan ejaan dan teknikal yang lain. Diharap cetakan untuk edisi baru perlu diperbaiki bagi melancarkan bacaan.