<b>JOHAN JAAFFAR:</b> Rustam A. Sani, a scholar and = an intellectual

HE lived in the shadow of his famous father, = Ahmad Sani=20 Kecil, better known as Ahmad Boestamam. To the literary community he was = Ruhi=20 Hayat -- poet, novelist, essayist. He was a journalist with Utusan = Melayu and=20 later Warta Malaya but more importantly he was a nationalist and freedom = fighter. He was imprisoned many times for his beliefs.

Rustam = Abdullah=20 Sani, who used the name Rustam A. Sani, was brought up in a household = where=20 perjuangan (struggle) meant everything. He, his sister and their mother = endured=20 difficult times.

Rustam, born in August 1944, knew what his = father stood=20 for. In fact, his views were moulded by his father's struggles. = Understandably,=20 he was attracted to politics.

His leftist leaning was no secret. = He was=20 involved with his father's party, Parti Rakyat Malaya. But whatever = principles=20 he stood for, he was a fair man with a penchant for = objectivity.

He had=20 reasons to use his writings to pursue his political objectives, but = Rustam knew=20 the limits. He was an intellectual first, a politician last.

I = should=20 know better. When I was the chief editor of the Dewan Bahasa dan = Pustaka's=20 stable of magazines back in 1988, I invited him to write for Dewan = Masyarakat.=20

His column, simply labeled "Pendapat" (Opinion) graced the pages = of the=20 monthly magazine for two years. He was one of the reasons why Dewan = Masyarakat=20 was a respectable publication in those days.

There were other = popular=20 columnists at the time, Hassan Ahmad, Shamsul Amri Baharuddin, Salleh = Majid and=20 Adam Kadir.

Rustam wrote about almost everything under the sun. I = teased=20 him on the word peloncoan which means ragging in one of the articles. = Why use a=20 word that probably less than a hundred people would understand? He said = the=20 magazine should be audacious enough to introduce new words and pharses. = After=20 all, there was no exact Malay word for ragging. And he was adamant, = peloncoan or=20 no article for the month.

The piece Peloncoan: Budaya Sesat Yang = Berterusan came out in the September edition of the magazine in 1989.=20

Unfortunately, peloncoan was one of those Indonesian words that = simply=20 did not catch fire.

Rustam was then with Universiti Kebangsaan = Malaysia,=20 teaching at the Department of Political Science. He was instrumental in = helping=20 us to organise a roundtable discussion on the nation's economy. =

We=20 engaged 13 scholars from the university, dubbed 'The 13 Semurai' by=20 participants.

Rustam stopped writing for the magazine after I = left DBP.=20 When I joined the Utusan Melayu group in November 1992, I invited him to = write=20 for the daily paper Utusan Malaysia. We named his column "Sudut = Pandangan"=20 (Point of View). He was one of the best columnists we ever had. He had = his=20 followings.

There were times when I got his angry calls very = early in the=20 morning complaining that the meaning in a particular piece was lost in = editing=20 or something to that effect.

There were other arguments: he = complained he=20 was paid a pittance as a columnist. (That had not changed over the = years). But=20 on the whole, Rustam was critical but his eloquence and mastery of = language=20 camouflaged even his most brutal assessments.

Nevertheless, he = irked many=20 who found his writings too harsh and uncompromising.

There was = this=20 fixation with the former prime minister that I found intriguing. Tun Dr = Mahathir=20 Mohamad probably was a reader of Rustam's column. And he had high = respect for Dr=20 Mahathir yet was critical of him and his policies. Dr Mahathir engaged = him in=20 dialogues and probably even had a series of discussions with him. =

He was=20 included in one of Dr Mahathir's overseas trips. Call it a love-hate=20 relationship, but Rustam despite his disagreements was one of Dr = Mahathir's=20 admirers. We all were.

But 1998 changed everything. I lost my = job, he=20 lost his column. His last column appeared on July 15, a day after I = left. We=20 went separate ways. He was disturbed by what happened that year. He = joined the=20 reformasi movement and became one of the most articulate spokespersons = for the=20 cause.

Perhaps Dr Mahathir had always been in his system; little = wonder=20 that the last piece he wrote in his blog two days before he died was = entitled=20 Mahathir Lagi: Bilakah Akan Reda? (Mahathir Again: When Will It End?). = He was=20 still talking about the public interest in the man (perhaps his, too) = and words=20 and phrases like "combative", "vintage Mahathir", "dogged attitude" were = used=20 sparingly.

He was commenting on Dr Mahathir's performance on = BBC's=20 Hard-talk recently.

We used to meet at our favourite teh tarik = joint in=20 Petaling Jaya. But as time went by, we hardly saw each other. The last = time we=20 met, he was complaining that he had too little time to write about too = many=20 things that were happening.

He joked about his greying hair. Add = a bit=20 of grey, he told me, to indicate some semblance of wisdom. Long before = blogging=20 became chic, Rustam had his websites, Suara Rakyat and Karya Semasa. He = would=20 write about me in his blog, not necessarily pleasant things, but I would = swiftly=20 respond. Perhaps that was one way to keep in touch with each other. His = wife,=20 Rohani, whom I have known since our DBP days, would occasionally chip = in.=20

Apparently old friendships are strengthened in the Internet era = by such=20 engagement.

Whenever we met I reminded him that he ought to write = more=20 poems. He was after all a poet of substance. Not particularly a = productive one,=20 but enough to assemble his own anthology, Riak-riak Kecil, published by = DBP in=20 1977 and comprising 39 poems. But Rustam will be best remembered as a = scholar=20 and intellectual. His stints at the University of Malaya and Universiti=20 Kebangsaan Malaysia solidified his academic credentials. But his = writings will=20 be his true legacy.

Two of his books to be launched today, Failed = Nation?: Concerns of a Malaysian Nationalist and Social Roots of the = Malay Left=20 may not be part of the mainstream narrative of nation-building. =

It might=20 even create waves and invite condemnation. But Rustam would not want it = any=20 other way. He is a believer in the need for "mental hygiene" among the = people.=20 Being critical and tolerant towards criticism is the prerequisite of a = civil=20 society.

JOHAN JAAFFAR: Rustam A. Sani, a scholar and an = intellectual