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Web-only Exclusives
November 30, 2000

From Our Correspondent: Hirohito and the War
A conversation with biographer Herbert Bix

From Our Correspondent: A Rough Road Ahead
Bad news for the Philippines - and some others

From Our Correspondent: Making Enemies
Indonesia needs friends. So why is it picking fights?

Asiaweek Time Asia Now Asiaweek story

A Pen Joyfully Dipped in Venom

When Syed Hussein Alattas starts to write,
Malaysian politicians begin to tremble

By Roger Mitton / Kuala Lumpur


Long before the sun rises over the rolling green hills of Malaysia's Pahang state, a figure resembling a hurdy-gurdy man settles at a small writing table. On the balcony of his home an hour's drive from Kuala Lumpur, Syed Hussein Alattas first asks God for guidance and then picks up his pen.

Before he is done, it is likely some public figure will have been brought down a notch or two. Humiliated even. For Hussein and his quick-fire books are the scourge of the miscreant elements of Malaysian politics -- and he says there is no shortage of targets.

Who is this man who is so admired and so feared at the same time? And how does he get away with what he does? Well, he's a genial chatterbox and rainbow-hued provocateur. Now 57, Hussein has held a bewildering variety of jobs -- none of which he really needed since he hails from an affluent family and could have lived off his inheritance. Married three times, he has eight kids and six grandchildren -- and last year he temporarily took in 22 toddlers who were the offspring of a convicted bigamist. He also designed his own home and acts as a feng shui expert.

Hussein's latest book, the 30th, is The Five Hundred Million Dollarman -- a typically barbed tome about the former chief minister of Selangor state, Muhammad Taib, who resigned in disgrace three months ago. Barely a month after the hapless Muhammad was forced out of office, Hussein's exposé hit the bookstalls -- and, as usual, was snapped up. Its main topic is Muhammad's inordinate wealth and the incident last December when customs officials in Brisbane, Australia, caught him with almost $1 million in undeclared cash in his luggage.

The whisper is that Hussein was egged on by one of the ex-chief minister's former wives, Tengku Zahariah, a daughter of the Sultan of Selangor. Her ill-fated elopement with the handsome politician a decade ago was the talk of Malaysia, as was their often-rancorous marriage, which ended in a costly settlement against Muhammad. She helped Hussein rub salt in her ex's wounds by providing incriminating letters and photographs. Hussein has no qualms about dishing the dirt on people like Muhammad. "He gave his divorced wife RM16 million [$6.4 million]. Where from, on his salary? He had RM2.4 million in his baggage. Where from? He should tell us. He is answerable to the people. Why should we feel regret over what happened to him?"

Hussein says about 10,000 copies of the paperback have been sold -- despite the reluctance of some bookshops to carry it. "I am my own publisher," he says. "Nobody else dares bring out my books. I sell them personally. My booksellers get harassed. They are told the book is going to be banned and they'll be in trouble if they display it. So they pull it."

It seems Hussein has always been a rebel. He left his Johor Baru school at the age of 16, happily unencumbered with qualifications. He recalls: "I was very pleased when I failed school because I didn't like the system or the teachers. I was an angry young boy." He soon became an angry young gardener in Singapore. "I got a job for a Mr. Moffat. I have a name but he called me 'gardener.' He treated me worse than an animal."

Hussein channeled his rage into his writing. He soon had regular columns in Singapore publications on everything from palmistry to movie stars. He studied physiognomy and wrote a book on facial analysis. It sold well and he was on his way -- but not before getting sacked from the gardening job and becoming a salesman. "I was a star. I could sell 10 sets of encyclopedias a day." It didn't last. He became a make-up artist, then a professional model. "You need all this experience to be a good writer and that was my dream," he says.

Has he succeeded? If sales and recognition are any measure, yes. But in a strictly literary sense, no. His English is derided as being syntactically skewed and stylistically cockeyed. Even the promotional blurb on the cover of The Five Hundred Million Dollarman has enough errors to make a proofreader weep. Not that it worries him that no one compares him to Shakespeare. "This is my English, my Malaysian English. It is the voice of the street. I don't write for academic people."

Hussein's first political book, in 1972, about the east Malaysian state of Sabah and its lordly chief minister at that time, Mustapha Harun, dropped him in hot water "It was popular, but the political leaders were not happy," he says. "I was chased out of Sabah." Next he wrote a book on Sarawak and was kicked out of there too. He remains banned from that state. "All my books cause problems. But I never give up. Writers never do."

The problems deepened in the 1980s, when former deputy prime minister Musa Hitam, driven to distraction by a stream of attacks, decided enough was enough. He sued and won -- but was awarded only 10% of the $385,000 he demanded, plus costs. Hussein remains unrepentant. "I wrote the truth. I got into trouble. I don't mind. People think if you are taken to court, you will stop writing. That's not so."

Since then he has become even more productive. But he is selective in his attacks. Those he likes or who feed him information escape his vitriol. And he also has favorites. As a devout Muslim, he approves of leaders with a strong religious base, such as Deputy PM Anwar Ibrahim and Kedah state chief Sanusi Junid. Hussein argues: "You can't be everybody's enemy. Anwar is reasonably okay. I don't see him as a drinker or womanizer or gambler. Sanusi is outspoken. We need people like him."

When Hussein identifies a topic, he is swift off the mark. A book often takes him just a month from conception to publication. And he has a typically idiosyncratic approach. First, he designs the cover. Then he writes a blurb. Then he chooses pictures. That's when he starts writing. All but two of his books have been in Malay. But now, embracing Prime Minister Mahathir Mohamad's call for more proficiency in English, he has switched languages.

Some say Hussein is a rascal who unfairly maligns prominent people. He retorts: "I don't write about ministers who behave themselves. I write about people who don't know how to behave." He is most often criticized for taking information from public figures and using it against their opponents. Academic A.B. Shamsul notes: "It's the Brutus style. He is the knife, lah." But Hussein says he is never simply malicious. "What I write is true. I check it out." Once he has verified something to his own satisfaction, there is no holding him back. "No matter how provocative, or who the person is, if I have enough proof, I use it. I will publish. I couldn't give a damn."

Hussein's books are noted for their photographs of him with luminaries. Some say he achieves this by going to open houses and sitting at a table with the host while a photographer snaps the scene. He denies it. "That's rubbish. In the picture [in his latest book] with Mahathir, he came to my table. The other ministers, too, they invite me. The King spoke to me as well."

The author has written unflatteringly about Mahathir. Memo to the Prime Minister, in 1992, urged the PM to step down. "He has done some good things, but also a lot of damage," Hussein now says. "His children, his relatives, his friends -- they hold the wealth of the nation. This is nepotism. We must put a stop to this." The book remains unavailable -- banned, claims the writer.

Coming next: Beauty and the Minister, a hot tale about former Malacca chief Rahim Tamby Chik and his affair with a schoolgirl. Also under preparation is The Fifth Prime Minister -- charting the rise of Anwar. Yet another future project is a book about the prime minister's businessmen sons. This sensitive subject doesn't faze him at all. He laughs: "I'll always get into trouble. If they don't like me, they can shoot me."

The author recently visited Parliament to peddle The Five Hundred Million Dollarman. With his vivid attire, long hair and huge green rings, he cut a startling figure in the august lobby. MPs flocked around him, chattering and laughing. Says Hussein: "They want to know what my next move is. They all speak to me and tell me things they are not happy with." It seems they also read his books -- yet most deny it. Says MP Akhbarkhan Abdulrahman: "There is always a ring of truth in what he says. No one can ignore him." Oppositionist Lim Guan Eng agrees, but adds: "He goes overboard." To that, Hussein responds: "People believe in my writing. They don't believe in the politicians any more. I am the ears and eyes of the people." And the voice perhaps.


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