Syed Hussein Alatas (1928-2007)

This paper, written based on the writer s personal experience using anecdotes and so on, describes Hussein Alatas as a person, friend and colleague while they both worked together at the Department of Malay Studies, Universiti Malaya. It also in some ways, gives some interesting insights into the origins of some of Alatas important works on the myth of the lazy native, corruption and intellectuals. The writer regards The Myth of the Lazy Native as the best of Alatas works and salutes him as a true Malaysian and a great scholar.