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PETALING JAYA: One of Malaysia’s leading lights and intellectual giant, Royal Professor Ungku Abdul Aziz Ungku Abdul Hamid died today in Kuala Lumpur.
He was 98 years old.
Possibly the best known Malaysian scholar, Ungku Aziz died in a hospital at 4.30pm. His body will be taken to the At-Taqwa mosque, where he is expected to be buried tonight, according to Astro Awani.
Ungku Aziz, who served as Vice Chancellor of the Universiti Malaya from 1968 to 1988, was a household name among the educated. He was a respected thinker and a prolific writer.
He received a royal professorship in 1978 and remains the only Malaysian to have received the honor, the highest form of professorship in the country.
Among the most important achievements of Ungku Aziz is the establishment of the Pilgrim Fund and Board of Directors (Tabung Haji) in 1969.
He also played a pivotal role in establishing Dewan Bahasa dan Pustaka and the National Cooperative Organization of Malaysia (Angkasa).
He began his career in academia in 1952 as a professor of economics at the University of Malaya and in 1968 he was appointed Vice Chancellor, the first Malaysian to hold that post. In fact, he went on to become the longest-serving person in office.
According to the Merdeka Award Trust, Ungku Aziz contributed greatly to the development of education and the cooperative movement in Malaysia.
He played a key role in attempting to address the root causes of rural poverty and in identifying methods to alleviate it. Ungku Aziz was also a founding member of the Malaysian Economic Association, a group of experts dedicated to discussing Malaysia’s economic problems.
The economist was the father of former Bank Negara Malaysia Governor Zeti Akhtar Aziz.
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