Dec 01, 2008 - Syed Alwi Found Dead

[Watchman]

Monday, December 01, 2008
Syed Alwi Found Dead

National Laureate, Syed Alwi has been found dead at his house in Rawang with head and body injuries, the Star reports. He was 78.

The International Herald Tribune says that :
Syed Alwi's career spanned more than 50 years. He is the first known ethnic Malay to study theater at a foreign university, earning dual degrees in theater arts and journalism at the University of Minnesota in the 1950s. ... After returning to Malaysia, Syed Alwi helped lead a 1967 coup by local arts activists against the Malayan Arts Theater Group, which was still run at the time by expatriates 10 years after the country achieved independence from Britain. The move enabled Syed Alwi and his peers to popularize contemporary Malay-language plays steeped in local culture. In 1974, Syed Alwi wrote one of Malaysia's most respected modern plays, "Tok Perak," which depicts the struggles of an aged medicine man who roams the country. ... Syed Alwi won the National Arts Award from the government in 2002 for his lifetime contributions. He is also remembered for his role as the top royal adviser in the 1999 Hollywood movie "Anna and the King," which starred Jodie Foster and Chow Yun-fat.
It's a tragic end for a life so well lived. My love and condolences to his family.

 

[Watchman]

Monday December 1, 2008
Syed Alwi found dead with injuries

Syed Alwi

RAWANG: National laureate Datuk Syed Alwi Syed Hassan was found dead with head and body injuries behind his house in Kuang near here last night. He was 78.

At about 8.15pm, Syed Alwi’s son, Norsham, 27, found his father’s body behind his house in Lorong Serai 21, Kampung Sungai Serai, Kuang.

According to Selangor CID chief Senior Asst Comm II Hasnan Hassan, the back door was open but there was no sign of forced entry.

However, his handphone and a microwave oven were missing.

His wallet and watch were found on his body which has been taken to the Sungai Buloh hospital.

SAC (II) Hasnan said police have classified it as sudden death pending the results of the post mortem.

According to the playwright’s former wife Norhayati Hashim, 56, Syed Alwi and Norsham had been staying in the house since 1994.

“He worked from the house,” she said, adding that there was a helper in the house previously, but she quit some time ago.

Police were at his house last night interviewing Norsham and checking the vicinity for clues.

Syed Alwi was a pioneer of Malaysian theatre and arts and was a founding member of the Malayan Arts Theatre Group and Kuala Lumpur Film Club in the 1950s and 1960s.

Great loss: Norsham accompanying Syed Alwi’s (inset) body as it is being taken to the hospital.

He was a recipient of a Fulbright grant and holds a J.D. Rockefeller Fellowship.

His works Alang Rentak Seribu and Tok Perak won him the National Literature Award (Drama) in 1972 and 1974 respectively.

In 2002, he was conferred the Anugerah Seniman Negara (National Arts Award).