Intellectuals in Developing Societies

Syed Hussein Alatas
Paperback, 136 pages
9789670076348

This work was first published in 1977, alongside The Myth of the Lazy Native. It was written after Syed Hussein Alatas’ withdrawal from active politics. Alatas’ experience as the national chairperson of Parti Gerakan Rakyat Malaysia and presence in the Senate brought him face-to-face with problems that were largely the result of the kind of elites ruling the country. Intellectuals flourish during times of crisis; but in periods of relative calm, they must form a community, without which there will not be conscious and intelligent solutions to the problems faced by developing societies. These problems must be met by intellectual justice, not with the exploitative ignorance of the fools. Only after the emergence of such a community can the developing societies of our world escape the clutches of the fools and chart their own course.

Contents
1 The Malaysian Background: A Personal Account
2 Intellectuals and Their Function
3 Bebalisma
4 The Fools in Developing Societies
5 The Intellectuals and Developing Societies
6 The Necessity for Intellectuals
7 The Emergence of the Intellectuals
8 Backwardness and the Intellectuals: The Russian Phenomenon and Developing Societies
9 The Backward Elites and Modernisation
10 Science and the Backward Elites
11 Backward Elites and the Problem of Causation