Ahmad Mustapha

Ahmad Mustapha started his career as a civil servant in Kedah after graduating from the University of Malaya (Singapore) in 1960.

He was a very active student leader who headed the University Socialist Club as President from 1958 to 1959.He was also Treasurer of the University Muslim Society and editor of Pelajar the organ of the Pan Malaya Malay Students Federation (GPMS).

He was a student activist, a civil servant, a political activist, a diplomat at one stage when he was made First Secretary at the Malaysian Embassy in the Hague, Netherlands, and General Manager of Bernama, the national news agency.He later joined the corporate sector.

He was also involved in charity work and became Chairman of Riding for the Disabled.He was a sports enthusiast and played polo and squash.He was also involved in sports management and was President of the Squash Racquets Association of the Federal Territory and Vice-President of the Equestrian Association of Malaysia.

He still enjoys a good 7 km jog most days of the week and has taken up writing and analysis as an active pastime.

But Ahmad Mustapha is no right-wing martinet: he was President of the University Socialist Club at the University of Malaya (which was then in Singapore) and was renowned for his independent attitude, which, as the book shows, cost him dearly.

It is these fundamental contradictions in his career and personality that makes The Unmaking of Malaysia such an interesting read.We are presented with a man who spent nearly his whole adult life in the service of the Malaysian Government, a quintessential ‘insider', as the title suggests, but who, because of his temperament and principles inevitably saw things from (and ended up on) the outside.
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Ahmad Mustapha gives us a window into the past, into a Malaysia that no longer exists and how everything could have turned out differently.Or is the Malaysia of today simply the child of his generation's failures and omissions?Despite this, I suspect (though I do not agree with all his contentions) that Ahmad Mustapha's common-sense reminiscences of Malaysia's past contain the answers we need about its future direction.

This is also one of the few books that shed light (however briefly) on the men and women who staff that inner sanctum of power, the Prime Minister's Office.That particular institution has come under intense scrutiny lately, and it is interesting to see how its roles, functions and powers have evolved since Ahmad Mustapha's time there.
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Ahmad Mustapha should be congratulated not only on writing an interesting book, but on living such a full and remarkable life as well.

But Ahmad Mustapha is no right-wing martinet: he was President of the University Socialist Club at the University of Malaya (which was then in Singapore) and was renowned for his independent attitude, which, as the book shows, cost him dearly.
...
Ahmad Mustapha gives us a window into the past, into a Malaysia that no longer exists and how everything could have turned out differently. Or is the Malaysia of today simply the child of his generation's failures and omissions? Despite this, I suspect (though I do not agree with all his contentions) that Ahmad Mustapha's common-sense reminiscences of Malaysia's past contain the answers we need about its future direction.

This is also one of the few books that shed light (however briefly) on the men and women who staff that inner sanctum of power, the Prime Minister's Office. That particular institution has come under intense scrutiny lately, and it is interesting to see how its roles, functions and powers have evolved since Ahmad Mustapha's time there.
...
Ahmad Mustapha should be congratulated not only on writing an interesting book, but on living such a full and remarkable life as well.

Ahmad Mustapha Md Hassan