In Memoriam: Ungku Abdul Aziz bin Ungku Abdul Hamid
January 5, 2021
A distinguished former student and faculty member of the Economics Department, Ungku Abdul Aziz bin Ungku Abdul Hamid, passed away in December 2020 at the age of 98.
Ungku Aziz obtained his first degree (specialising in economics) from Raffles College. For almost ten years in the 50s and early 60s, he taught Economics at the Singapore campus of the University of Malaya (from which evolved the University of Singapore and then NUS). He served as president of the Economic Society of Singapore from 1959 to 1960. In 1962, Ungku Aziz moved to Kuala Lumpur, where he taught at the University of Malaya. He was appointed its vice chancellor in 1968 and served in that position for 20 years. Widely considered one of the leading Malaysian intellectuals of his generation, Ungku Aziz's expertise on poverty and other issues affecting rural Malaysia was highly sought after by successive Malaysian governments. He has the distinction of being the only individual so far to be awarded the title Profesor Diraja (Royal Professor) by the Yang di-Pertuan Agong.
During his ten years teaching in Singapore, Ungku Aziz taught many students who would go on to hold influential positions in newly-independent Singapore and Malaysia. Among his students is Emeritus Professor Lee Soo Ann, who has fond memories of Ungku Aziz's lively and stimulating lectures on agricultural economics; Professor Lee's graduating class of 1960 also included Dr Amina Tyabji, who was a faculty member of the Economics Department for many years, retiring in the early 2000s, and S. Dhanabalan, the second person to head Singapore's Foreign Ministry.
Ungku Aziz is survived by his wife, Rohayah Ahmad Bahiran, and his only child, Tan Sri Zeti Akhtar Aziz, who is a former governor of Bank Negara Malaysia.
By Prof John Quah, Distinguished Professor, Economics