Ariffin Omar

Ariffin Omar
عارفين عمر
Vice-chairman of Democratic Action Party (DAP)
Incumbent
Assumed office 16 December 2012
Faction represented in Dewan Negara
2012–2018	Democratic Action Party
Personal details
Born	1949 (age 74–75) Penang, Malaysia
Political party	Democratic Action Party (DAP)
Other political affiliations	Pakatan Harapan (PH)
Alma mater	University of Science Malaysia (USM) National University of Singapore (NUS) Australia National University (ANU)
Occupation	Politician, Lecturer

Ariffin S.M Omar is a Malaysian politician who is a Vice Chairman of the Democratic Action Party (DAP), a component party of Pakatan Harapan (PH) coalition. He served as a senator elected by the Penang State Legislative Assembly in the Parliament of Malaysia from 2 June 2015 to 2 June 2018.

Personal life and education

Ariffin Omar studied at St Xavier's Institution, Penang for his secondary school education. He then continued to study at Universiti Sains Malaysia (USM) and later obtained a Bachelor's degree at the National University of Singapore (NUS) and in 1990, obtained a Doctorate degree from the Australia National University (ANU).

He worked as a lecturer in Universiti Sains Malaysia (1974–2006) and a lecturer at the University of Utah (1998) and was also a lecturer in Universiti Utara Malaysia and the National Defence University of Malaysia.

He was also a founding member of Aliran Kesedaran Negara (Aliran), a reform movement dedicated to justice, freedom and solidarity.

Now based at the Penang Institute, his research focuses on nation, nationalism, ethnic relations and religious freedom.

Works

• Bangsa Melayu (Malay Concepts of Democracy and Community, 1945–1950) ; Oxford University Press, 1993
• The Bumiputera Policy: Dynamics and Dilemmas ; Penerbit Universiti Sains Malaysia, 2005