Background
Amin Sweeney was born in England in 1938 and was sent to join the Malay army in 1958 to stop the communist insurgency Whilst in the army he chose to live with the Malay soldiers and moved to Kluang from Melaka where he taught English.
Amin Sweeney was born in England in 1938 and was sent to join the Malay army in 1958 to stop the communist insurgency Whilst in the army he chose to live with the Malay soldiers and moved to Kluang from Melaka where he taught English.
In 1970, he completed his doctorate dissertation in Malay literature.
He was primarily known as the author of three volumes of The Complete Works of Abdullah bin Abdul Kadir Munsyi and as the chief editor of the online literary journal Horizon Online, a prominent Indonesian literary magazine managed by Taufiq Ismail. Amin’s interest in the Malay language and literature drove him to study at the University of London. He then became a lecturer and a professor at Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia (1970–1977).
Amin lived in Cibeureum, near Cipayung, Bogor, West Java, Indonesia up to his death.
Sweeney married several times. When he died, he was still in the process of becoming an Indonesian citizen from a Malaysian one.
Afterwards, he was an advisor for graduate and postgraduate programs, Chairman of the Department of South and Southeast Asian Studies (1986–1991) and a member of the Executive Committee of the Centre for Southeast Asia Studies (1991–1998) at the University of California, Berkeley, United States, until he retired and became an emeritus professor in 1998.