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.
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).[1]
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.[1]
He was also a founding member of Aliran Kesedaran Negara (Aliran), a reform movement dedicated to justice, freedom and solidarity.[1]
Now based at the Penang Institute, his research focuses on nation, nationalism, ethnic relations and religious freedom.[1]