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.

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 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.