Mohamed Suffian bin Mohamed Hashim was a Malaysian judge, eventually serving as Lord President of the Federal Court from 1974 to 1982. He had served as Chief Justice of Malaya. Tun Suffian was born in 1917 in Kota Lama Kiri, a small village on the banks of Sungai Perak near Kuala Kangsar and went to the Malay School, Lenggong and Clifford School, Kuala Kangsar, before going to England on a Queen's scholarship in 1936. During World War II, unable to return home from England because of the Japanese Occupation, he worked as a news broadcaster and commentator with the All-India Radio, New Delhi, and later with the BBC in London where he acquired an interest in current affairs and in lucid writing.
Suffian was widely regarded as a respected judicial figure who was a fierce defender of judiciary's independence. He never flinched from his criticism of the destruction of what was once a well-regarded judiciary in Malaysia, primarily by the then prime minister, Mahathir Mohamed. In private he took to referring to Mahathir as "Papa Doc", after the Haitian dictator.
In a multi-racial and multi-religious society like yours and mine, while we judges cannot help being Malay or Chinese or Indian; or being Muslim or Buddhist or Hindu or whatever, we strive not to be too identified with any particular race or religion – so that nobody reading our judgment with our name deleted could with confidence identify our race or religion, and so that the various communities, especially minority communities, are assured that we will not allow their rights to be trampled underfoot.
1988 Judicial crisis
A one-sided public tribunal ratified the sacking of Tun Salleh, while a second tribunal removed two of the senior judges from office. Few Malaysians dared speak out, but Suffian, to whom many turned for an impartial opinion, did not hold back. He said
"Those who stand by and do nothing to protect the independence of the judiciary, will in the end get the judiciary they deserve - one powerless to stand between them and tyranny."
Suffian had a long association with the Constitution of Malaysia, first with its drafting and then with its operation as a member of the Legal Department, and finally with its interpretation from 1961 when he was elevated to the bench of the Federal Court. He had served as the Pro-Chancellor of University of Malaya.
