Mohamed Suffian Mohamed Hashim

Tun Mohamed Suffian Hashim (12 November 1917 – 26 September 2000) was a Malaysian judge, eventually serving as Lord President of the Federal Court from 1974 to 1982. He had previously 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.

Tun Suffian read law at Gonville & Caius College, Cambridge before becoming a member of Middle Temple. He also held an honorary LL.D. from the National University of Singapore and an honorary D.Litt from University of Malaya.

Tun 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.

In 1975, his outstanding record as a public servant won international recognition in Manila, the Philippines, where he received a Magsaysay Award, regarded as the Asian equivalent of the Nobel Prize.

He died on 26 September 2000 and was buried at the Al-Ghufran Royal Mausoleum near Ubudiah Mosque in Kuala Kangsar, Perak.

References

• An Introduction to the Constitution of Malaysia, Tun Mohamed Suffian Hashim, 1976.
• "BIOGRAPHY of Mohamed Suffian Bin Hashim". Retrieved 25 December 2006.