KUALA LUMPUR – The former president of the Malaysian Bar Council, Datuk Sulaiman Abdullah, who died yesterday, was a firm believer in the principles of justice and human rights.
Prime Minister Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim, through a post on X, acknowledged that Sulaiman was not only a lawyer to him but also a close friend who was with him and his family during their dark and turbulent years.
Anwar said that Sulaiman’s thoughts and conscience, which are firm on the principles of justice and human rights, cannot be denied by anyone.
“I am very much impacted because when I received the news, I was still in Tokyo, Japan, on a working visit, praying for his family to be patient and for the late Sulaiman to be forgiven of all his sins and given a special place by Allah SWT,” said Anwar.
Saya terima khabar yang amat sedih bahawa mantan Presiden Majlis Peguam Datuk Sulaiman Abdullah telah meninggal dunia semalam. Beliau tidak hanya seorang peguam, malah juga seorang sahabat yang akrab di mana beliau bersama saya dan keluarga di tahun-tahun lampau yang gelap dan… pic.twitter.com/2INk7gi3ku
— Anwar Ibrahim (@anwaribrahim) December 19, 2023
The prime minister has been in Tokyo since December 15 to attend the Asean-Japan Commemorative Summit in addition to the Asian Zero Emission Community Summit.
Sulaiman, 77, was Malaysian Bar Council president from 2000 to 2001, in addition to being involved in many high-profile cases, including leading the prosecution team in the trial of the SRC International Sdn Bhd case involving former prime minister Datuk Seri Najib Razak in 2018.
He was also in the defence team in Anwar’s court case and represented Datuk Seri Mohd Nizar Jamaluddin who challenged the legitimacy of Datuk Zambry Abdul Kadir’s appointment as Perak mentri besar in the Perak constitutional crisis case in 2009. – December 19, 2023