SALLEH BUANG KNOWN FOR HIS IMMENSE KNOWLEDGE
Legal expert and columnist, who died at 81 on Wednesday, was an inspiration to others
BACK when he was a student in his 20s in the United Kingdom, the late Professor Datuk Salleh Buang was already a “shining star”.
His friend, Shahrom Mohd Harom, 74, said the UK back then was known for its counter-culture elements, with long hair and bellbottoms the fashion of the day.
It was there that Shahrom discovered the achievements made by a young Salleh, who was also reading law, as being inspirational.
When Shahrom set foot in London, he said Salleh had scored the best results in the Commonwealth for that one year.
“He was attached with the Customs Department when he was studying then. I can’t remember where it was that he read law, but Salleh was already someone to watch.
“Then, when I came back and started my chambering, he was my boss at (formerly) Tahir & Salleh (law firm).
“He was a good man and tough. He believed that juniors should work hard and come up the hard way because the legal field was no walk in the park.
“I met him recently during a Zoom session on Kampung Baru land acquisition matters, and he was the same happy, jovial Salleh.
“We invited him because he was what lawyers regarded as an expert on land matters,” said Shahrom, a committee member in the Association of Owners and Beneficiaries of Kampung Baru Land.
Salleh, 81, died in Alor Star on Wednesday.
Shahrom said Salleh served in the Attorney-General’s Chambers (A-GC) and was asked by Tun Salleh Abas, who was then solicitor-general, not to leave.
“His future would have been great in the A-GC. However, nothing stopped him even after he turned down the request.”
He was a part-time lecturer at Universiti Malaya’s Law Faculty, and was later seconded to the AGC (1970 to 1975).
He then taught law at the International Islamic University Malaysia (IIUM) for five years.
He became an advocate and solicitor in the corporate sector for some time after leaving the A-GC, and continued to embrace academia as a lecturer and professor of law.
He lectured part-time at Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia’s Syariah Department for several years before relocating to Kedah.
He was also a full-time consultant, writer and weekly columnist in the New Straits Times.
He had given talks and training to the public and private sectors.
He taught post-graduate students of an off-campus programme offered by Universiti Teknologi Malaysia in Alor Star, Kedah.
Emeritus Professor Datuk Dr Shad Saleem Faruqi, who was Salleh’s colleague at IIUM, remembered him as one of the most learned people he knew.
“His vistas of knowledge were very broad. He was receptive to beautiful ideas from many eras and many civilisations.
“We shared many platforms in later years till 2021. I shall miss him.
“He walked many shores. I owe him a great deal for my intellectual growth,” said the constitutional law expert.
Malaysian Syarie Lawyers Association president Musa Awang, who listed down Salleh’s achievement’s to the press, said he admired Salleh greatly.
“I admired Salleh Buang’s body of work while studying law at Universiti Malaya (1994 to 1998) and the Postgraduate Advanced Diploma at IIUM (1998 to 1999) through his books, such as Malaysian Torrens System, Land Tenure In Peninsular Malaysia and Malaysian Legal History, and many more that are often referenced by law students.
“I also followed his writing in newspapers.
“When I began working as a syariah lawyer in 1999, I was able to meet and face him in talks and forums.
“If there was any doubt about the law, especially on land and constitutional matters, he was one of the points of reference.
“He was a gentle, friendly, highly educated and well-read person who was generous with the knowledge he had gained.”
Senior lawyer Nizam Bashir said he remembered when they worked together at the KL Foundation to Criminalise War and went to Cambodia to observe proceedings in the Extraordinary Chambers in the Courts of Cambodia (ECCC).
“I always found the memories of that trip significant, both from a legal perspective and a personal perspective.”
ECCC was a special court set up to try senior leaders of the Khmer Rouge for alleged violations of international law and serious crimes perpetrated during the Cambodian genocide.
“From a personal perspective, the trip gave me an insight into who Salleh Buang was as a man. He was more than just the firm and decisive man that we saw when he was going about his work.
“Up close, he was affable, kind and warm, with a quick wit to charm those who had the privilege of seeing that side of him.
“Malaysia has lost an immense intellectual, one of the rare ones with the gumption to speak up without fear or favour, and he will be sorely missed.”