[2] 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.

[2] Tun Suffian read law at Gonville and Caius College, Cambridge before becoming a member of Middle Temple.

When speaking of the Malaysian judiciary to a Singapore audience he said:[4] 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.

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