Ahmad bin Mohamed Ibrahim (15 May 1916 – 17 April 1999) was a

Singapore Singapore (), officially the Republic of Singapore, is a sovereign island country and city-state in maritime Southeast Asia. It lies about one degree of latitude () north of the equator, off the southern tip of the Malay Peninsula, borde ...

an lawyer and law professor who served as the first

Attorney-General of Singapore The attorney-general of Singapore is the public prosecutor of Singapore, and legal adviser to the Government of Singapore. The functions of the attorney-general are carried out with the assistance of the deputy attorney-general and the solicito ...

between 1965 and 1967.

Early life

Ahmad was educated in Victoria Bridge School (now

Victoria School Victoria School (VS) is a government autonomous boys' secondary school in Siglap, Singapore. Established in 1876, it is Singapore's second oldest state secondary school. It offers a six-year Integrated Programme, which allows students to skip t ...

Raffles Institution Raffles Institution (RI) is an independent educational institution in Singapore. Founded in 1823, it is the oldest school in the country. It provides secondary education for boys only from Year 1 to Year 4, and pre-university education for both ...

, and Raffles College (now the

National University of Singapore The National University of Singapore (NUS) is a national public research university in Singapore. Founded in 1905 as the Straits Settlements and Federated Malay States Government Medical School, NUS is the oldest autonomous university in the c ...

). In 1936, he received the Queen's Scholarship (now known as the

President's Scholar A President's Scholar is a recipient of the academic scholarship awarded by the Government of Singapore annually, to pursue undergraduate education at a university, usually abroad. The scholarship is considered to be the most prestigious public ...

ship) to study in St John's College,

University of Cambridge , mottoeng = Literal: From here, light and sacred draughts. Non literal: From this place, we gain enlightenment and precious knowledge. , established = , other_name = The Chancellor, Masters and Schola ...

. He graduated in 1939 with 1st Class Economics Tripos I and 1st Class Law Tripos II, then attained the Masters in Law in 1965. He was awarded the Honorary Degree of Doctor of Laws (LL.D) from the University of Singapore on 5 June 1965.

Career

In 1948, Ahmad stood as an independent candidate in the Municipal Commission Election in Singapore and won. He became Singapore's first State Advocate General in 1959, and the nation's first non-British Attorney-General in 1966. He moved to

Malaysia Malaysia ( ; ) is a country in Southeast Asia. The federation, federal constitutional monarchy consists of States and federal territories of Malaysia, thirteen states and three federal territories, separated by the South China Sea into two r ...

in 1969. In 1972, he became the dean of the law faculty of the

University of Malaya The University of Malaya ( ms, Universiti Malaya, UM; abbreviated as UM or informally the Malayan University) is a public research university located in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. It is the oldest and highest ranking Malaysian institution of highe ...

. There he established the first law faculty in Malaysia. He was also later made Professor of Malaysian Law, and in 1984

honoured Ahmad with the highest academic title it could confer - Professor Emeritus. In 1984, Ahmad was instrumental in setting up the Kulliyyah of Laws at

International Islamic University Malaysia The International Islamic University Malaysia ( ms, Universiti Islam Antarabangsa Malaysia; Jawi alphabet, Jawi: اونيۏرسيتي اسلام انتارابڠسا مليسيا; ar, الجامعة الإسلامية العالمية بمال ...

(IIUM), and was made the Shaikh and the Dean of the Kulliyyah. In 2000, the Kulliyyah was proclaimed as Ahmad Ibrahim Kulliyyah in honour of Ahmad as the founding father of the Kulliyyah. Ahmad was a key person in the merger talks between Singapore and Malaysia in the early 1960s. He was also the legal expert in the Singapore delegation to the Malaysia Talks in London in 1963, which discussed independence from Britain. Former Singaporean deputy prime minister

Goh Keng Swee Goh Keng Swee (; 6 October 1918 – 14 May 2010), born Robert Goh Keng Swee, was a Singaporean politician who served as Deputy Prime Minister of Singapore between 1973 and 1985. Goh is widely recognised as one of the founding fathers of Singa ...

once described Ahmad as a man of "tremendous breadth and depth of intellect, whose ability as a legal draftsman is unsurpassed in this country". Ahmad was also the brother of the actor Cal Bellini (real name Khalid Ibrahim).

Honour

Honour of Malaysia

* : Commander of the

Order of Loyalty to the Crown of Malaysia The Most Esteemed Order of Loyalty to the Crown of Malaysia ( ms, Darjah Yang Mulia Setia Mahkota Malaysia) is a Malaysian federal award presented for meritorious service to the country and awarded by the sovereign. The order was instituted on ...

(P.S.M.) (1987)

References

*https://web.archive.org/web/20080218160308/http://www.agc.gov.sg/aboutus/history.htm * {{DEFAULTSORT:Ahmad, Mohamed Ibrahim 1916 births 1999 deaths Alumni of St John's College, Cambridge Malayan people of World War II Singaporean Muslims Singaporean emigrants to Malaysia Attorneys-General of Singapore Singaporean people of Malay descent Queen's Scholars (British Malaya and Singapore) Victoria School, Singapore alumni Raffles Institution alumni 20th-century Singaporean lawyers Commanders of the Order of Loyalty to the Crown of Malaysia