Sulaiman bin Sujak (born 25 March 1934 in

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 ...

) was the first non-British Chief of Air Force, Malaysia (November 1, 1967 – December 31, 1976) Sulaiman studied in

Bartley Secondary School Bartley Secondary School is a co-educational government secondary school in Singapore. It was founded in 1952, and is named after William Bartley (1885–1961), who was acting collector-general of income tax in the 1920s and president of the M ...

and

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 ...

in Singapore. He started training in the Malayan Air Training Corps (MATC) and in the UK from 1955 at the

RAF College, Cranwell The Royal Air Force College (RAFC) is the Royal Air Force military academy which provides initial training to all RAF personnel who are preparing to become commissioned officers. The College also provides initial training to aircrew cadets and ...

, graduating in 1958 as a Pilot Officer in the RAF, the Malaysian Air Force not having been created at that time. In the 1960s he was a Flight Lieutenant on an RAF Squadron in Cyprus flying the Canberra light bomber when the Royal Malaysian Air Force was formed. In September 1965 he joined the

Royal Malaysian Air Force The Royal Malaysian Air Force (RMAF, ms, Tentera Udara Diraja Malaysia; TUDM; Jawi: ) was formed on 2 June 1958 as the Royal Federation of Malaya Air Force (; ). However, its roots can be traced back to the Malayan Auxiliary Air Force format ...

as a Squadron Leader, and shortly afterwards took command of the RMAF base at Alor Star as Group Captain. On 1 November 1967, he was promoted to Air Commodore and became the first Chief of the

. Sulaiman later became the Vice-Chairman of

Malaysia Airlines Malaysia Airlines Berhad (MAB; ms, Penerbangan Malaysia Berhad), formerly known as Malaysian Airline System (MAS; ), and branded as Malaysia Airlines, is the flag carrier airline of Malaysia and a member of the Oneworld airline alliance. (The ...

Honours

Honour of Malaysia

* : ** Member of the

Order of the Defender of the Realm The Most Esteemed Order of the Defender of the Realm ( ms, Darjah Yang Mulia Pangkuan Negara) is a Malaysian federal award presented for meritorious service to the country. The Order Motto are 'Dipeliharakan Allah-Pangkuan Negara' (By the Grace ...

(AMN) (1967) ** Companion of the

(JMN) (1969) **

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 o ...

(PSM) – Tan Sri (2008) * : ** MY-SEL_Order_of_the_Crown_of_Selangor_-_Knight_Commander_-_DPMS

Knight Commander of the Order of the Crown of Selangor (DPMS) – Dato’ (1970)

References

, - 1934 births Living people Royal Malaysian Air Force personnel Air marshals Victoria School, Singapore alumni Commanders of the Order of Loyalty to the Crown of Malaysia Knights Commander of the Order of the Crown of Selangor Members of the Order of the Defender of the Realm Companions of the Order of the Defender of the Realm {{Malaysia-mil-bio-stub