Jailed politician Anwar Ibrahim is disappointed with the postponement of his civil suit against former inspector-general of police Abdul Rahim Noor as he has waited for more than three years for the suit to proceed.

Anwar's lawyer Sankara Nair said Anwar (photo) was visibly upset when told this morning that the Kuala Lumpur High Court had set March 18 for case management after postponing the trial on Tuesday due to the absence of leading counsel Karpal Singh.

"Anwar was disappointed with the development, especially when he was told by his lawyers that the normal mention date for case management is set within a month," said Sankara when contacted today.

On Wednesday, major dailies reported that Justice James Foong had fixed the date for case management after adjourning the matter because Karpal was in Hong Kong.

The court had initially insisted on starting the hearing that day, catching Anwar's counsel by surprise as they had thought it would be 'automatically' adjourned to make way for case management, which would not require Karpal's presence.