Sacked deputy prime minister Anwar Ibrahim, who is serving a 15-year jail sentence, was upset and disappointed that he could not pay his last respects to the late PAS president Fadzil Noor yesterday.

In a statement read by his lawyer Sankara Nair, Anwar said he grieved deeply at the loss of one of his best friends and regretted not being able to bid a final farewell to Fadzil who passed away yesterday morning.

"Despite our political differences, there was never a barrier between our friendship as our families remained very close. His death is a great loss not only to PAS but also to the country and the Muslim community," said Anwar in a statement.

Both Anwar and Fadzil were colleagues in the Malaysian Muslim Youth Movement (Abim) before they went separate ways Anwar joined Umno, while Fadzil joined PAS. When Anwar was sacked from government, Fadzil was among those who visited him at his house.

Meanwhile, Anwar's eldest daughter Nurul Izzah told malaysiakini that she and her sister, Nurul Nuha, had waited for Deputy Prime Minister Abdullah Ahmad Badawi at the airforce base in Subang yesterday to seek permission for his father to pay his last respects to Fadzil.

Fadzil's remains was due to be flown from Subang to his hometown in Pokok Sena, Kedah for burial.

Nurul Izzah said that it took her and her sister three attempts to get the permission from Abdullah, who appeared evasive during the first two attempts.

"At the last attempt we went with lawyer Zulkifli Nordin and Abdullah finally said yes. Ustaz Fadzil's family members were willing to delay the flight to wait for my father. After all, the journey from the prison to the airport would have only taken 15 minutes. But after waiting for one hour and 45 minutes, he never came," said Nurul Izzah.

No instruction

She said throughout the wait, she made calls to the prison officials who kept repeating that they had not received any instruction to escort Anwar to the airforce base.

When asked what was the reason given for the failure to escort Anwar, Nurul Izzah said she was informed that there was a problem in the police escort.

"I was sad that my father was unable to meet Ustaz Fadzil. I know they were very close. I was told that it was he who had named me," she said.

On another issue, Nair also read another statement in which Anwar said that Prime Minister Dr Mahathir Mohamed's decision to resign must be respected by all.

"Unfortunately the manner in which the announcement was made was exceedingly emotional. He (Mahathir) sounded rather hesitant. This has created speculations which does not augur well for the country in many respect," he said.

He added that the sudden resignation made by Mahathir at his winding-up debate at the Umno general assembly on Saturday, had confirmed his position that "an autocratic rule would render the issue of peaceful succession extremely tedious and problematic".

Anwar is in Sungai Buloh prison for corruption and sodomy. He has maintained that he is a victim of a high-level conspiracy to oust him from power, a charge denied by the government.