Nine of the traditional rulers in Malaysia have started a three day meeting at Kuala Lumpur on October 11, 2016 to decide who will be the next King or Yang Di Pertuan, Agong will be. The present King Tuanku Abdul Halim Mu’adzam Shah’s five year reign is all set to conclude in December 2016.
The country of Malaysia has maintained a constitutional monarchy along with royal traditions. A system has been developed by the nine Malay rulers of sharing the federal throne. Turns are taken by the rulers every five years so that everyone can get to occupy the federal throne at least once. The next in the line expected to be the King is Sultan of Kelantan, but there are a few factors that are standing against him.
In 2010, 47 year old Muhammad V, who was also known as Tuanku Muhammad Faris Petra was crowned as the Sultan of Kelantan in 2010 after his father was removed due to disability. As per the tradition, if there is a change in the state ruler due to removal, resignation or death, the state is then transferred to the bottom of the succession list. The tradition has also said that the King is required to be married but the Sultan’s current marital status is divorced due to which he is a bachelor now.
Under such circumstances, if Kelantan Sultan is disqualified, then the next in line is Sultan of Pahang. Sultan Ahmad Shah is at present 85 years old and has earlier reigned between 1979 and 1984.
Photo Credits: themalaymailonline
