The King of Malaysia

A flurry of news reports this week inform us that Malaysia’s sultans are imminently scheduled to meet and elect the next King of Malaysia from among a set of candidates consisting of only themselves. From the perspective of the Palace of Ghosts story the election, and its outcome, is potentially hugely significant.

Singapore Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong and his wife Madam Ho Ching (centre) hosts the Johor Royals in Singapore in October 2023

The position of King of Malaysia, known in Malay as the Yang di-Pertuan Agong, or simply Agong, was created in 1957 when Malaya gained independence from the United Kingdom. It is, rather uniquely, a rotating office where the Agong is elected by a Conference of Rulers which is made up of the nine traditional rulers of the Malay States. Once elected the Agong remains in office for a period of five years, whereupon another election takes place and a new Agong is elected. The term in office cannot be renewed and what has happened in practice is that each of the nine rulers takes his turn.

The vote for the Agong is held by secret ballot but in effect a strict rotation has been observed since the system was set up. Such practice would therefore mean that Sultan Ibrahim Sultan Iskander of Johor is next in line to take over when the reign of the current Agong, Al-Sultan Abdullah of Pahang, expires in January 2024. According to Malaysia’s constitution the king “shall take precedence over all persons in the federation”. His powers include having sole discretion to appoint a prime minister and to deny requests to dissolve Parliament. The Agong also signs off on laws and appoints minsters and their deputies, court judges and other key roles at the national level, on the advice of the prime minister. However, once crowned, the Agong must give up the powers associated with his role as state sultan (religious responsibilities excepted), including active engagement in any commercial enterprise.

The probable ascent of Sultan Ibrahim Sultan Iskander is anticipated with some interest. Unlike other traditional Malaysian rulers, Sultan Ibrahim Sultan Iskander has been outspoken about politics, and has said he has a good relationship with Malaysia’s Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim. Assuming he ascends to the throne it remains to be seen how his relinquishing of business interests takes place in practice. He has been at the forefront of initiatives to drive cooperation and further integration between the economies of Johor and Singapore. As recently as 10 October 2023 Singapore’s Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong (the eldest son of former Prime Minister Lee Kwan Yew) hosted a special dinner at the Istana (formerly Government House) for Sultan Ibrahim Sultan Iskander, his wife Raja Zarith Sofiah, his son Crown Prince of Johor Tunku Ismail and his wife Che’ Puan Khaleeda where the Prime Minister acknowledged the growing relationship between Singapore and Johor and attributing it to the wise leadership of the sultan.

Prime Minister Lee pointed out the ambitious projects launched to improve trade and connectivity, particularly highlighting the Rapid Transit System (RTS) rail link, and expressed eagerness for upcoming discussions regarding the establishment of a Johor-Singapore Special Economic Zone (SEZ). Highlighting their shared cultural heritage Prime Minister Lee emphasised the highly relatable topic that binds together Malaysians and Singaporeans: food. “During our last visit to Johor, Tuanku served Ho Ching and me a very sedap nasi ulam (delicious fragrant steamed rice) that I had requested for. I reciprocated his gracious hospitality by serving him crab curry along with some of his other favourite local dishes.” He underlined the significance of Johor as Singapore’s gateway to Malaysia, emphasising the deep-rooted friendship and kinship that went beyond mere neighbours, describing both sides as partners. In a separate update on the official Facebook account of the Sultan of Johor, the luncheon was highlighted as part of a series of cross-border events and visits, showcasing the enduring and warm special relationship and goodwill shared between the two neighbouring nations.

Readers of Palace of Ghosts will notice repeated references to the economic development of Johor, Singapore and their immediate hinterland. In a story where fabulous personal wealth, commercial and economic success are ever present contextual factors, the obvious question that arises is where did all the money come from? If you can see past the modern nation state borders, only in place since the end of WWII, then the answer becomes clearer. What you come to understand is a much wider sphere of economic activity than that falling within the coastal boundary of the island of Singapore, one that stretches into what is now Malaysia to the north and Indonesia to the south.

The Johor-Singapore SEZ is considered a major initiative sponsored by Sultan Ibrahim Sultan Iskander and is expected to drive coordinated and integrated economic development in much the same way that the Hong Kong-Shenzhen SEZ did back in the 1980s. The finalisation of the Terms of Reference for the Johor-Singapore SEZ is anticipated to take place during the Malaysia-Singapore Leaders’ Retreat, set to take place on 30 October 2023 in Singapore.  What might seem surprising, however, is why it has taken them so long to launch such an initiative. That is, until you understand a bit more about the history. Unlike Hong Kong and Shenzhen in the 1980s, there is already a very high-level of integration that has occurred over the past several decades. By 2019 nearly a million Malaysians or Singaporeans of partial or full Malaysian origin resided in Singapore. In addition to the permanent population in the country, about 350,000 Malaysians cross the Johor Singapore Causeway every day to commute to work or to school. This in a country whose population is only about 5.5 million.

Although factors such as the Bumiputra race-based politics and an increasingly stricter Islamic way of life have been cited as reasons for why many Malaysians migrate to Singapore, the ties that bind are far more profound. The deeper underlying reason is that people of both countries share the same cultural roots and historic experience. For centuries prior to the 1960s they were, for all intents and purposes, part of the same polity and the same people.

Sultan Ibrahim Sultan Iskander is, of course, the great-grandson of Sultan Ibrahim (1873-1959), perhaps the highest profile character in Palace of Ghosts. (His son, Crown Prince Tunku Ismail, is the current owner of Istana Woodneuk). As the most senior sultan, Sultan Ibrahim was, in 1957, the first in line to become Agong, but at age 84 he declined the position ostensibly due to old age. At the time Sultan Ibrahim was not overly enthusiastic about the whole concept of new state of Malaysia and its political and constitutional setup. Besides, by the time he was offered the job he was already living in London and he likely understood that the Agong of Malaysia had to actually be in Malaysia and not in a luxury apartment in the Grosvenor House Hotel on Mayfair’s Park Lane. He was right, of course: while in office the Agong is expected to reside at the national palace in the capital Kuala Lumpur.

If we wound back the hands of time to Sultan Ibrahim’s great-grandfather, in other words the current Sultan Ibrahim Sultan Iskander’s great-great-great-great grandfather, we arrive in the era of Temenggong Abdul Rahman. When he met Stamford Raffles in 1819 he was already 64 years old (Raffles was a relatively young spring chicken of only 37 years old). Temenggong Abdul Rahman, being born in 1755, vividly remembered the dying days of the old Johor-Riau Sultanate, the immediate predecessor to Singapore, in the decade leading up to 1780. Stamford Raffles, on the other hand, was not yet born. This period is the starting point for Palace of Ghosts.

Despite his innate knowledge and experience of the politics and culture of the region, not to mention his status as a senior nobleman with deep connections to the ancient Sultanate, Temenggong Abdul Rahman found himself on the wrong side of the political fall-out from the Sultanate’s collapse. He was effectively a fugitive. He desperately needed friends, allies, money and somewhere for himself, his family and followers to live securely. The future was far from certain, as was his own personal safety.

His signing of the 1819 treaties with Raffles that allowed the British to set up a trading base on the island of Singapore, is often characterised as the Temenggong selling out to the British, a capitulation badly disguised as a cash grab. Perhaps. History seems to have cast Raffles as an intelligent, shrewd, perhaps even charming adventurer, though maybe a little earnest, who managed to hoodwink the Malay “chieftain” out of his land. There are also records that suggest that the Temenggong was forced to sign the 1819 treaties as Raffles’ flotilla, anchored offshore, had their cannon trained on the river bank where the signing was taking place. The Temenggong said later that he only told the Dutch that he was forced to sign in case the British presence turned out to be ephemeral, and if, therefore, the Dutch eventually managed to prevail over the British ejecting them from the region once and for all. Having the Dutch in receipt of a letter from him saying that he was forced into the arrangements might have come in useful in such a scenario.

Whatever version of events you might buy into, the conventional wisdom is that the British took advantage of the situation, driven by colonial zeal, greed and brandishing their guns, to the detriment of the local Malays. The Chinese meanwhile kept a low profile in the background before casting their support for which ever group of people prevailed. Fast forward to 2023: the British are long gone, and have been for 60 years now. The Temenggong’s descendent, on the other hand, is about to be crowned the King of Malaysia, and his family are firmly ensconced as the constitutional monarchy of the state of Johor, Malaysia’s second richest state after Selangor. 

Despite their constitutional status, members of the Johor royal dynasty, including of course the Sultan and Crown Prince, have myriad investments throughout Johor’s economy. The economy, the fastest growing of Malaysia’s states and, as noted above, increasingly integrated to that of Singapore, is stable and prosperous. Their personal wealth is legendary. The people of Johor have the highest standard of living after Kuala Lumpur and Selangor. Far from being taken advantage of, or even dispossessed, the Temenggong, whose grandson Abu Bakar was recognised as Sultan of Johor in 1886, set in motion a series of events that propelled his family to status and wealth that would have been unimaginable in the years between the old Sultanate’s collapse round about 1780 and leading up to the treaties he signed with Raffles in 1819.

Sultan Abu Bakar and his son Sultan Ibrahim must have often thought about the old Sultanate, perhaps even fantasised about its restoration with themselves at its head. For a while, during the WWII Japanese occupation, it was even tabled as a possibility. But now, with Temenggong Abdul Rahman’s descendant about to take the title of Agong, at least for the next five years; and with Malaysia and Singapore more integrated, at least economically, than they have been for seven or eight decades, it seems to be about the closest they have ever come to that distant dream. If we consider the relative positions of the British signatories then and now, compared to the Malay signatories then and now, it is quite obvious which of the two parties are in the better position today in Southeast Asia.