Neither queen for a day, nor king for life. Malaysia reinvented the monarchy in turns, without cuddling, and granted each candidate five years of reign. Not a day more, not a day less. Yesterday, Tuesday, King Abdullah became barely Sultan of Pahang again, after giving up the crown. And today, Wednesday, the Sultan of Johor, Ibrahim Ismail, picks her up to become the new Malay monarch.
This was decided three months ago by the council of sultans. It must be explained that nine of the thirteen states that make up Malaysia are, in turn, hereditary sultanates. The other four states are headed by governors, with no say in dynastic matters. So it was the nine sultans – necessarily male and Muslim – who agreed that, on January 31, the throne would pass to the head of Johor, the second most populous sultanate, almost next to Singapore.
Since its independence from the United Kingdom in 1957 and the adoption of its peculiar constitutional and rotating monarchy, the role of the king of Malaysia has been largely protocol. However, the political instability of the last five years, with four prime ministers, forced the previous head of state to play a more prominent role when commissioning the formation of the government. Added to this is his role as protector of Islam, without prejudice to its minorities.
It should be said that Abdullah’s very entry on the scene was unexpected. His predecessor, Mohamed of Kelantan, who was younger, secretly married a Miss Moscow, Oksana Voevodina, and ended up abdicating after a few months “for “personal” reasons. He divorced after his partner gave birth.
The handover now occurs in a more calm manner. The until yesterday Queen Azizah is, in fact, sister of the new king, Ibrahim Ismail (also known as Ibrahim Iskandar). Abdullah, emeritus at just 64 years old, was forced to intervene in politics more than his predecessors and the fear in some circles in Kuala Lumpur is that Ibrahim believes he is forced to do so, even without anyone asking him to.
The explanation is that the Sultan of Johor is not just another nobleman. He is at the same time one of the richest men in Malaysia, with such an accumulation of properties and shareholdings that he makes the hair stand on end of those who remember that the Constitution requires neutrality from the head of state.
The Bloomberg agency estimates that the fortune of the new Yang di-Pertuan Agong – the Malay title of the king – is no less than 5 billion euros and includes three jets and a golden Boeing 737. Ibrahim from Johor is also a man of action. He loves motorcycles, but he likes collecting luxury and vintage cars even more, to the point that he could drive a different model every working day of the year. Among them, the one that Hitler gave to his great-grandfather stands out.
But it is not his love of speed that has the Malaysian political class on tenterhooks, itself subject to all kinds of inspections. See former Prime Minister Najib Razak, imprisoned for the disappearance of billions of dollars and who until late yesterday was waiting for a royal pardon. Or the current head of government, Anuar Ibrahim, once imprisoned “for being a sodomite,” before being pardoned last decade.
The fact is that Ibrahim Ismail, the seventeenth king of Malaysia – his father was between 1984 and 1989 – is among the ten largest fortunes in the country. With the particularity that he is the only “bumiputra”, a term that distinguishes Muslim Malays from the descendants of Indians and Chinese. The latter, especially, dominate the economy.
For half a century, all governments have pampered ordinary Malaysians. But in addition, the Chinese magnates are forced to satisfy the Malay sultans to advance any project.
In the case of the Sultan of Johor, the focus is on Forest City, an artificial island off Singapore, with dozens of empty skyscrapers. 60% is in the hands of the second most indebted Chinese developer, Country Garden, and the rest, in its own or those of its state. Even before he was king, Ibrahim, owner of 15 hectares in the center of Singapore, defended a high-speed train between the city state and Kuala Lumpur. Stopping in Forest City.
