The head of state is the king, known as the Yang di-Pertuan Agong. He is an elected monarch chosen from the hereditary rulers of the nine Malay states every five years. The head of government is the Prime Minister.
There is a total of nine sultans in Malaysia who takes turns to be the king. Nine of the states in Malaysia are headed by the traditional Malay rulers and seven of theese are heredital monarchies (as Sweden) of course there is only male eirs that can be sultans. In Negeri Sembilan, the eight state, there are Four ruling Chieftans who elect the sultan and in Perak, the last state, there are 3 branches of royal families and they rotate in between themselfes.
Yesterday one of Malaysias sultans died at the age of 86. Sultan Azlan Shah was the king of malaysia between 89-94. His son would normally not have become the Sultan since they are from Perak and they have a rotating system but in 1987 the Sultan Azlan Shah appointed his son to be the Raja Muda (first in line). The new sultan will be proclaimed today at 14:30 just before the funeral.
The national flag will be flown at half-mast in Perak for seven days from yesterday, and the state flag for 100 days. All forms of celebration and entertainment in Perak are disallowed during the seven days.
Today (friday) the Sultan Azlan Shah will be buried but first the people of malaysia will be able to pay their last respect to him.
Sultan Azlan Shah was a fan of hockey and was regarded as the “Father of Malaysian hockey”. Under his stewardship, Malaysian hockey was able to stand on the same platform of the big boys in world hockey like India, Pakistan, Australia and Holland to name a few.
Reading this makes me very suprised untill i realize it’s field hockey we are talking about.
The king right now is Abdul Halim of Kedah (or Almu’tasimu Billahi Muhibbuddin Tuanku Alhaj sir Abdul Halim Mu’adzam Shah Ibni Almarhum Sultan Badlishah as I understood is his real name.) and he is the first sultan ever to be king for the second time.