Sultan of Pahang named as Malaysia’s new king

Sultan Abdullah Sultan Ahmad Shah, the hereditary ruler of the central Malaysian state of Pahang and a prominent adviser to several world sporting bodies, was on Thursday named the country’s new king.

The 59-year-old was elected to serve a five-year term by eight other Malay sultans in the country’s Conference of Rulers, replacing the previous king, the flamboyant Sultan Muhammad V, who had stunned the country with his sudden abdication in early January.

The appointment was confirmed by the Keeper of the Rulers’ Seal.

The new king will be installed in a traditional ceremony on January 31. Sultan Nazrin Shah of Perak state will serve as deputy agong for the five-year term beginning January 31, 2019.

Malaysia’s unique system of rotational constitutional monarchy requires the role of king, or Yang di Pertuan Agong, to be passed between the heads of the country’s nine royal households – the oldest of which dates to the 12th century.

Upon Muhammad V’s unprecedented abdication on January 6, royal watchers had pointed out that Sultan Abdullah’s 88-year-old father Sultan Ahmad Shah was next in line to take office in the national palace.