Did a research on Cambo and Malaysia governmental structure once and I recalled more of a confederacy of states, much like the government structure of Holy Roman Empire where the kings elect the high king. That's cool, but is it more so a constitutional monarchy with a parliament

Yep, we're a constitutional monarchy with parliament ... but with a twist. Out of Malaysia's 13 states, 10 of them have their own Sultanates. Every 5 year or so, a new Malaysia King is erected accaording to rotation from this 10 Sultans & expected to serve for 5 years. In his absence, a Crown Prince will be elected as Regent in his state.

Royalty have no say in Malaysia's raucous politics, but they served as a symbol of Malay rights & unity (much like the Brits). King of Malaysia served as symbolic Head of State, Head of Islamic Religion Affairs, Head of the Armed Forces.

Most Malaysian Royalties nowadays had entered politics, business & corporate worlds, Armed Forces & the Judiciary, even sports management. Amongst prominent Royalty is late Tunku Abdul Rahman, Malaysia founding father & its 1st Prime Minister, whose also a prince from State of Kedah & brother to the then-Sultan of Kedah.

Nice to see you're taking an interest in Malaysia's constitution dude. Malaysia's king are elected to office every five years... they rotate among the councils of rulers (the Sultans).

Previous Malaysian kings (Agong):


Al-Marhum Tuanku Abdul Rahman Ibni Al-Marhum Tuanku Muhammad
State: Negeri Sembilan
3 Ogos 1957 - 1 April 1960


Al-Marhum Tuanku Hisamuddin Alam Shah Al-Haj ibni Al-Marhum Sultan Alaiddin Sulaiman Shah
State: Selangor
14 April 1960 -1 September 1960


Al-Marhum Tuanku Syed Putra ibni Al-Marhum Syed Hassan Jamalullail
State: Perlis
21 September 1960 - 20 September 1965


Al-Marhum Tuanku Ismail Nasiruddin Shah ibni Al-Marhum Sultan Zainal Abidin
State: Terengganu
21 September 1965 - 20 September 1970


Tuanku Alhaj Abdul Halim Mu'adzam Shah ibni Al-Marhum Sultan Badlishah
State: Kedah
21 September 1970 - 20 September 1975


Al-Marhum Tuanku Yahya Petra ibni Al-Marhum Sultan Ibrahim
State: Kelantan
21 September 1975 - 30 Mac 1979


Tuanku Sultan Haji Ahmad Shah Al-Musta'in Billah ibni Al-Marhum Sultan Abu Bakar Ri'Ayatuddin Al-Mu'adzam Shah
State: Pahang
26 April 1979 - 25 April 1984


Tuanku Sultan Iskandar ibni Al-Marhum Sultan Ismail
State: Johor
26 April 1984 - 26 April 1989


Tuanku Sultan Azlan Muhibbuddin Shah ibni Almarhum Sultan Yussuf Izzuddin Shah Ghafarullahu-lah
State: Perak
26 April 1989 - 25 April 1994


Tuanku Ja'afar ibni Almarhum Tuanku Abdul Rahman
State: Negeri Sembilan
26 April 1994 - 25 April 1999

(Apologies MOD for the double post:)

Previous Agong who passed away in office, from the state of Selangor:


Al-Marhum Sultan Salahuddin Abdul Aziz Shah Alhaj ibni Al-Marhum Sultan Hisamuddin Alam Shah Alhaj

Malaysia's current Agong, the Raja of Perlis:

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stop hating.

it's only done in pretense of shortening i have khmer friends and they know it's nothing personal. llike some people shortened the word japanese to j@p. for abbreviation purposes.

and yeah it was cool when i read it the malaysian govt structure reminded me of the holy roman empire. different principlaties, dukedoms, with an election to pick who's the nexxt king, when of course the dynasty ended.

sultans got more power than parliament or what?

^^ Nah, the sultan's role is pretty much ceremonial although they have symbolic importance when it comes to religion and nationhood. They have nowhere near as much influence as the Sultan of Brunei for example, the one other recognised Malay state. Real power lies with the federal government and the prime minister.

i bet, there's very few real monarchs let alone absolute ones

but laws are shariah like or what?

^^ You ask really pertinent questions dude. Spot on.

There are two sets of laws in Msia, the common law which applies to all Malaysians and sharia law which applies to Muslims. When there are conflicts of interests within the two, the common law takes precedence. At least so far. Cases such as apostasy are very sensitive are some of the trickiest to navigate in this country.

i know. when i use to live on phil i mean we feel more with malaysians since they are malay, but when we see their laws and stuff we, since most of us my friends were christians, felt like though you guys are our bros and cool peeps it seems kinda scary to go down there and break a few laws and get lashing for some stuff that in my old country would be like nothing bad at all.

you guys have laws against propagation right?

Yeah, propagation laws are certainly biased againts the non-Muslims. Still, this is one of the few things which look really really bad on paper but in practise it has given Malaysia the peace and stability that it enjoys.

What you find nowadays is that many people are becoming more relgious, be they Muslims or Christians. I came from a Catholic missionary school which taught govt-backed education syllabus and we revelled in the differences and similarities between the two religions. We were more interested in girls than the religious doctrines, to be honest Still, I have Malay friends who are quite strict with their religious beliefs and uncomfortable with that of others. Only cos they've not mixed around with ppl from other religions as much as they have with fellow Malays.

In Malaysia, just about 60% of the population are Muslims, not close to the more than 90% majority Catholics that the Philippines has. I'd certainly feel awkward eating in public places in Manila cos I'd only be able to eat halal food ie no pork in particular. Not so much a problem in Bangkok cos there are quite a few Thai Muslim population and eateries/stalls around. Either that or Indian Muslim. Not really sure abt the whole 'kaek' thing.

Okay, propagation of other religion to Muslim are strictly prohibited while propagation to non-Muslims are permissible.

Sharia laws in Malaysia only covered Muslims, even that it only covers regarding family, inheritance & marital laws, & civic ones. All criminal crimes are refered to our Common Laws (based on UK system), & applied to all Malaysians regardless of religions.

In case of apostasy, the Muslim apostates wouldn't be thrown to jail, they will face much more discriminations plus rejected by the society at large. Rejection in all walks of social life is the hell, man. The society will disowned the apostate, up to the point he/she will decide to migrate outside Malaysia. Good riddance anyway!

Thats why apostasy cases remain very few (almost none at all) amongst Muslim population.

apostasy as in converting or heresy?

Apostasy is usually referring to converting to other religion .... yep! Of course, the propagation of other religions to Mulims in Malaysia, Brunei & perhaps Indonesia is strictly prohibited & against the laws of these Muslim-majority countries.

can we eat pork over there though, and i guess yuo can't date a muslim chic

Someone said that the Holy Roman Empire was neither holy nor Roman.

yes and no. yes they are literally neither holy, just HOLY they are under the pope's blessings and christianized, and roman only on the sense that they are uniting europe, much like the past romans did (in fact most of the tribes that he initially governed and the kings that were the dynastic control of the first holy roman empire were descendants of those who plunder rome). no because...beside what about the pope's blessing, the pope actually, or at least more directly later on, were only legitimized of secular power, much like the kings.

but sticking with the malaysian govt, it like that right. it's like each province (or state in this matter cuz each territorial unit is a sultanate) is governed, or figureheaded, by sultans. and the sultans take turns on becoming the head right?

Beautiful Malay king dress from each state.

^^ Yeah. Malay traditional clothes look really cool.




Right, except that the Sultans of Malay states have no political power. All Malaysian states are governed by democratically elected state governments.

no power at all? not even veto?

Not even a veto.

things y'all learn from the brits.

Well, Kings are well-known to block & ditch democratic process if they were allowed real power!

Look at Nepal mess ... the tyrant king abolished EVERY democratically elected Govt. like he changes his clothes ...

Or Saudi Arabia King, where none of its citizens can even vote ... not even to elect town mayor ....

Its better to let ordinary citizens wield real power on the fates of democratic Govt.

Ya. Democracy rulez.

to me it just don't feel right though, i mean to have a monarch (whatever it is) even though they don't have any power. to me not unless it's a dictator, which is just a civilian put in power, but once you start having somebody with a "divinity" of rule, even without power, it just don't sound right and equal to me. oh well maybe because i'm filipino.

Hmm. Having constitutional monarchs is no big deal really.

sure because they have no power. but it's the principle, continuation of an unequal semi "divinity" affinity of a monarchial tradition. to me any "title" that is non civilian granted, or post, that is either hereditary or permanent is undemocratic. but oh well whatever works right. all philosophy it's all different everywhere.

I think our national leaders have no moral right to call for national unity and integration so long as Barisan Nasional remains a coalition of mainly racially based parties.

This charade has been going on since Independence under the Alliance. Either do away with such parties or just live and let live. Any call for unity is just being hypocritical.

The prime minister has said that Umno must gain political strength. Already in full control of the country, Umno is still not satisfied. The prime minister, no less, has been harping on Umno's strength and the need to maintain its political hold.

If this is the case, why do we need the national service programme just to inculcate national unity and racial interaction? What about leadership by example? How do you expect the students to believe in the programme when their leaders have not integrated politically?

Why is our country so concerned with national unity and integration? Is there an external threat? In our progress towards developed nation status, race and religion should not be part of the government's patronising policies. Fourth-seven years after Independence, we are still worried about which race is dominating or losing its dominance.

Meanwhile, the MCA, MIC and other coalition party leaders are happy to be part of the power- sharing arrangement even though there is no real power to share. The MCA president has to be one acceptable to the Umno president, not one whom is a real democratic choice of MCA.

The MIC president has been involved in the privatisation of most public utility companies. His immense wealth and power within his party ensures there is no competition for his position, and his successor will be one of his choices, subject to the approval of the Umno president.

The Gerakan president cannot even make a statement about religion in schools without censure from the prime minister. Is this 'BN power-sharing' or 'Umno-powered sharing'?

Why can't the public see for themselves what actually happened? How else can we be more transparent?

Malaysia has still a long way to go as far as true democracy is concerned.

For a society to be prosperous as a whole, there has to be stability, and stability only comes when people see a better life ahead and a reduction in poverty. This is especially true when poverty is associated with a racial or religious group or country (for example, the US).

The roots of our success as a nation lie in our political stability. While this should not come at the expense of democracy, freedom of expression and transparency, it should certainly have as its goal, the alleviation of poverty.

The fundamental and admirable goal of the NEP was the alleviation of poverty associated with the redistribution of wealth. Most socially liberal people like myself have always leaned in favour of redistribution of wealth.

I have met very few people indeed that really object to the NEP being used to help lift the very poor from the kampung out of poverty and into modern society. However, most people I know object to the NEP as a vehicle for the already well off to get even richer.

Now Sabah has arguably more natural resources than peninsular Malaysia but Umno does not seem to be interested in articulating the equity case for the Kadazans and the other indigenous peoples of Sabah and Sarawak as vehemently as it insists on bumi rights.

If an international panel of eminent sociologists, historians, economists and anthropologists, was formed to examine the bumi case, I sure that they would find it extremely difficult to justify it in the form peddled by Umno.

Indeed the panel might even say that the ethnic Indians and the poor urban Chinese have a better case for affirmative action benefits. Many of the affirmative action schemes have been transformed into racketeering ones with parasitic cronies traveling along the Ali Baba highway to become millionaires.

In consequence, the poor of all ethnic groups are more marginalised than ever. Also, not a few of these schemes have engendered a colossal waste of public funds contributed by taxpayers.

It behooves Umno to realise that other races also exist; that they too aspire to better their standard of living especially the poor non-malay bumis in the interior of Sabah and Sarawak.

Another serious question Umno, or its president Badawi should address is the question of ownership. Umno is still quarrelling that they only have 18 percent of the nation's economic cake.

But they never ask how much is owned by the Brunei, Iban, Kadazan, Kedayan, Orang Sungei, Orang Ulu, etc communities? Did Umno ever give shares to these groups of minority non-malay bumis? For instance, how many scholarships have been given by Petronas to non-malay bumis?

Umno or anyone else, not even a superpower, can stand-alone without depending on others. Umno, like everyone else is only a tiny part of the bigger whole, to which everyone must belong. Don't think that Malaysia belongs to Umno, much less the world.

So Umno, don't be too egoistic, think of others too so that you will get a better and balanced perspective. The world is not about Umno only. It's about every individual that occupies and lives in this world. We are all interdependent. Let's wake up to that reality.

^^ Any UMNO members here ?

Yang Maha Mulia Seri Paduka Baginda, LOL SO many of them..respect wei lol....

Nine royal lines in a small country. So far no problem.