Selangor Sultan disappointed over attempts to question monarchy

SHAH ALAM, Nov 29 — Sultan Sharafuddin Idris Shah of Selangor expressed disappointment today over the action of certain people, especially Malays, whom he said had came to the state and dared to question the role of the Malay Rulers and the position and privileges of the Malays.

He said these people resorted to questioning the position and privileges of the Malays and the relevancy of the royal institution with the aim of dismantling the system.

“Their objectives — to ensure that the constitutional monarchy system is reviewed on grounds that the country has undergone modernisation and that the current system is no longer suitable — are highly inappropriate.

“Some of these Malays are even vocal in asking for the word ‘Malay’ to be removed from the phrase ‘the Malay Rulers’,” he said at the opening of the “Constitutional Monarchy: Perspective of History, Now and Future” discourse here today.

Sultan Sharafuddin said he believed that these actions were taken to fulfil their personal or political agenda.

Sultan Sharafuddin then posed a question whether they had no pride in being a Malay, saying that even British historians recognised the word “Malay” and had in fact written “Malay Rulers” when referring to the country’s history.

“I’m saddened by the current generation who are embarrass to admit that they are Malays,” he said.

The Sultan said that in raising the issue, he had no intention of stirring up racial sentiments, but only wanted to remind Selangor people to be proud of themselves and their state.

He also called on the people in the state to learn about the history of Selangor and that of the country.

He said the country’s history showed that the Malay Rulers had opened up the Malay states hundreds of years ago and developed them until a country was eventually established — a country which, he said, the people could be proud of and able to compete in the global arena. — Bernama